About 100 miles south of Anchorage in a spectacular range of mountains ( in Alaska the mountains are all spectacular!)is the Redoubt Volcano that is imminent danger of erupting. This is why there was a 5.7 earthquake last week, felt in Anchorage, but not by the Pucketts. Locals are being warned to prepare for an ashfall, if the volcano blows. When I last talked to Becca, she was on her to buy water and facemasks! For information go to Anchorage Daily News and the Alaska Volcano Observatory. Google both for the web address. The picture above is not from the current activity. It is from the last time Redoubt had an eruption in the 90s that blanketed Anchorage for weeks with ash. Becca said she had also almost hit a moose the day I talked to her. Ain't Alaska fun? Stay tuned for further details.
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We are still on volcano watch. It seems to ramp up and then settle down daily. Anchorage is sold out of masks, hopefully they will get more in before the eruption. In addition to the volcano watch, we are watching the weather, since the winds will decide if Anchorage is affected by the ash fall.
Redoubt is rumbling pretty good right now. The Alaska Volcano Observatory says, "Seismic activity remains elevated and consists of relatively continuous tremor that fluctuates gradually." It looks like it's the most activity we've seen in a week, but to me it still doesn't look as bad as when this all started on the 26th:
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/rsam/rsam.php?volcname=Redoubt
Still, Becca is predicting with her sixth sense that the eruption will happen tonight. If it does, we won't feel the earthquake or see the lava. We may just get a dusting of ash. Some media outlet recently misreported that if the dust cloud came Anchorage's way, we'd expect to see a few INCHES of ash! Fortunately, they meant a few MILLIMETERS (25x less).
We do have our masks now, although we didn't manage to find a spare air filter for the car. Everyone at work is turning off their computers at night and covering them with plastic. I guess that's just a precaution, given UAA claims they'll turn off the HVAC. Fortunately we don't have forced air at home, but this air I'm breathing must circulate SOMEHOW.
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