Mt. Fitzherbert

Potential ash hazards: Wind forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coupled with eruption models, show that ash clouds that rise above the crater rim today would drift northward.

Recent observations: Yesterday field crews were able to get good thermal and photographic observations of the growing lava dome. These coupled with views from the DomeCam show clearly that the northern part of the new lava dome is being pushed upward onto the southern part along the prominent fractures created during the past two weeks. Concurrently, the east and west sides of the dome have been moving outward. All these changes are in response to continuing extrusion of lava into the dome. A result of dome expansion toward the east and west is a slight (one inch or less) outward movement of GPS instruments on the outer east and west flanks of the volcano. Similar movements were detected one month ago on the south side when the lava dome reached the base of the south crater wall. All are expectable and are not cause for any alarm. Difficult wind conditions and shifting steam plumes made delivery of new Spiders (portable GPS stations) onto the dome impossible. Deteriorating weather conditions in the afternoon interfered with the planned gas-sensing flight.