Mt. Fitzherbert

Potential ash hazards: Wind forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coupled with eruption models, show that any ash clouds that rise above the crater rim today would drift northwestward early in the day, and shift to a northeastward drift as the afternoon progresses.

Recent observations: The volcano is clear this morning and emitting minor amounts of steam and occasional small plumes of ash. Yesterday, crews deployed a new spyder package (with GPS and a gas sensor) on the uplifted welt area north of the emerging lava dome, retrieved an older spyder unit that was no longer functioning, and measured the flow of water coming out of the crater. The water discharge was not unusual. Additional processing of gas measurements made Tuesday shows that gas emissions are unchanged from recent measurements. A spyder package deployed earlier this week near the top of the new lava dome continues to move upward about 1.5 meters per day and to the southeast about 5 meters per day, a bit more slowly than the last GPS deployed on the dome in mid-January.