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 northward at low altitudes and northeastward at higher altitudes early in the day and northeastward at all altitudes later in the day.

Recent observations: Remote cameras around the crater thawed out last night following several days of being covered by rime ice from recent storms. Images confirm that the pattern of dome growth established during the past few months continues. The actively growing portion of the dome is moving northwestward and pushing the west arm of the glacier against the west crater wall, causing the glacier to narrow, thicken, and become increasingly fractured. Rockfalls shed dome debris onto the glacier and onto the north flank of the old lava dome. Field crews will be out tomorrow to retrieve broadband seismometers that have been deployed all summer and to perform maintenance on several field sites.