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 would drift to the east and southeast today.

Recent observations: No significant changes in the level or type of activity at the mountain have been noted since yesterday’s update. A larger event occurred at 0424 PST this morning, followed by another temporary dip in “drumbeat” events. Pictures from the USFS web camera at the Johnston Ridge Observatory this morning are mostly gray, although glimpses of a snow-covered Pumice Plain can be seen through occasional cloud breaks. Snow fell in the crater and vicinity again last night, resulting in several minutes-to-hours-long dropouts in radio signals from several monitoring stations. It has been over 4 weeks since our last good look inside the crater, the longest gap between observations since the eruption started in 2004. Weather forecasts hold little promise for fieldwork in the coming week.