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 north, changing to northeast by afternoon.

Recent observations: Patterns remain unchanged for seismicity and ground deformation during the past 24 hours, which means that things in the crater change by the slow extrusion and westward expansion of the new dome. This morning’s two-hour webcam sequence shows daylight encroaching on an iced-over viewing glass.

The new dome’s summit altitude currently is about 7550 ft, towering about 400 ft above the 1980s dome as seen from the U.S. Forest Service’s Coldwater visitor center. But that’s still below the 7770-ft altitude reached last July, before collapse of a previous spine, and well below the crater rim, which is mostly above 8100 ft except at Shoestring Notch or northward where the crater opens outward toward the roadheads.