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 predominantly to the north-northeast, shifting to easterly later this afternoon.

Recent observations: Images from the USFS web camera at Johnston Ridge Observatory show a very scenic landscape this morning, featuring a very white volcano and crater save for a darker patch in the back of the crater corresponding to the locus of the actively extruding lava spine. A whispy white steam plume can be seen rising from this spine, one indicator that the eruption continues unabated. Other indicators include data from the GPS network, which show continued spine motion of ~1 meter per day, and seismicity levels, which remain unchanged over the last 24 hours and include one larger (M 2.7) earthquake this morning at 0742 PST (1542 UTC). Radio signals from several seismic stations are dropping out intermittently, presumably due to snow burial and/or ice accumulation on antennas. These dropouts can produce significant noise, noise that can easily be seen on the Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network’s online webicorders. With several more inches of snow forecast to fall at the volcano over the next two days, more such dropouts can be expected to occur.