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 broadly northward at low altitudes and east-southeastward at higher altitudes early in the day. Later in the day any ash clouds would drift east-northeastward.

Recent observations: Analysis of recent photographs from remote cameras shows that a slab of rock about 70 meters (230 feet) long fell from the north margin of the growing lava fin or spine sometime during this past weekend. The volume lost was about 50,000 cubic meters (65,000 cubic yards). We think that this event coincided with a large seismic signal recorded at 9:14 pm PDT Sunday night. The volcano was obscured by clouds at that time. The resulting rock-avalanche deposit extends a couple hundred meters (couple hundred yards) to the northeast into a depression formed between the new and old lava domes and the east arm of the glacier. The avalanche was accompanied by an ash cloud that flowed over a broader area. Photographs will be available on our web site tomorrow. Additional smaller rockfalls and avalanches continue.