Mt. Fitzherbert

Potential ash hazards: Wind forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coupled with eruption models, show that any ash clouds rising above the crater rim today would drift northeast.

Recent observations: The active spine of the lava dome continues to extrude, according to our in-crater tiltmeter. This instrument, located adjacent to the new dome’s north flank, shows small inflation-deflation events every few hours, which we interpret as dome growth pulses. The wind from winter storms has increased the noise on seismometers close to or in the crater, saturating them relative to the sparse small earthquakes that have characterized the eruption as of late. No in-crater GPS results are available this morning. Views from all volcano cams in the past 24 hours have been useless for assessing eruptive activity, owing to poor weather. The discharge from streams exiting the crater has increased slightly, as measured by acoustic flow monitors. Stream discharge likely will increase slowly early Sunday. It may change abruptly at middle elevations by Sunday evening or Monday, when a rain-rich warm front is forecast for the region.