Up here we have volcanos. You may have heard that Mount Saint Helens has been active of late. Anyone who has been listening to the news has already heard comparisons to the 1980 event that covered almost all of Washington state in at least some ash. Paranoids are pointing out that the current activity looks a lot like the activity the mountain had in early 1980. The US Geological Survey points out that such an event is vanishingly unlikley to happen again, there isn't as much mountain left to blow up.
And my coworker pointed out that Mt. Baker blew steam this morning. Mount Baker is our local volcano. The information about it can be found here. It has been blowing steam for several years now, though not anywhere near the scale that Helens has. We like it this way, since it shows that pressure isn't building inside the mountain.
Volcanic ash is tricky stuff. It is fine and mineral-based, so it gets into everything. Should we get anything up here, we might end up with gummed up air intakes for our HVAC and thus compromise our computer-room. Not so good. But if something that big happens again, we'll have bigger problems for a while.
Some links:
Live web-cast (windows media)
Local paper covering it closely
Current USGS statement
And my coworker pointed out that Mt. Baker blew steam this morning. Mount Baker is our local volcano. The information about it can be found here. It has been blowing steam for several years now, though not anywhere near the scale that Helens has. We like it this way, since it shows that pressure isn't building inside the mountain.
Volcanic ash is tricky stuff. It is fine and mineral-based, so it gets into everything. Should we get anything up here, we might end up with gummed up air intakes for our HVAC and thus compromise our computer-room. Not so good. But if something that big happens again, we'll have bigger problems for a while.
Some links:
Live web-cast (windows media)
Local paper covering it closely
Current USGS statement