In the past 12 hours we have had 5 major volcano eruptions on Mt. Redoubt. The last eruption put ash into the air 9 miles high. Our electricity was shut off, so that the electric company could change grids to avoid ash damage to generators. Mt. Redoubt had 60 earthquakes in one hour before it erupted and 26 earthquakes in a 10 minute period. I had to go out this morning at sunrise and clean the air filters on the vehicles and put pantyhose over the air intakes. Pantyhose will help stop the ash from entering the engines. I have my generator filled with gasoline, have bottled water in case of water contamination and plenty of wood for the woodstove (we are still in winter here with 3 feet of snow on the ground and temps around 20F).

Good luck and be careful.

So far, the ash is being blown towards Mt. McKinley and not towards us.

Hey David,

I saw the news this morning and thought of you immediately - particularly given the photos you were sharing last week before the power got cut. I hope this has no serious impact on you and that you will be able to watch this as a spectator. If you have photos in the future, I would love to see them.

On an entirely separate note, I was listening to Click and Clack this weekend, and they were talking about the possibility of the volcano going off and one thing they mentioned was problems with auto-mobiles getting ash in their system, particularly cars with turbos. You might want to download the podcast if it is available to you (it is free on itunes). Or, LOL, it may be of no help to you at all. :P

James

Good luck, David. Get some photos if you can.

Jim

Good luck, David. Hope you safely get that shot of a lifetime.

Other uses for pantyhose: http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/extraordinary-uses-for-pantyhose/article23970.html

David:

When I heard at lunch that your mountain had blown its top, the first thing I did upon arriving home was fire up the computer to see if NWP was back up, and if there was a status report from you. Glad to hear all is well. Take care and stay safe.

Jim

I am not in any danger from this volcano erupting. It is 60 miles across Cook Inlet from me. No lava can get to me and I have had the ash dumped on me before when it last blew. When the ash falls, it turns day into night and turns the snow black. It is like being in a tunnel with no lights on. Just a minor irritation.

An update to the Mt. Redoubt eruption:
In a 24 hour period of time on March 22 to March 23, 2009 Mt. Redoubt erupted 6 times. Ash clouds went up to 50,000 feet into the air. The volcanic eruption MELTED the drift glacier and sent it down the mountain. The high water marks along the drift river was 26 feet high and went 22 miles to Cook Inlet. Although there is still seismic unrest, it has subsided enough that the status of the mountain has been downgraded from Red to Orange.

I have not been able to get any photos due to cloud cover.