Thanks a million!

Yeah, but I'm 990,000 of those clicks, who is the other person? No, really I check your blog between each class and then at home. My 8th grade dream was to be a volcanologist (1977), but some where I got distracted. Now it is a distraction, but a good one, too. Great job.

Congratulations Erik. I bet if you could get Dr. Jeff Masters to link to your site over at Wunderblog, you could get a whole lot of new fans. Maybe the next 10^6 will only take a week or so.

Congratulations Erik! That is HUGE news! Keep up the great work of keeping your readers informed and educated.

Congratulations and thank you. Your blog has been keeping me informed and interested since before you came to ScienceBlogs.

Hello Erik, I discovered your site a few months ago and love it! I missed my calling as a Geography teacher and have always loved everything to do with physical geography and geology. You provide such fantastic information that I have not been able to find anywhere else and it's in everyday language that we non-scientists can understand. I have recommended your site to many of my friends as well. Thank you for your information, photos and links. It's greatly appreciated. Carol from Toronto.

No, Jeff Masters is a APGW type. I wonder how E is going to screw with his Chi?

In the early 80's a couple of scientists used radio opaque dye on daffodils and fed them to elephants and marked their positions as they rolled through their guts to the inevitable end on the paddock floor. They determined that the snowblitz that took the Mastadons out in Russia happened in about four hours from onset and of course, it was spring. Then there was a tip over into an ice age.

Without a doubt we are in BIG TROUBLE with the E eruption and by tonight it will have cost over 1 billion, in a week several hundreds of billions.

Time for Erik to post up on effects outside of the eruption zone and give us some insight into what to expect. I see dead Haitians and Africans and if its really bad the entire EU taking a header.

I see a short if any growing season in the EU and Russia and maybe the US. On the periphery I see flooding on a massive scale where the highs stand and keep it cool and dry with the lows forming on the edges of them hanging in the same places and raining out. Yep, I am aviation related and a former controller with two degrees, and an associates in climatology. This aint about the flying folks, its about the eating. If you want 1 million hits in a DAY, start posting on the effects of the SO2 and its reflectivity and what happens if we cant eat. I see a bad moon arising !

Cheery thoughts but congrats on the 1 mill mark Erik. I dont post up often because I dont know enough about volcanoes except their effects. This is gonna be a sonuvabitch across the board for all of us on this planet. Buy food now. Buy stock in LL Bean.

Wonder what would happen if it gets so cold they cant run the hydro-plants? Hmmmmm.....

Great stuff Erik.....

Congratulations Erik, wish you all the best on your way for the 10 million hits!

The best interaction came with the Iceland Eruption when for some reason an entire community settled down at your blog and used it as a communication hub. That was and is really great.

Thanks for all your work and providing us with this opportunity.

Ron

Erik, thank you and congratulations!

Congrats Erik.
I didn't intend to dis ya over on the other thread by not asking you about phreato-plinian ;) I thought you would prefer an acronym of the type the mantle folks like, something along the lines of HIWABAS -high water basaltic (inside joke).

Wonderful blog Erik.

I've only recently come across it and it's a fabulous vault of information and fascinating reads! Keep up the good work!

Thanks for a wonderful blog.

I'm loving it and it has given me a whole new interest in life. With the Icelandic eruption, I have enjoyed the comment threads as various people have shared their specialisms and attempted to understand what's going on and making speculations. It's brought the subject alive to me.

Like Kver, I'm sure at least half a million of those hits are mine, All kidding aside, SUPER congratulations! Your blog is the highlight of my web browsing, and your coverage of this Icelandic eruption is spectacular. How neat that such validation should coincide with this volcanic event! Kudos!

Mr. Kruger,

Since Jeff Masters already had a post up about the volcano, your implication that he would ignore it was false before you made it.

As to your predictions of catastrophic effect from this eruption, it would have to get a lot larger than it is to have the sort of effects you mention. Eruptions of this size occur pretty much every year. Last year's eruptions of Sarychev Peak and Redoubt were much larger than this (so far)and while they too were quite disruptive to air travel, there were no large scale climate effects. In 2008 there were at least two eruptions (Okmok and Kasatochi) larger than this.

Erik, you made this blog to be so interesting, we simply can't leave you here alone with all those dangerous, explosive, hot volcanoes. :-)
Congratulations! I wish you more millions of visitors, you have worked for it! And also wish you many nice (and harmless) volcainc events you can share with us here.

Congratulations with this milestone.

One million congratulations Erik, on the well-deserved success of Eruptions! Truly a model science blog. Every volcano watcher has cause to be grateful to you for what you've achieved here.

Thanks a lot for all this interesting and useful information! I've been reading your blog for a few months now and learning a lot! It's lively and well documented. I'm not a student, just an interested citizen based in Brussels! But I wish my teachers were as passionate as you are! Congratulations, professor!
Kind regards from Belgium! Ines

The Bobs.... I suggest you look at the OMI2 satellite intepretations of the SO2 already in the atmosphere before speaking directly to a subject such as weather related to that. In fact, Okmok, Kasatochi, Redoubt, Sakura-Jima, Bezimianny and Klyuchevskoy and others have all had eruptions in the last five years. The climate has been severely impacted by those eruptions and it is clearly evident that this has turned the tide on any global warming. But the IPCC totally discounted that volcanoes had any effect on climate. Just one can emit more SO2 than a country the size of the US could in two years. I like Etna myself for that.

The world food supply has come down during from 48 days to only a few days at this time for all sorts of reasons but mostly because of weather. Drought, cold, heat, storms. I guess that you missed the crappy harvest and the requirement to plant three times in Canada just to get a wheat crop last year and twice the year before. Yep, you had to have missed that little fact. Or how about the planting areas there that should have already been greening just in the past week getting snow? Hey, how bout those cranberry bogs that froze and kilt them? Hate to sound snarky but thats the facts. Conjecture is one thing. Hard core in your face stuff isnt. Below you'll see the NIC ice data for N. America in yellow and the white stuff is snow as of yesterday. Kind of hard to plant in it. I also guess you missed the snow in New York that killed a lot of the crops there in August last? But thats just me Bobs. You can find pundits everywhere for any argument made. The location of this volcano is also very disturbing as its directly under the general turn point for the jet stream in summer and a cool down could take it farther south than normal for the EU and whack the wheat crops and that equates to dead people on the end of the food chain. We are currently feeding 1 million Hatians. Want to add another 5 or 6 and see how things work out.

Feel free to disagree of course, but unlike most I am open minded and always just tell them to prove it. My only requisite item to that is that they show me something more than a model of whats happening that has a hockey stick hook to it. Appropriate though...hockey.

Undeniable fact is that the THC has slowed by 30% and acid into salt will turn that more fresh around Iceland along with the melting of a large glacier with I read something on the order of 22 trillion gallons of fresh water that will dump into the ocean with or without acid with it. Wouldnt affect anything? Guess everyone gets to find out if it gets Masters hot, or my Russian cold. Seems my cold has been winning in the last few years though. Is it volcanic climate change or Al Gore creating both the internet and climate change using it? Good question... facts please.

http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_alaska.gif

http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_usa.gif

Congratulations Erik, and to every commenter who added so valuable input into Erik's discussions.
This is great fun.

Hi Erik, congratulations from Berlin. This blog is an VEI 5 under the volcanic blogs. The best in the world! Keep on doing your great work, we will help you!

Congrats Erik, I may not always agree with you;) but I do respect you and appreciate the website and the volcano community.

Randolph Kruger The THC has slowed by 30%....I know some people who are going to be upset by that fact;) But seriously man I look at "the what can happen" or "the what has happened scenarios" and I have to say you are way off on some of your facts....I don't really believe man made global warming has that big of an effect on our climate so I am no fan of Al Gore. If the volcano gets much worse or goes on for 2 years at the rate it is erupting now....then it might have an effect....If Katla blew....then it might have an effect....but Katla hasn't blown. Unless you are psychic you can't say for certain what will happen....neither can I ...neither can the vulcanologist....We all are in wait and see mode....but nothing catastrophic has happened yet.

Erik, thanks for your dedication!

Hey, you've gone viral!!! Fantastic!!!

Congrats Erik, this is as good as time as any to say to thanks for making this place what it is. You've pulled off the tricky feat of encouraging feedback and interaction from allcomers yet not dumbing down the science to turn off the professionals. Got me hooked!!
Thanks also for giving me simply the best internet experience I've ever had with all the speculation and discussion that went on over Eyjafjallajökull. Something I will never forget.
Cheers!

Erik, well done. Popularisation of science par excellence. University geology departments world-wide will be inundated with embryonic volcanologists.

Erik
A heartfelt congratulations and thank you for a great website!

@ M. Randolph Kruger: I live a few kilometers South of the Canadian border in Minnesota(USA). We had the earliest "ice out" on the lake and river in recorded history. Just want to point out that FACT.

Just two more words: Thank you!

Thanks a lot for your magnificent site...

I'm no volcanologist at all, but I love volcanoes, just for the awesome display they provide.... and I truly appreciate real-time volcanic goodness!...

So keep up the good work Erik!

After lurking for the better part of a year, I'd like to chime in and add my congrats for a very informative blog Erik. I am an oceanography prof in Florida with a specialty in the biological side of things, but geology has always fascinated me. This is the best source for up-to-date information of volcanic activity that I have ever found online. I feel I can trust the information I get here a great deal more than the news media. You are all so willing to answer reasonable questions, my hat is off to both you and your frequent readers. Thank you for a great educational experience.

The current discussion over the Eyjafjallajökull eruption has me coming back for updates every few hours. Keep up the good work!

You scoria million views andesite? That's fanclastic!

Conegraticuleations!

I've sure been having fun reading and sending in the occasional science question and/or snarky remark for the goup (and sorry about the "Randall Niks" submittal from April 1, btw). The combination of facts, analysis, opinions, links, etc. submitted by professional, informed enthusiasts, new comers and other folks in a mostly polite and civilized manner concerning our shared interest in volcano science is really encouraging compared to many other discussion forums.

And to digress on the subject of world food supply mentioned above, in our modern world, who gets fed and who doesn't is much more result of political structure and global economics than the effect weather has on food production. Afterall, as Colbert pointed out a week ago or so, you can buy kitty litter made from dried corn and people are happy to burn soy bean oil in their cars so they can go shopping at the mall. It will take much more than a chilly northern summer to cause more than a blip on grocery store prices.

Many congratulations Eric, This rende-vous point is a daily must

Yes Doug, you are right and you will be right up until the time that its not there to give to anyone, at most any price. But you would be wrong about that price thing. The UN couldnt buy rice or corn at any price just two short years ago and only a month after Kasatochi blew. Why? It simply wasnt there to sell at that price. George Clooney was going balistic about their condition and it was for a number of reasons such as politics for one. But the amoun that was needed simply wasnt there. Thus the prices rose then fell and it it was more than a chilly northern summer... it was more like a colder'n hell Fall followed by one of the worst winters up until then in Canada, we got it this past year in the lower 48.

And that would have been caused by what? Do tell. I could come up with about 10 things that would be instantly refuted and then be told it was global warming. The one thing that I dont buy and neither do the Russians, or the Czechs, or the Poles and quite a few others. My problem with Masters is that he doesnt acknowledge any outside data... the Herd Defense of a position. He is a smart guy and rode with the hunters in the Herks for a couple of years. But I always say prove it and neither he or I could with a billion dollars one way or the other. Interestingly though, you can only pull on history and see the picture of like type events. And we are where now with E?

Vulcanism is sending the temps south along with a dimming sun. Both may be on cycles but the end result is the same. What I want Erik to do is to evaluate the effects for a prolonged event based upon the previous histories that he is aware of. I likely know what he is going to come up with, but I am just looking for backup to what I see and what I have seen. I wouldnt tell the world they had better cut back on carbon emissions because it might just be keeping us warm. These volcanoes are not blips at all and a major eruption into the upper reaches of the atmosphere are far more dangerous than a Hawaii blowing crap into the area around Royal Gardens. Add in a Mayon, a Galeras, an Etna or two and I can tell you the conversation will and would become moot. St. Helens went that it went and stayed in the below 10's down to -5 in Memphis TN where I lived as highs for a month. Hadnt been that cold since the 1770's when another volcano popped. We could beat the horse to death but to say they dont have much of an effect is fallacy. Commodity prices rise, people cant afford them, they do without and if that commodity is food then it translates to dead people.

I suggest this for starts. The assumption they start with are the IPCC's warming. In fact the growing season has already dropped by approximately five days overall for the year 2010 and its not from droughts. Its from cold. It could go back to longer days but in the N. Hemisphere that is a long time...Almost a full week and its an aggregated average number. To get that five, somewhere, someplace they had to lose a lot more than that. E.g. Florida while it still has had a growing season lost nearly their full fruit harvest to frost and below freezing temps for almost three weeks. Has it happened before? Yes, but not for almost 150 years. What caused it? There is where it stats to diverge. For me reflective SO2 started a ball rolling with the previously mentioned volcanic activity in the North. Winter has left late and come early for the last four years overall. Europe and especially the Romania/Bulgaria areas had the hardest winter almost ever recorded. Hundreds died in a night from supercold (-20 and colder) ..But what caused that? About the only thing that climatologists can agree on is that during that time there were volcanoes going off around the planet. When they arent, it warms up pretty good if its Summer or Winter and depending which end of the ball you are on.

Blip or blast... take your pick. You will still be right because the amount of money to prove it either way would be more than it would be to feed every one...at least once.

Congratulation Erik from Chile, even here, we discovered this awesome blog that makes us all fell part of a community, thank you for this great website. Keep going, lets go for the 10M hits!!... we will keep you inform if something rumbles down here... And will send comments and images of it, when it happens...
Cheers!!

M. Randolph Kruger: Wow, I thought I had seen left field, now I know what left field really is.

Erik, congratulations on your milestone. The kindness of you and your community has made me finally get out of lurker mode and into participation on the internet. It's fun to be among people who are so fired up about volcanos.

Congrats to you and your contributors for making this a very enlightening blog.

Randolph Kruger Here is something you might want to read before you make any more of those dire weather predictions....It is from Joe Bastardi...not someone known for being a global warming activist:

The Icelandic volcano is not a game-changer because it is not the kind of volcano we see in the Arctic that can get so2 into the stratosphere, where it can hang around for several years, nor in the tropics, where it can cause one- to two-year reductions in radiation over the tropics, leading to initial cooling in these areas (though there is usually an El Nino bounce-back). So email me on this matter, as on how it will affect the weather in NW Europe has me with a non-answer on this. I suppose though, every out-of-normal weather event during the next few years will have people pointing their finger at the volcano. Right now, though, there is no reason for me to go into a "Joe vs the Volcano" shoving match.
accuweather.com/ukie/bastardi-europe-blog.asp?partner=accuweather

Thank you for your nimble-footedness, astute commentaries, and for pulling all us wild-eyed extrapolators back on track when we get a little too loose and goofy.

Great work Erik.

Congratulations Erik.

Been visiting on and off for more than a year and much more so in recent months.

Nice crowd here

/doffs hat/

Congratulations Erik
This is a great blog and it is shown by the numbers.

Keep up the good work! :)

Cheers Erik!! nice to see that volcanoes can join some passionated people around a good, magmatic conversation. keep going!!

kind regards from Teide Volcano.

Erik,

I recently came across your blog and wanted to congratulate and thank you for all the effort put into it. It is a great community, and I enjoy many of the scientific minds that have chosen to frequent it. As well, my appreciation for gentleman such as Boris, Randall, James, bruce, Jón, and others for their discussions. Heres to more great discussions, and to keeping the armchair doomsayers and sensationalists at bay!

Cheers!

Congratulations Erik! One million page views is fantastic! Having my own web sites I appreciate what a stunning accomplishment this is.

I hope you'll accept it for the complement to your skills. Upon receiving the Academy Award an American actress once famously said to the audience "you like me!"

We like you Erik! Please continue the fine work.

Best regards,

Russell

The Eruption at Kasatochi was significant because it pumped out more SO2 than any eruption since the 1991 eruption at Pinatubo.

As for The current Eyjafjallajokull eruption, simply too small (so far)

Anyways congrats Erik on the 1,000,000 visitors, here is to the next 10,000,000 :)

LIke I said, so many pundits... So many questions. I have been a communicator with Joe B. for years as I have with Mr. Andrews. He calls it a non-answer in what you posted. But just before that he also posted that the Arctic is going to get colder. Already is. But we have to take a look at the SO2 girls and while Joe is a meteorologist, there is a diff between that and a climatologist of which I am 1/2 are.

So listen... All of the ice records are pretty clear. Whenever there was a major eruption and there isnt much that defines that except in the ice records in various places...There was a piling on of snow. E.g. all of that ice the GW's keep pointing out has soot lines in it. Some are feet thick. If you want to hang your hat on E being small then OK I will hang off on it getting cold, but not for long. It was detected at Jet Max today and thats sulfur dioxide which converts to highly reflective SO2 and it takes 2-3 years for it to rain out as acid rain. Meantime its cold, and it could get and stay that way as a result of this stuff.

Minnesota, the point is that its still not where it was even three years ago. There is ice and snow on the ground and your local area stuff doesnt contribute a thing to the overall pattern other than having like one weather station report. And I guess you didnt understand that the snowpack all melted very quickly this year. It does that sometimes. But, Canada is still unable to put too put too many tractors into the fields and there is still a lot of ice and snow in their wheat belt. The overall point is that as late as a week ago the ice was still advancing in the Pacific and in the Arctic. It is taking longer and longer for it to melt. You got snow in the third week of March too, so thats part of it too. It means that its still able to support that cold and tip it over into snow. We could go on and on but if you want to pick a particular day for the last three years I can show you a place at the same latitude where it was colder if you were warmer and significantly so. Until late March, it was snowing as close as Louisiana and that is unheard of at this time of the year and doesnt happen too often at all anyway. Same thing for Dallas and Houston at most anytime of the year.

Back to volcanoes cause I dont want to jack Eriks blog.

http://www.natice.noaa.gov/ims/loop/usa-1mo-loop.html

http://www.natice.noaa.gov/ims/loop/asia-1mo-loop.html

Using a phrase that Erik likes to use, "a big hat tip to you." I have been an avid follower for over a year now and find it to be a fascinating and very informative blog. Keep up the good work!

Hi Erik! I have said it several times and I am going to say it again: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS BLOG AND CONGRATULATIONS!!! I have learned so much here and I really appreciate you, Boris, Randall, Parclair, Michael, Gordys, Motsfo, Jon, James, Henrik, Bruce, Peter, EKoh, Volcanophile, Kver, etal, (and if I left anybody out, I just didn't remember who you are) for such great discussion and a great place to learn about geology and volcanism.

One thing about this cold thing. When the Sierras start to hold snow all summer as they did in the 50s, I might get worried, but not really. That was the norm for here and now, by the end of July, they are almost completely bone dry with no snow. When my parents came here to CA in 1937, they had a cabin just off of HWY 50 in the Sierras and they could only get into it 3 months out of the year so they sold it. Now, if I had the same cabin, I would be able to get into it 9 months out of the year. This is fact! Pure, unadulterated fact! I have watch the weather patterns change for over 50 years. Sacramento used to average 28" of rain/year and now it is 18". Every 50 or so years, the weather patterns change. In the 1800s, you could get ice blocks for you ice box all summer because of the ice that was harvested from the lakes.

I am not worried about a cold spell or ice age. No volcano can bring that on. It would take a lot of volcanoes erupting at once and keep erupting as the Deccan and Siberian Traps.

That is how I see it and I don't thing much of what I have said can be refuted.

Again, Erik, thanks for a great blog. Love it.

M. Randolph Kruger I don't want to clutter up this thread explaining why you might want to rethink part of your arguments. If you want to go to the "Threat of Icelandic ash closes airspace over Europe" thread I will. This is kind of like a birthday party here. I will be answering your post there;)

@Diane: In response to your comment in the "Threat of Icelandic ash closes airspace over Europe" Thank you. parclair made an excellent point on #139 in that thread that I will take to heart. There are others, Eric, Boris, Henrik, Bruce, yourself, even Passerby in his way, that over the course of time, have taught me patiently and well. And you still put up with me. One can learn much more than just volcanism here. Thank you all. This is a wonderful place to visit.

Great work Eric

Since I now view this blog from the library. And thus do not post much anywhere. I can account for many non unique views of your blog

We ditched the home computer. Going with out for 2010. (married to a hippy chick, go figure.)

Opps, I missed you too Randall.

Congratulations Eric! Very well done. I was happy to see another geology blog join the Sciborg and delighted by the excellent and frequent content you provide. You have also attracted a marvelous community. I have enjoyed the conversation.

Best wishes for the next many millions of page views.

Scientific deduction:
There are only 3 things to do in Europe

1) drink
2) fly to warmer places to watch soccer, and drink
3) make little europeans

Proposed - since they cant fly anywhere, and the birth rates arent skyrocketing thru the roof..... they must be surfing the net, probably all hitting on Eriks site, hoping to find out when the volcano will shut off. That accounts for several dozen of the extrordinary number of views.
Congratulations!

Dr.Klemetti

I am fascinated by volcano's, as are my (3) children and we check your blog, (hourly lately) when home. Thank-you for presenting fascinating information, fabulous pictures and the very latest 'lava gossip'. If Dr. Bechnke would be so kind as to re-list the cams for Etna, would be eternally grateful.

i have some new info on are volcano

they are now calling this a significant eruption

IF YOU WHERE TOO RATE THIS eruption WHERE WOULD YOU PUT IT HAS IN HOW STRONG IS IT YET ME NO

16th April 2010 update
A significant eruption is continuing at Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland. Ash emissions are reaching a height of 33,000 ft. Emissions from the volcano are drifting across the UK, and are heading for central and eastern Europe. Ash has already reached as far south as Italy. Ash emissions remain over Britain with only Northern Ireland and the western parts of Ireland and Scotland clear.

from here

http://www.volcanolive.com/eyjafjoll.html

wound t this put the eruption at VEI 2 OR 3????

Ash emissions are reaching a height of 33,000 ft

@Tina Wood, here are the Etna webcams:

www.hotelcorsaro.it/etna-webcams/?lan=english

Congrats Erik, been here for a while now, and always returns, since quality and content from (all walks of life) participants is not just friendly but loaded with ideas, questions, suggestions and open communication. One word - awesome

M. Randolph Kruger you simply have no idea what you are talking about. I live in the UK and I can tell you that aside from the airspace being closed and a bit of tephra falling on the Shetlands this eruption is having no real effect.

This eruption is nowhere near big enough to cause significant problems with world climate. The most recent eruption which caused any real alteration at all was Pinatubo in 1991 which was several orders of magnitude larger.

The only Icelandic eruption of recent times which has caused any real problems outside of Iceland was Laki in 1783. Again Laki was a massively larger eruption than the current one. The real damage this eruption might do will not be volcanic but economic. If the UK is forced to keep its airspace shut regularly over a significant period of time a lot of damage will be done to its economy. That might be enough to tip it back into recession which would definitely not be a good thing.

@Diane - Well, my family STILL has a cabin off HWY 50 and I can vouch for what you said. It's easily accessible more than nine months in a year. I'm in WA so don't get down often. Would love an excuse to visit Newberry, though.

Congratulations Dr. Erik from a Southern Hemisphere Lurker. Have been following your blog since the start of Chaiten. Your blog is bookmarked and checked every day. I have a house in North Sumatera which overlooks two active cones and is just around the corner from Toba.

Thank you also to Dr Boris Boris Behncke for your input to Dr.Erik's blog

Also congratulations and thank you to all informed posters to Dr.Eriks Iceland threads. Very interesting information and on the spot reporting from those persons on the ground.

M. Randolph Kruger, if Chaiten suffers a dome collapse culminating in an unlikely caldera event we may see some effects of what you are talking about - in small way.
The real food problem is not wheat or corn. It's rice. Only two years ago there were food riots in some countries which must import their rice supply. A shortage was caused by bad weather in the main rice exporting countries - Vietnam, Thailand etc. Western Countries are utilising the "Just in Time" system of food production - this will cause a problem if there is some hiccup in weather or some other natural disaster.( a small hiccup)

A collapse of monetary confidence (U.S.$)is more likely a trigger for world wide pandemonium.

I.M.H.O. any world (unlikely in our lifetime) changing Volcanic event will come from Indonesia - Straddles the equator and is home to a host of dangerous beasties - many of which are not monitored or even studied.

Congratulations, Erik! (It feels like we are first-name friends -- the internet is amazing.) Your blog is part of my early morning walk through the global web -- and, fortunately, occasionally (now every day)I have time to return during the day. Your intelligent reporting and educational style has attracted many of similar minds making the comments a pleasure to read as well. Thank you.

@Diane

I agree with what you have said about the Sierra Nevada. I just moved to Washington State after 38 years in the Reno-Tahoe area. The winters have definitely become milder, especially since the mid 80's. The last time we had a really cold winter was after Pinatubo.

I am now only about 15 miles from beautiful Mt. Baker, which I see on the way to work when it is clear.

@The Bobs, I have lived in CA all my life and I have watched the changes in the Sierras. I live in the foothills of the Sierras now and when I got up into town, there are a couple of places where you can see the mountains around Tahoe. By the end of summer, there is almost no snow at all. There are a couple of places where there is a bit of it, but even on the very top you can't see anything but granite. It has been interesting to see the differences. One year here we did get a blizzard and there was no electricity for four days. There was about 4' of snow in town at 3210' elevation. So we get snow some years, but usually not very much.

You are in a beautiful area. Mt. Baker is a real show to see on a clear morning. My DH and I went up there to Oregon last year to see his sister and we could see a lot of the mountains. It is beautiful. We went to Crater Lake and it was just gorgeous that day. Clear and cold and the lake was so blue. I hadn't been there in years and it was nice to see it again.

You know, when it comes right down to it, I don't think any of us really know what is going to happen next. We can have educated ideas about it, but sometimes nature just doesn't go along with our ideas even though we study it for years. It never quite does what we always expect. There are going to be surprises along the way and we just learn to deal with it. Sometimes it is not so good. Other times it is fantastic.

Now we watch Eyjaf to see what will happen next. None of us knows for sure. Still it has been quite a ride so far and I hope it will not get any more explosive than it already has.

Thanks all for the info and to Erik for a great blog.

Nice job, Dr. Klemetti. We've come a long way from the house on 12th Street. Keep up the good work!

Kudos Erik, you're a great host, and very patient with us little trolls filling up comment threads !

@Behncke

Thank-you very much! Now we can watch this along with Redoubt. We live on the west coast (California) and we keep a weather eye on Lassan and Shasta as they are only a couple of hours away!

Don't mind Mr. Kruger. He is quite cantankerous, and if you really want to see him go nuts, visit Effect Measure. You can see him foaming at the mouth.

I saw something about that subject on TV last night. Great post.