Alaskans brace for Redoubt Volcano eruption

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Source: Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Hardware stores and auto parts shops scored a post-holiday run of business this week as Anchorage-area residents stocked up on protective eyewear and masks ahead of a possible eruption of Mount Redoubt.

Monitoring earthquakes underneath the 10,200-foot Redoubt Volcano about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, scientists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory warned that an eruption was imminent, sending experienced Alaskans shopping for protection against a dusty shower of volcanic ash that could descend on south-central Alaska.
...
On Nov. 5, geologists noted changed emissions and minor melting near the Redoubt summit and raised the threat level from green to yellow. It jumped to orange — the stage just before eruption — on Sunday in response to a sharp increase in earthquake activity below the volcano.

Alaska's volcanoes are not like Hawaii's. "Most of them don't put out the red river of lava," said the observatory's John Power.

Instead, they typically explode and shoot ash 30,000 to 50,000 feet high — more than nine miles — into the jet stream.

"It's a very abrasive kind of rock fragment," Power said. "It's not the kind of ash that you find at the base of your wood stove."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090130/ap_on_re_us/alaska_volcano

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1. Or maybe Sarah Palin is pissed that her 15 minutes of fame is over.

It's hard to tell.

[SpiralHawk]

2. ...or Mom Nature is barfing in response to Palin & her adoring

Republicon Homelander cadre of widestance Family Values wankers

[struggle4progress]

6. She'll be in DC buffin her image so her new PAC doesn't go belly-up

[acmavm]

3. One of the first things I saw when I lived in Anchorage was Earthquake Park.

Quite an eye-opener. A good lesson of what Mother Nature can do.

[Ian David]

4. Let's sacrifice a virgin!

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5. You mean the six-year old?

Not sure the others qualify.

[damntexdem]

8. Where are you going to find one?

Certainly not in THAT family!

[dgibby]

16. In lieu of a virgin,

how about a high ranking gov't official!

[damntexdem]

7. Sarah must be able to see it from her front porch!

Does the mountain look anything like Putin's head? Maybe she just wasn't clear about who or what was invading Alaskan air space. Maybe Mt. Redoubt made Sarah make an ash of herself. ;-)

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9. So many bad puns...

so little time.

(sigh)

[roguevalley]

10. Redoubt is fifty miles from me. I live within the spew range of four

active volcanoes: Spur (which has a webcam), Illiamna, Augustine and Redoubt. The last time it blew, it was midnight at noon. I remember seeing a plume go up into the blue sky as I was walking from the pharmacy to the library, about half a football field's distance. I ran and barely made it to the library before the ash buried us. It made lightning around my car when I drove early in the morning from my town to Homer. Lightning, orange light and ash fall that looked like a heavy snow. Awesome thing. I hate volcanoes.

[alfredo]

11. They are a mixed blessing. The soil around them is very rich, but then

there is the chance they will want to redecorate the countryside around them

[roguevalley]

12. truly. I hate the sulfuric smell and the ash ending up EVERYWHERE.

You can't drive in this without precautions or your engine is toast.

[alfredo]

13. I'm glad I am not in a volcano area anymore. We just have tornadoes and

other midwest miseries.

[roguevalley]

14. Yikes. I hate wind storms. :(

[alfredo]

15. Tornadoes are so scary. They are so unpredictable and so violent.

Right now we are digging out of a brutal ice storm. Two, three hundred year old trees have been damaged.

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17. We were safe from this ice storm but got nailed on the last one

I live in northern New England and we were out of power for about a week.

I managed to rig up the car as a cheapo generator (just to charge my cell phone and little electronic things like that), had to go to Home Depot and buy some 5 gallon jugs of water just so we could flush the toilets, and somehow I managed to score the last pair of D-cell batteries within 50 miles.

We eventually got it down to a science, but the novelty of power loss wears off real quick.

[alfredo]

20. Last ice storm we covered all windows and cocooned. We had a Kroger

nearby that had power, so we had hot food. It got down to 38 in the house before the heat came back on.

Because I worked outdoors much of my life, I knew how to dress warm We even had sleeping bags rated for 20 below. We had plenty candles and batteries. We played board games, and slept most of the downtime.

[jkshaw]

25. Goodness, roguevalley,

that is truly frightening. When you say it was midnight at noon, was it in the dead of winter then?

[d_b]

18. bring it on

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19. What the hell is that thing???

Looks like it's made out of socks, underwear, and velcro.

[scytherius]

21. Inside Alaska's Explosive Redoubt Volcano

Source: AP

Mount Redoubt volcano in Alaska could erupt within days to weeks, say scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, amazing the rest of us with their certainty.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090130/sc_livescience/insidealaskasexplosiveredoubtvolcano

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You know the coolest thing about this? Sarah Palin is now a Volcanologist!!!

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22. Gotta claim a dupe on this one

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3714376

[THUNDER HANDS]

23. combined

your thread and this one were merged like a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You get to be the jelly. Thanks.

TH

[RedCloud]

24. Palin should pray it goes away.

Fundies should go in mass and pray. Not wet their undies in fear.