Articles · Earth and Geological
Everything about Volcanic Eruption
6 articles across NWS
Eruptions of lava, ash, and gases from volcanoes. The U.S. has 161 active volcanoes, most in Alaska, Hawaii, and the Pacific Northwest.
Disaster History
Case studies and disaster history
Armero 1985: The Volcano That Warned Everyone - and Killed 23,000 Anyway
On November 13, 1985, the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted in Colombia. Scientists had warned Colombian Congress one month earlier. Hazard maps existed. The first small eruption came at 3 PM - authorit
Eyjafjallajökull 2010: Zero Deaths, $1.7 Billion in Losses - How a Modest Volcano Shut Down European Airspace for Six Days
On April 14, 2010, Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland erupted beneath a thick ice cap, producing a plume of fine volcanic ash that rose 9 km into the atmosphere and spread across Northern Europe on prevailin
Kīlauea 2018: Seven Hundred Homes in the Highest Volcanic Hazard Zone on Earth - and the Lava Flow Maps That Said So
From May to August 2018, Kīlauea's Lower East Rift Zone eruption covered 35.5 square kilometers of lava, destroyed over 700 structures, inundated 48 kilometers of roads, and produced the most destruct
Mount St. Helens 1980: The Eruption That Rewrote Volcano Science
On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted laterally - not upward - killing 57 people and leveling 150 square miles of forest in seconds. Here is what it teaches us about volcanic risk and the limits o
Pinatubo 1991: The Volcano That Threatened 1 Million People - and Killed Only a Few Hundred
In June 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted in the second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. The volcano had been dormant for approximately 600 years and was not even listed in