Mount Redoubt spews more ash in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 28 (UPI) -- Alaska's volcanic Mount Redoubt, in an early Saturday eruption marked by lightning that cast an eerie glow, sent ash rocketing into the sky, witnesses said.

The National Weather Service said the ash plume reached a height of 50,000 feet when Redoubt spouted about 1:20 a.m. AKDT. An ash fall advisory for the region expired at noon and no ash was expected to reach Anchorage, the weather service said.

Photographs posted by Bretwood Higman on groundtruthtrekking.org showed an array of lightning bolts streaking across the sky above the volcano, turning the cloud-filled sky orange and yellow.

The Anchorage Daily News reported the latest eruption did not interrupt air travel in the region.

Saturday's volcanic activity followed eruptions at 7:25 p.m. and 11:20 p.m. Friday. Mount Redoubt, located about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, awoke from its dormancy last Sunday and the Alaska Volcano Observatory says the pattern could continue for months, the Daily News said.

During its last active period, Redoubt produced 23 distinct eruptions between December 1989 and April 1990. Before that, there were a series of bursts beginning in 1965 that lasted for a couple of years.

Scientists monitoring the volcano say it has melted or evaporated about one-fifth of the Drift Glacier, close to the amount lost in the last eruption cycle.

"So perhaps this eruption is not going to follow that (1989-90) script," hydrologist Chris Waythomas said. "It's still too early to tell."