Alaskan volcano spews ash 20,000 feet in the air

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 28 (UPI) -- A volcano has erupted on the Alaskan Aleutian Islands, spewing hot ash 20,000 feet in the air and prompting aviation warnings, authorities said Sunday.

Pavlof Volcano, about 600 miles southwest of Anchorage, erupted at 4:18 p.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said. Tremors also occurred.

The volcano "is one of the most consistently active volcanoes in the Aleutian arc," the agency said. Pavlof, about 4.4 miles in diameter, has had 40 known eruptions.

A previous eruption in 2012 spewed ash 27,000 feet, but the Pavlof has produced ash plumes as high as 49,000 feet the Alaska Volcano Observatory said.

It's most recent eruption was Nov. 2014.

Aviation warnings remain at their highest level as the volcano alert remained in effect until at least Monday morning, with ash moving north.

Meanwhile, south of the U.S. border, Mexico's Popocatépetl volcano erupted over the weekend, spewing columns of ash up to a mile high. A 7-mile exclusion zone has been declared around the volcano.