Southern Alaska's Mount Redoubt Erupts for Fifth Time Since Sunday Night

The United States Geological Survey is reporting that Southern Alaska's renowned Mount Redoubt has erupted five times since it exploded back to life on Sunday night. The activity was correctly predicted by the Alaska Volcano Observatory, which raised the volcano alert level to red when the eruptions started occurring. Red is the highest warning alert level that can be released and it signals that an eruption or a series of eruptions is imminent.

Mount Redoubt had not been active for two decades as it had not erupted since 1989. Remarkably, the Southern Alaskan volcano erupted continuously for approximately five months the last time it was active and experts are predicting that explosive activity will continue to take place in the coming months this time around.

United States Geological Survey geophysicist John Power commented on the future state of Mount Redoubt during a news conference by saying, "I understand a number of commercial flights have been canceled coming in and out of Anchorage International Airport. We could see disruptions to air travel to south-central Alaska and Alaska as a whole for a period of weeks to months."

The United States Geological Survey has estimated that the height of the eruption cloud that generated above Mount Redoubt reached 50,000 feet in the air.