La Soufriere Volcano in St Vincent Erupts on its 42nd Anniversary

The La Soufriere volcano in St Vincent erupted again on Tuesday, marking exactly 42 years of its 1979 explosive episode. The Seismic Research Centre (SRC) of the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) reported that the eruption began at 6:30 am (local time) and is still being observed.

42 years to the day that it erupted, La Soufriere commemorates her own anniversary with another explosive episode. It began at 6:30 am and is still being observed. We continue to monitor. #lasoufriere #svg #uwi #redalert #stilldangerous @VincieRichie @soufriere_hills pic.twitter.com/S3NN0imI8Y

— UWISeismic Research (@uwiseismic) April 13, 2021

“We continue to monitor and update accordingly,” the SRC said, warning” the volcano is at alert level Red”. It said that seismic activity is continuing along the pattern established on Monday with short bands of continuous seismic tremor interspersed with long-period earthquakes. “Following the latest band of tremor, at 1:30 am, the long-period earthquakes have steadily become more frequent. Audible venting was heard associated with some periods of tremor and long-period earthquake activity. “The volcano continues to erupt explosively and has now begun to generate pyroclastic density currents – hot (200°C-700°C), ground-hugging flows of ash and debris. Explosions and accompanying ashfall, of similar or larger magnitude, are likely to continue to occur over the next few days impacting St. Vincent and neighboring islands,” the SRC added. The volcano hadn’t erupted since 1979 and La Soufrière has a history of deadly eruptions. Records show that in 1902, the volcano erupted for nearly eight months. CMC