The Yellowstone volcano is fine. Despite a report to the contrary, an eruption at the Yellowstone volcano is not impending at the moment.
An article with the headline “Yellowstone Evacuated: Experts Claim ‘Super Volcano’ Could Erupt Within Weeks” made its way around alternative forums and blogs this week.
The article, from the Civic Tribune, claimed that the park was “hastily evacuated” because of fear of an eruption happening “sooner than previously expected.”
“Researchers on-site claim that the 640,000 year-old super volcano has exhibited a sudden spike of activity which indicates that it could erupt in as little as two weeks. The explosion caused by the volcano would very well throw all of United States into a 200 year long volcanic winter, with ash blotting out the sun, and pyroclastic flow irreparably damaging the surrounding ecosystem,” it said.
The article also claimed that the recent road melting was one of the indications of an eruption happening soon, while quoting a senior volcanologist Richard Dunn as saying “This is something which could have never been accurately determined ahead of time. This unpredictable flux of activity is quite concerning, and flies in the face of all our previous studies in regards to this particular volcano. Our chief concern at this point is getting people to safety.”
People can calm down, though--Civic Tribune is a satire website. The site also took down the story and appears to be completely down at the moment.
People over at godlikeproductions, an alternative forum, believed the story for a little while before some pointed out that the story had been taken down and that Civic Tribune isn’t a real website.
While Yellowstone’s supervolcano can blow hypothetically at any time, scientists are monitoring different aspects of the caldera around the clock, and say they could give at least a week’s warning if an eruption were on its way.
If an eruption were on its way, an evacuation would happen and other contingency plans would be put into place--a large eruption, as has happened three times in the last 2.1 million years, would impact much of the United States as well as other parts of the world.
The U.S. Geological Service said in its latest monthly update for Yellowstone that everything is fine and has the volcano alert level is at normal.
