A Brand New Month and a Brand New Eruption at Mount Warning

This morning started in a very interesting way. I wasn’t sure but there was some shaking of my house. I just thought it was a garbage truck going by so I thought little more of it. That was until I drove to work and looked out at Mount Warning. The clouds that hang around the peak in the morning (often to the dismay of tourists watching the sunrise from its peak) looked just a little odd shaped and darker. Again, I thought nothing of it.

What I didn’t know I had just experienced was one of the many small earthquakes that struck the region last night and continue today. You can see the latest seismic readings from geoscience Australia here. The clouds were actually not morning clouds but small amounts of ash and steam rising from the peak as a new vent opened up (the first in a very long time). Australia has not had a volcano erupt on the mainland since pre-colonial times and even those volcanoes erupted in Victoria and South Australia, no-where near our pretty part of the world.

The news websites are going very busy and I know that there are some interesting Instagram and facebook pictures going around already. I should have one of my own pictures up shortly. By all accounts there is little danger away from the mountain but people intending to visit the national park should be aware of the dangers present and not attempt to climb if they see any evidence of Holocene lava.