I remember Sunday morning, 18 May 1980 at 8:32 am. I was up and getting ready for church. On this sunny morning, there was a great warm blast of air that came streaming in my window with force. It was very unusual. It wasn't until later that I learned that Mount St Helens in Washington state had erupted. I was living in Victoria, BC at the time. We experienced ash depositing on everything, but not like those in the US.
From The Washington Post — Early Thursday morning, southern Italy woke up to see this remarkable display — Mount Etna, Sicily’s tallest peak and active volcano, was erupting after two years of silence.
The sky glowed red above Sicily, seen above from Calabria, Italy’s most southern region. The skies were cloudless on Thursday morning and Mount Etna was capped in white snow.
Mount Etna on a sunny quiet day. (Wikipedia)
Mount Etna on a sunny quiet day. (geology.com)
Then early on Thursday morning, nature broke loose.
Click through for some more images. The images following are from The Huffington Post and show the raw power of the volcano's eruption.
Mount Etna 2002 eruption
The earth's fury can be awesome to witness, but very terrifying at the same time.
5 Responses to “The Earth Unlocked”
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Thanks Lynn, beautiful photos of an event you don't want to get too close to. Etna has never been dormant very long and has been erupting quite regularly. Mostly just spectacular but not too dangerous, but there have been times that the area needed to be evacuated and air traffic rerouted, but nothing as major as the Icelandic eruptions some years ago. Let's hope it stays with "spectacular"and nothing more.
Mother Nature at her best.
Beautiful pictures!
Thanks, Lynn.
Mount Etna: Incredible video of the volcano erupting for first time in two years
Timelapse video shows the moment a rare “dirty thunderstorm” broke out, creating a stunning picture over Sicily’s skyline.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mount-etna-video-volcano-eruption-explosion-erupt-sicily-a6760171.html
Nature can be stunningly beautiful as well as terrifying at the same time. Volcanos are awesome.
Worst eruption killed 20,000 in the 17th century.
Thanks, Squatch! Stunningly beautiful!
At least Republicans can't blame this on legalized abortion. Though they'll probably try to blame it on Pope Francis for preaching mercy and other things that Jesus preached.