Strong winds in the vicinity of Katmai and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes have picked up loose volcanic ash erupted during the 1912 Novarupta-Katmai eruption and carried it to the northwest this afternoon. The National Weather Service has issued a SIGMET for this low-level event and suggests that the maximum cloud height is 6,000 ft above sea level

This phenomenon is not the result of recent volcanic activity and occurs during times of high winds and dry snow-free conditions in the Katmai area and other young volcanic areas of Alaska. No eruption is in progress. All of the volcanoes of the Katmai area (Snowy, Griggs, Katmai, Novarupta, Trident, Mageik, Martin) remain at color code GREEN.

Resuspended volcanic ash should be considered hazardous and could be damaging to aircraft and health. For more information on volcanic ash and human health, visit the following website: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ash/. Official warnings about these ash resuspension events are issued by the National Weather Service: https://www.weather.gov/afc/. Forecasts of airborne ash hazard to aircraft: https://www.weather.gov/aawu/. Volcanic Ash Advisories: https://www.weather.gov/vaac/. Forecasts of ash fall: http://www.weather.gov/afc. Air quality hazards and guidance from Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Air Quality: http://dec.alaska.gov/Applications/Air/airtoolsweb/Advisories/Index

Strong winds blowing to the northwest in the region northwest of Aniakchak and east of Port Heiden have picked up loose volcanic ash and carried it to the northwest today. A dense cloud of possible resuspended volcanic ash was observed near ground levels in a web camera at Port Heiden. The height of this cloud is not known, but resuspended ash clouds are typically from sea level up to 5 km in altitude.

This phenomenon is not the result of volcanic activity and usually occurs seasonally in the spring and fall during times of high winds and dry snow-free conditions in volcanic areas of Alaska. No eruption is in progress. Aniakchak remains at GREEN.

Resuspended volcanic ash should be considered hazardous and could be damaging to aircraft and health. For more information on volcanic ash and human health, visit the following website: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ash/. Official warnings about these ash resuspension events are issued by the National Weather Service: http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/ . Forecasts of airborne ash hazard to aircraft: http://aawu.arh.noaa.gov . Volcanic Ash Advisories: http://vaac.arh.noaa.gov/ . Forecasts of ash fall: http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/ . Air quality hazards and guidance from Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Air Quality: http://dec.alaska.gov/Applications/Air/airtoolsweb/Advisories/Index