Tuesday: A Third Explosion Rocks St. Vincent

ST. VINCENT, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Tuesday, April 13, 2021) — Vincentians awoke to another explosive eruption of La Soufriere volcano, this morning.

Photo courtesy of the UWI Seismic Research Centre.

The UWI Seismic Research Centre reported that the explosion occurred at 6:30 am, and huge ash clouds could be seen rising in the early morning skies.

La Soufriere moved into an explosive phase, last Friday, depositing large quantities of ash, across most of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  Neighbouring Barbados has also been receiving significant deposits, and Saint Lucia and Grenada have also been affected.

Scientists monitoring the volcano say the eruption on Monday, triggered dangerous pyroclastic flows – fast moving flows of broken rocks, ash and gas – which crawled down the sides of the volcano, and, in one instance, reached the coastline.

Here is the latest Update from the UWI Seismic Research Centre, issued at 6:00 a.m. shortly before this morning’s explosive eruption:
La Soufriere Scientific Update – 13/04/21 6:00AM

1. Seismic activity at La Soufrière St Vincent continued the pattern, established yesterday, with short bands of continuous seismic tremor, interspersed with long-period earthquakes.
2. Following the latest band of tremor, at 1:30 am, the long-period earthquakes have steadily become more frequent.
3. Audible venting was heard, associated with some periods of tremor and long-period earthquake activity.
4. 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.
5. Explosions and accompanying ash-fall, of similar or larger magnitude, are likely to continue to occur, over the next few days, impacting St. Vincent and neighbouring islands.
6. The volcano is at alert level Red.
7. Visit the International Volcanic Hazard Health Network for information and resources on living with volcanic ash.www.ivhhn.org/information.