Alaska Volcano Ash Reaches Town, Breaches 20,000-foot Threshold

Aviation warnings remain at the second highest level above Pavlof Volcano in Alaska as the mountain continues to erupt, releasing clouds of volcanic gas and ash skyward, occasionally breaching the 20,000-foot threshold considered to be a significant threat to transcontinental aircraft.

On Sunday the Alaskan Volcano Observatory (AVO) reported a plume of steam, ash and gas occasionally reaching as high as 22,000 feet above sea level and residents of Sand Point, a city of 1,000 people about 55 miles east of the volcano, reported ash from Mt. Pavlof covering their cars.

Early Monday morning an ash plume rose to 19,500 feet, the Associated Press reported.

For the aviation warning to be elevated from orange to the highest level, red, ash would have to rise to 30,000 feet, the AVO's Kristi Wallace said to the Associated Press.

Pavlof, an 8,262-foot stratovolcano about 625 miles southwest of Anchorage, has been erupting since May 13.

When Pavlof last erupted in 2007, the event lasted 29 days.

"The 2007 eruption was, perhaps, short compared to past eruption in historical times. It's most common that eruptions at Pavlof go on for months," said Wallace.

To the west, isolated in the Aleutian Island chain, Mt. Cleveland has been erupting since May 4. No ground sensors at the base Cleveland make remote location more difficult to monitor. AVO has received no reports of ash emission or other indications of eruptive activity over the past 24 hours at Mt. Cleveland.