The snow has turned grey around the Shevelush volcano in Kamchatka after its continuous and intense eruptive activity of the last 2 days.
The KVERT momentarily changed the Sheveluch’s aviation code from orange to RED at 00:45 UTC on December 30, 2018 when a powerful eruption sent two plumes of ash high in the air.
The first plume rose up to 11 km asl drifting 35 km to the northeast. The second plume reached 7 km asl, drifting 244 km to the west-southwest of the volcano.
About 6 hours later, at 6:14, the alert level was reduced to ORANGE, since the volcano ‘only’ emitted ash plumes reaching 5-6 km asl and drifting 245 km to the southwest then to the west.
On January 1, 2019, the eruptive activity of the volcano continues. A strong gas-steam plume with some amount of ash on the height 4.5 km a.s.l. continues to drift to the south from the volcano. Ash explosions up to 32,800-49,200 ft (10-15 km) a.s.l. could occur at any time.
The ongoing volcanic activity of Sheveluch volcano could affect international and low-flying aircrafts.
