Fuego volcano in Guatemala: a fiery cloud 6 km long!

The increase in activity that began on the night of July 2 led to the formation of at least one lava flow from the summit of the volcano. Due to the slope, part of this flow collapsed, causing fiery clouds in one of the ravines of the volcano. For the moment, only a few ash fallout in the surrounding villages are reported.

the volcano Fuego is a volcano with a strombolian activity permanent since 2002. This eruption benefits tourists who come to observe the fire of natural fireworks offered by the volcano several times an hour, from the slopes of neighboring volcanoes, Acatenango in particular. But from time to time, the activity intensifies and threatens the inhabitants of the villages at the foot of the volcano, sometimes causing disasters, the latest being that of the June 3, 2018.

A fairly classic eruptive paroxysm

For the second time this year, eruptive activity intensified this weekend at the top of the volcano. A lava flow formed on the southwestern flank of the volcano and, as with the previous paroxysm in early March, the detachment of pieces of wash in the slope at the front of the flow generated fiery clouds. The longest reached six kilometers in the Ceniza ravine, south-southwest of the volcano, but it is possible that they impacted other areas around the volcano. The ashes produced by the explosive activity at the top and by these fiery clouds rose to an altitude of 6 km and then fell in certain villages in the sector.

Eruption of the Fuego volcano in Guatemala with fiery clouds of 7 km

The eruptive activity of Fuego, in Guatemala, has intensified in recent days. Long pyroclastic flows formed on its southwestern flank, recalling the disaster of June 3, 2018 on this volcano, which left 200 victims and as many missing. Three hundred and seventy people were evacuated.

Article of Ludovic Leducpublished on March 9, 2022

In Guatemala, the Fuego volcano has been in continuous eruption since 2002, with Strombolian explosions at summit level forming plumes of ash several hundred meters high several times per hour. But this activity is variable and sometimes intensifies…

Important pyroclastic flows

On March 5, the overflow of lava at the crater caused a lava flow on the southwestern flank of the volcano, followed the following evening by an intensification of explosive activity, the explosions becoming stronger and closer together with time. On the morning of March 7, the local volcanologists thus described almost continuous explosions at the top of the volcano and two lava flows: the old one, 400 meters long now, and a new one to the northwest, 300 meters long.

But the sides of this volcano being particularly steep, the lava flows there are unstable. And if the crumbling of the flow front generates avalancheswhen larger pieces break off, this forms pyroclastic flows which spread widely speed in the ravines where these lava flows flow. A number of these clouds of gas and ashes were observed, mainly in the Ceniza ravine to the south-west of the volcano, and sometimes with a substantial magnitude: the largest pyroclastic flows reached seven kilometers in length!

This distance corresponds approximately to that of the closest dwellings to the crater, which is why evacuations took place in two villages southwest of the volcano.