There she blows!! ... again...

The sixth big eruption just a little bit ago, not including "six or seven" smaller eruptions, for Mt. Redoubt.

I've been taking in a lot of the comparisons, from Mudflats for instance, of the Alaska political volcanoes and the Alaska natural volcanoes.

So far, I prefer the natural... though I don't know that the folks up in Talkeetna, Skwenta, etc., who are getting the brunt of the ashfall may think the same thing.

But explosive, ring of fire metaphors abound in this environment. One question:

Did anyone else hear the volcano guy say this thing could go off for the next FIVE MONTHS?

Really? He didn't really mean that, right?

UPDATE: Okay, not a real update, but I just saw this on KTUU.com:

Alaska Airlines has taken a chartered aircraft and four senior pilots to do some test flights to make sure it's safe to fly.

Uh...

So I'm no pilot, but if I was, the last test to see if it's "okay to fly" would NOT be going up and flying.

Mt. Redoubt erupted!

From KTUU:

The volcano erupted at 10:38 p.m., according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. The Air Force says the ash cloud, estimated to be as high as 50,000 feet, is expected to arrive in Anchorage by 2 a.m.

UPDATE: Watching the news, and it looks like it might miss us, though. Ash fall expected in Talkeetna, Willow area (sounds like it's already falling) but Anchorage might get missed. This volcano has been threatening to go FOREVER now.

You can follow the Alaska Volcano Observatory updates on Twitter - alaska_avo.

Sweet. Looping radar images. I don't totally understand what I'm seeing, but you might.