Drier than average weather has slightly decreased the level of the crater lake inside Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand’s largest volcano.
It was predicted that rising waters inside the crater lake would erode a tephra dam blocking the water, leading to a lahar either last month or this month. Thanks to the current weather however, Department of Conservation scientists are predicting that the potential lahar may not happen until April.
See also:
Ruapehu - The mountain that will explode.
Massey University - Ruapehu lahar emergency response process.
New Zealand: Ruapehu lahar finally let loose.
Lahar fears on Mt. Ruapehu
Website metrics from 2007
Latest USGS Corecast - March Hazard Roundup
Mapping Jokulhlaups
[...] Yesterday an anticipated, but nevertheless dramatic geologic event occurred - a lahar roared down the slopes of Mount Ruapehu in New Zealand. I first caught the news via a Technorati blog search on the term “geology” which pointed me to a post at NZ Weather (which, in turn, points to some good local news sources). Shortly thereafter I found an AP story picked up by Yahoo News. What particularly intrigued me was the spectacular b-roll (unnarrated video) footage of the lahar courtesy of AP Video (link no longer available) that accompanied the original story. That video has since been supplemented and narrated and can be viewed here. The unnarrated b-roll, though, is what really captured my imagination. It contains some spectacular helicopter footage of the lahar in progress and the tephra dam that failed at the summit crater lake. The educational uses would be amazing! I want that footage! [...]
How big was the Explosion and why did it explode