Attention Hikers: Mount Rainier Is NOT Erupting
After locals sighted a plume above the summit of Tahoma, the National Park Service rushed to reassure its social media followers.
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Here is a thing a national park tweeted today:
Mount Rainier is NOT erupting. We have looked at the cloud that has caused concern from multiple webcams and have determined that it is a lenticular cloud. In addition, the USGS reports no indications of unusual seismic activity. ~pw
— MountRainierNPS (@MountRainierNPS) September 7, 2022
If, like, us, you are nowhere near Mt. Rainier, you probably found this a little confusing, if also a little comforting. After all, many things are currently not happening in the national parks—more than are happening, even. Yellowstone isn’t collapsing into a giant sinkhole; the alligators at Everglades haven’t achieved sentience; El Capitan hasn’t toppled over. Why single this particular non-disaster out?
If you live within sight of Mt. Rainier, however, the National Park Service’s announcement likely came as a relief. In videos posted to social media, an ominous-looking plume is visible over Rainier’s summit, looking for all the world like a column of smoke escaping from the guts of the volcano. It was convincing enough that even some local meteorologists concluded the peak was venting.
Mt. Rainier appears to be venting. 🗻 @komonews currently has a call in with @MountRainierNPS to confirm. Stay tuned. #wawx #komonews pic.twitter.com/ln6TqZ4hlS
— Kristin Clark (@KClarkWx) September 7, 2022
If today’s vaporous display made some locals concerned, it’s understandable. Rainier is an active volcano, located on a subduction zone where one part of the earth’s crust sinks beneath another. It last experienced a major eruption about 500 years ago—not long at all, in geologic time. The U.S. Geological Survey considers it a meaningful enough threat that it named the peak one of its 16 Decade Volcanoes, which receive extra study and scrutiny. Besides being a destination for hikers and climbers of all stripes, it sits less than 60 miles as the crow flies from a major city. The idea of it going the way of Mt. St. Helens is, to put it lightly, a little nerve-wracking.
The good news: If it’s going to happen, it won’t be today. According to the National Park Service (and the USGS, which quickly jumped in to back them up), today’s display is a lenticular cloud, a kind of flying-saucer-like cloud that often forms downwind of mountains in stable air. So if you’ve got a Wonderland Trail permit this week, there’s no need to give it up.
From 2022