Mount Redoubt: 5 explosions and counting

Heather Bleick / AVO / USGS

Redoubt volcano spews steam and ash from a crater on its north flank March 15, 2009. Ash fall was limited to the south crater floor, rim, and extending south-southeast.

Fifth explosion rocks Mount Redoubt volcano

By GEORGE BRYSON
gbryson@adn.com

An erupting Mount Redoubt exploded again this morning at 4:31 a.m. -- its fifth and strongest discharge yet -- sending an ash cloud to new heights, the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported.

Ash has now been detected at an elevation of 60,000 feet above sea level, the National Weather Service reported.

Winds are still carrying the ash plume north toward the Susitna Valley, and minor ash fall has already been reported in Skwentna, the weather service said.

Ash is not expected in Anchorage or Wasilla at this time, the weather service said. READ THE FULL STORY AT ADN.COM.

AVO issues ash advisory for Redoubt

UPDATE from twitter:

alaska_avo As of 12:27AM March 23, 2009, AVO has recorded three large explosions at Redoubt volcano at the following times:March 22 10:38PMMarch 22 11:02PMMarch 23 00:14AMThe National Weather Service has issued an Ashfall Advisory. Link: http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/volcano.php about 32 seconds ago from Twittermail

UPDATE:
Reports say the ash plume is headed north and ashfall is expected to be light.

Mount Redoubt erupts

Mount Redoubt erupted at about 11:38 p.m. tonight. The ash plume is estimated at 50,000 feet above sea level. Mount Redoubt is approximately 100 miles southeast of Anchorage. I'll keep everyone posted.

I'm following the news on adn.com, the U.S. Geological Survey, and twitter.

The ash plume is expected to reach Anchorage at approximately 2 a.m. Alaska time.

A sad week in journalism

It has been a sad week in journalism. It was really no surprise, but still a sting when the Seattle P-I ran it's presses for the last time. The P-I's excelling alternative story-telling and creative "big type" designs always inspired my work. In fact, my Idaho Press Club 1st Place award winning design was inspired by a P-I headline format. It's stark crisp white and bold black look also gave me a lot of great ideas for the Daily Evergreen's redesign in 2006.

At the same time many of us at McClatchy newspapers waited on the edge of our seats to hear how as 15 percent cut in workforce would break down at the individual newspapers. The ADN let 47 go Thursday (nearly a fifth of it's workforce) and gave pay cuts to most remaining staff members. The Idaho Statesman laid off 25. Many other McClatchy newspapers announced their cuts the same day.

More sadness:
"Freedom Communications to implement one-week furloughs"-- Editor & Publisher
"And then there were nine: 'News-Gazette' to stop all day publication" E&P

Hopefully we'll pick ourselves up and innovate our way out of this mess.

The Iditarod

As it turned out the ceremonial start to the Iditarod ran right past my place. When the festivities began earlier this month my folks were in town for a visit -- and for my dad a business trip. So we stood in the chilly sun to watch them run by on my snow-paved street. Then we ran around to some other Iditarod festivities. Here's some highlights.

Dogs pause while they wait for the musher to untangle one of the lead dogs who got caught up.

A snow-sculpute contest proved to be more artistic that I expected.

Alaskan vendors brought out their finest furs.

A local brewery hosted an ice-bowling championship.

I got to take my very only sled ride (my mom did, too). During the loop, the musher who stood on the back of the sled told me how he's grown up raising sled dogs with his entire family. He has entering his first junior level race this fall.

And of course we sampled some local Alaskan ales.

The mountain sleeps

Mount Redoubt has been downgraded from watch to advisory. Aviation alert levels have reduced from orange to yellow.

The balancing act

In my new job as layout coordinator, I figure out how many pages should be in the newspaper. This means making sure there are new requirements are met without stretching the ads so thin the newspaper costs more than it brings in.

So it's a fine balancing act and quite a bit of elementary math to determine percentages, factor house ads and make sure there are enough color spots for all the full process ads.

In the various newsrooms I have worked, we talked a lot about solving the profit riddle. In my new position I feel like I'm weighing the odds on a daily basis.

I'm anxiously waiting to hear how individual papers, mine included, decide how to conform with McClatchy's latest announcement to restructure.

SIDE NOTE: The Iditarod teams ran right by my apartment complex last weekend. They literally shut down the only entrance to parking lot for it. I'll have pictures posted soon. They and my camera are attending a work conference with Joshua in Nashville.