And for 2024/2025 it looks like Yellowstone might go off

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/23/us/yellowstone-hydrothermal-explosion/index.html

From the linked article: 

Monitoring data show no changes in the Yellowstone region. Today’s explosion does not reflect activity within (the) volcanic system, which remains at normal background levels of activity. Hydrothermal explosions like that of today are not a sign of impending volcanic eruptions, and they are not caused by magma rising towards the surface.

Keith Tanner said:

Monitoring data show no changes in the Yellowstone region. Today’s explosion does not reflect activity within (the) volcanic system, which remains at normal background levels of activity. Hydrothermal explosions like that of today are not a sign of impending volcanic eruptions, and they are not caused by magma rising towards the surface.

Might be scarier that there was no warning and there are no aftershocks though.

In reply to chandler :

I dunno, the whole thing about the geysers is that they just kinda boil over. Walking around that area, you don't always know when one's going to go off and they don't really know what the plumbing looks like underground. This was probably just a buildup of steam that went pop.

I was near Yellowstone at next door Grand Tetons during the total solar eclipse in 2017 and was sure that if Yellowstone was going to blow it would be caused by the added pull of gravity from both the sun and moon aligning directly overhead. It didn't which was a good thing but also a little bit of a bummer.

Keith Tanner said:

From the linked article: 

Monitoring data show no changes in the Yellowstone region. Today’s explosion does not reflect activity within (the) volcanic system, which remains at normal background levels of activity. Hydrothermal explosions like that of today are not a sign of impending volcanic eruptions, and they are not caused by magma rising towards the surface.

Cant we just rejoice in the impending doom?

Last week a car crashed into a geyser (or a 'thermal feature', depending on the news source.)  I think you really have to screw up to do something like that, perhaps it plugged up one hole and another one took the additional pressure.

For some reason my news feed has been reporting a lot from Yellowstone recently.  It seems like the idiot tourists are out in force this year, about every other day someone gets charged by a bison or a bear because they got too close.

When we were there, it was mobbed by tourists even though it was fairly late in the year. And holy cow, would working as a park ranger make you lose your faith in humanity. Young guys going off the path because they were vets and had therefore earned the right do whatever they want in a park (yes, that's what I was told when I called a guy out for cutting corners on a trail). Chinese tour groups made up of China's upper class, the people who don't get told what to do so signs only apply to the little people. The instagrammers being idiots and trying to get close to the fluffy cows. Just general disrespect for the park and other visitors.

If I ever go back, it's gonna be in the winter.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Go right after Labor Day.

I looked onto the Yellowstone supervolcano and what an eruption might look like. After learning about the scale and aftereffects I took the whole topic and put it into the category of "literally not worth worrying about."

Either nothing will happen, or it won't matter.

Don't worry about it. When that bastard blows, kiss your ass goodbye. Humanity is finished.

Keith Tanner said:

When we were there, it was mobbed by tourists even though it was fairly late in the year. And holy cow, would working as a park ranger make you lose your faith in humanity. 

My best friend worked summers at Yellowstone when we were teenagers 50 years ago.  He had a lot of stories about idiot tourists, but it wasn't anywhere as bad as it is today.

We're not lucky enough for it to go boom. Though I do hold out hope.

In the same vein that I'm not lucky enough for the house to get hit by a tornado. 

stuart in mn said:

Keith Tanner said:

When we were there, it was mobbed by tourists even though it was fairly late in the year. And holy cow, would working as a park ranger make you lose your faith in humanity. 

My best friend worked summers at Yellowstone when we were teenagers 50 years ago.  He had a lot of stories about idiot tourists, but it wasn't anywhere as bad as it is today.

My mom worked in the closest real hospital to Yellowstone.  The only thing that has changed is the volume of visitors- the numbers track it perfectly.  The stupidity is pretty much the same- when I was younger, I saw people run off after a bear.  We followed for a little while until we heard they were chasing cubs- when we did a quick 180.  And the number of people who don't seem to realize how dangerous a bison is...  they are no cows, people.  The least dangerous game animal is a deer- just because the odds of dying from being stamped is slightly less since they are relatively light.

AClockworkGarage said:

I looked onto the Yellowstone supervolcano and what an eruption might look like. After learning about the scale and aftereffects I took the whole topic and put it into the category of "literally not worth worrying about."

Either nothing will happen, or it won't matter.

Been saying this about the gigantic earthquake that the west coast has been supposedly overdue to have for the last 50 years.

Gives the talking heads in the media something to carry on about though.

Mr_Asa said:

And for 2024/2025 it looks like Yellowstone might go off

Clickbait!

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Mineral deposits build up, restricting the regular geothermal venting until the pressure builds up behind the deposit buildup and then pops some deposits free then wheeeee. 

In reply to ShawnG :

Yes, the Cascadia Subduction. That's going to be a mess. The general school of thought there is anything west of I-5 will be a total loss.

Real thing, going to be a nightmare. There's no such thing as overdue. It'll happen when it happens. If I survive the initial quake, I have 45 minutes to get out of the valley, otherwise it doesn't matter.

If Tahoma (Rainer) erupts, I have 45 minutes to get out of the valley otherwise it doesn't matter.

If somebody nukes JBLM, it doesn't matter.

There's a lot of bad stuff that just isn't worth worrying about.

Here is a diagram of the past Yellowstone eruption calderas and a Google Earth map I made a while back. Please note that the hot spot is overdue to blow again and following the trend, it should next erupt near Granite Peak, the tallest mountain in Montana.

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

Or it will just open an area, and just flow lava all over the place- which is what it did for much of the previous time.  You can see it very nicely at Craters of the Moon National Monument.  And all of the buttes in SE ID.  Yes, there were some big and dirty ones- the silt dirt is pretty nasty in SE ID (but it grows tasty potatoes).  But there's no real certainly what will happen.  Just a lot options- some life ending, others just a major PITA for a million years. 

In reply to alfadriver :

I vaguely remember visiting the Canyon Visitor Education Center in Yellowstone and looking at the cube models of the various eruption ejecta which portrayed the volume in 1 cubic mile squares. Looking stuff up right now says that the Yellowstone eruption ejected at least 240 cubic miles of stuff and the Big Bend Ridge, Snake River, and Red Mountains caldera segments ejected some 588 cubic miles.

I am looking to see if I can find a photo of that display. (found it, in cubic kilometers)

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

I'm not saying it won't have a massive blow up.  Just that it's one of many possibilities.  Especially based on what that hot spot has done in the past.  Could be as little as nothing, could be a million years of lava flow, could be stereotypical volcano cone set up, could be a massive surface blow up.  And I don't know what the relatively young Teton Range to the south will do to it- could be part of one of those.

The only thing I'm more sure than not about is that we can't do anything about whatever it will do.

In reply to alfadriver :

I don't know enough about any of it but I agree with you. At least I'm not directly downwind of it although I'm only 500 miles away inside its cone of destruction. 

For comparison, Mt St Helens ejected some 1.25 cubic kilometers of stuff.