| Date: | 2019-07-04 |
| Time: | 0116 |
| Geyser: | Steamboat |
| Webcam: | No |
| Initial: | No |
| Major/Minor: | Major |
| Duration: | 76m |
| Standardized Duration: | 1h 16m |
| Time Entered: | 2019-07-04 02:55:51 |
| Time Updated: | 2019-09-18 13:23:57 |
| Time Uploaded: | 2019-09-18 13:30:48 |
| Entrant: | Ben VL |
| Observer: | Ben VL, Lisa VL, William, Jody, and Kevin near start |
| Submitted to: | GeyserTimes for iOS |
| Comments: | Epic. - General pre eruption - "Pressure cooker mode" observed by William to start after a single large minor push at 2042. Activity started to pick up again around 0015-0030 with a long series of powerful, yet spaced out minors beginning around 0050-0100. It passed on several opportunities for a Major before 0116 when it had an extremely large minor (30+' heavy SV with 50+' heavy, loud vertical surging in NV) that got me out of my chair screaming. The eruption followed immediately afterward. Beautiful nighttime eruption completely illuminated with three monster flashlights, and a wind direction away from the platforms towards the southern end of the parking lot provided for almost ideal nighttime viewing conditions. Not a very tall eruption. It looked like the wind picked up just above the top of the hill and was chopping the height off. Heavy, heavy water phase at the start. Quieter, less violent seeming (in SB terms) eruption. Weaker pressure waves, and the powerful basey pounding noise was less pronounced as well. Threw some rocks (nowhere near either deck), it did not look like all that many, though it was difficult to tell for sure. Pristine, clear water the whole time despite wind direction, though the runoff was dirty. Heavy water lasted 20-40 minutes before switching to mixed phase, where NV had continuous water primarily in the vertical area, and SV had a thin stream of water coming out of the south end of the vent, with all else being steam. The stream in SV fluctuated in strength, though it gradually wained the whole time. For the later part of the eruption there were times where I thought North was in steam (I noted this at 0219/63m and a couple other times before the end), only to then notice water again. Towards the very end of the water phase there were a few times where NV started sputtering, sort of like a garden hose just after it has just been turned on. For the last 10 minutes it was frequently difficult to tell whether there was still water. But at 0231/76m William and I agreed that it was definitely in steam, and we didn't see water after that. Wind shifted to the platforms shortly after that and we left the lower platform. Runoff started to flow down the hill towards Cistern, and we got to follow the runoff front all the way down the hill as we went to Cistern. Cistern calm and just below overflow when we left just after 0300. Steam audible, but not very loud from parking lot at night. We did not see or hear any pauses or restarts by 0330 or so when we pulled out. I want to apologize to anyone affected by the lack of radio calls. Honestly, I was so cold and tired that I just wanted to get that midnight push over with (so that SB or no, I could go to bed after) that I forgot to call. It also didn't help that a lot of the pre eruptive minors were dragging on and not coming at a frequency that would make me think it was about to erupt, but I should have called them anyway. And I am sorry for that. |
| LisaVL | Time Entered:2020-05-07 11:42:32 Time Uploaded:2020-05-07 11:42:32 Submitted to:Geysertimes.org |