Is Yellowstone going to blow?

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See, I think the reason sensationalist articles like these about impending disasters do so well in the news is because secretly, deep down, everyone has a part of them that wants to see something like this happen. Few people would admit to it, but it's always there.

George Carlin was one of the few who was very vocal about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxK3j9EwCA8

 

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What's been going on with Yellowstone since 2005?

 

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Thanks Trippy for the update. I'll check it out. It's interesting to note that no one was around for the last big supervolcano blast (Toba) approx. 74,000 yeas ago, except for a some club carrying Neandethal dudes. No one knows for sure what will happen exactly up until the final moments when a Supervolcano blows. However, I'm sure it will certainly be a once in a 'final' lifetime experience for those unlucky enough to see it.

 

Talking about Yellowstone erupting is just about the same as talking about the weather. Do you think it's going to rain tomorrow?

 

Yellowstone is going to blow again someday whether the USGS monitors it or not. Actually, giving the world a week or two advanced notice that it's going blow is not going to solve anything, but probably cause worldwide panic instead. If it's going to blow, then let it blow. Where is humanity going to hide from it anyway? Argentina? If that's the case, grab your gold and go.

 

isn't it helpful when hurricanes are predicted? Weather forecasting has come very far.

 

Maybe not in the case of Katrina. Prediction didn't do much good then did it? Even if you are able to predict a super volcano eruption, then what can you do about it? Save yourself? Maybe. But the real key element here is where are you going to go to escape it and what happens in the weeks and months or even years that follows a super volcano eruption? Unless you have stockpiled thousands of cans of pork and beans and cheap wine and a few thousand rounds of guns and ammunition in an underground shelter, then good luck to ya.

 

I am not here to battle wits with you. You know as well as i do the Katrina was observed long before it hit the gulf.

With years of warning a lot can probably be done. Slightly off topic a truly advanced civilization may need to develop ways to change or modify weather conditions and perhaps alleviate the impact of volcanoes. Would not surprise me if these advancements are being looked into.

 

No need John99 to battle wits with anyone. Supervolcanos and big asteroids are the probably the big 'equalizer' for mankind's existance. In the case of Toba (approx. 74,000 years ago), mankind or what was around at the time (perhaps 60 million club bearing neanderthals or whatever), was essentially wiped out by the Toba's super eruption (maybe down to 10,000 or less individuals) and the aftermath that followed in the months and years that followed. Even if predicated, if the same thing happened today, mankind and what's left of it, can expect some very hard times in terms of survival with those who are still unfortunate enough to still be around. Keep stockpiling those pork and beans folks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_disasters_by_death_toll

http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=164

 

Just for starters, we're talking about a potential super eruption on a scale that is approx. 1,000 times bigger. Picture Toba and Yellowstone going off in the same century. No prediction is going to help that kind of outcome, will it? When it comes to a super volcano eruption, anything is possible.

 

That is an insult to the Weather Service and to the vast majority of the people of New Orleans who heeded the warnings and predictions made by the Weather Service. Katrina claimed 1800 victims, far too high a number. The reason that the death toll was so high was was because too many private citizens ignored the warnings and because public officials at all levels acted ineptly.

However, the storm would have claimed a heck of a lot more than 1800 victims if we had no warning system. Did you not see the huge line of vehicles leaving New Orleans in the days preceding Katrina's landfall? The warnings saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

The 1900 Galveston hurricane struck without any of the modern warning and predictive capabilities. The result: This one storm killed more people in the US than the total killed by all of the 300+ cyclones that have hit the US since the that storm struck.

 

I think the best part of these kind of discussions, especially about supervolcanos, is that no one presently living on this planet has ever seen a super eruption before. Whether it be Yellowstone or even worst, Toba, if that ill-fated day ever comes when we do, it won't really matter whether we have three days or even three weeks warning, worldwide panic will grip the globe and all of us will be caught up in it. We will 'all' suffer from the effects of a super eruption on a scale in which none of us are prepared for now or even in the future. And that is probably the only 'true' statement that any of us can make about a supervolcano eruption.

 

In any catastrophic situation there are individuals who do not panic. These individuals are called survivors.