Mexico volcano spews gas into skies near capital

Popocatepetl belching a column of steam looms over residents of Xalitzintla municipality in Puebla on Wednesday.

Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano has been spewing gas, water vapor and incandescent materials into the skies near the country's capital for days, registering at least 14 "exhalations" late on Wednesday and in the early hours of Thursday, according to local media.

The most significant emissions came on Tuesday afternoon and were accompanied by a small quantity of ash, scientists said, according to Excelsior newspaper reported  (Link in Spanish).


Local civil protection officials have been giving evacuation training in communities near Popocatepetl ahead of a possible eruption, Reuters reported.

The 17,886-foot volcano 40 miles southeast of the Mexican capital is the country's second-highest peak and has experienced at least 15 major eruptions in the last 500 years.

In November, Popocatepetl spewed a burst of ash three miles into the air after breaking through a dome of lava.  The volcano has been erupting intermittently since December 1994.

The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

 

Discuss this post

Jump to discussion page: 1 2
Comment author avatarPValdesExpand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

The United Nations Security Council condemns the eruption of Popocatepetl.........

  • 12 votes
Reply#1 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 1:08 PM EST

Shouldn't laugh at that Mayan god....

  • 1 vote
Reply#2 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 1:31 PM EST

Are we going to put sanctions on them them for the global warming vapors?

  • 6 votes
Reply#3 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 1:34 PM EST

I dig your point but I think that these are aerosols which tend to reflect the sun's radiation back into space, which would cool, not warm the planet. In fact some claim that a relative lack of volcanic activity in recent decades may account for the slight rise in global temperatures.... but measuring volcanic activity is part art, part science, so.... I don't know. It's.... complicated.

  • 2 votes
#3.1 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 8:11 PM EST
Reply

I wonder if the volcanic activity here is somehow connected to the activity in Alaska? Seeing as how they're both within the ring of fire on the pacific plate? Or at least..... close to it?

  • 3 votes
Reply#4 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 1:37 PM EST

Seeing as they're roughly 7000 miles apart... probably not. There are many volcanoes erupting all over the planet at any given time; this one just happens to be close to their Western Hemisphere's largest city, which is why it warrants a headline.

  • 1 vote
#4.1 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 2:34 PM EST

Could be. It isn't that far from the same fault line that runs up the west coast of the US to the Baja and keeps on going north up the west coast all the way up to Alaska. The way the tectonic plates shift, it's like a big slide puzzle...one piece moves and so another one has to move to accommodate it. You can enable the earthquake tracker feature in Google Earth and see this stuff in real time.

  • 3 votes
#4.2 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 5:17 PM EST

7,000 miles is a long way to us, but to the Earth that's just a hop, skip and a jump.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if they are related in some way.

  • 2 votes
#4.3 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 6:57 PM EST
Reply

I totally wish I could title the next report. MSNBC reports, "THE S*** BLEW UP!"

Don't deny it you would click on it.

  • 5 votes
Reply#5 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 1:46 PM EST

Man! If it gets much worse, the people might try to come to this country!

Oh......wait......................................................

  • 8 votes
Reply#6 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 1:48 PM EST

PW.......oh wait........your Ancestors did!

  • 5 votes
#6.1 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 2:21 PM EST

Mikie - Oh wait, Africans are the original 'colonizers' if we're all descended from that continent.

  • 4 votes
#6.2 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 3:11 PM EST

Proletariat, "if we're all descended from that continent". We're not, so shut up..

  • 1 vote
#6.3 - Fri Feb 3, 2012 9:18 AM EST

WeRthrough

Proletariat, "if we're all descended from that continent". We're not, so shut up..

Actually we are, even though flat earthers like you deny it.

  • 2 votes
#6.4 - Fri Feb 3, 2012 1:27 PM EST

No one is really sure are they? But flat-heads like you want to believe so..

  • 2 votes
#6.5 - Fri Feb 3, 2012 2:17 PM EST
Reply

Did Mexico file an Environmental Impact Statement? If not maybe we should ............after all, it's our business.

  • 3 votes
Reply#7 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 2:21 PM EST

I wonder Sarah Palin can see it from her porch?

  • 5 votes
Reply#8 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 2:25 PM EST

No, there is a bridge to nowhere in the line of sight.

  • 1 vote
#8.1 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 2:57 PM EST

No but i'll bet rick perry can.

    #8.2 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 4:32 PM EST

    You should ask Tina Faye and the writers of SNL that question.

    • 1 vote
    #8.3 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 6:03 PM EST

    They think SNL skits are reality,telling them different is like telling a child the easter bunny doesn't exist.
    You can expect one hell of a temper tantrum.

      #8.4 - Sat Feb 4, 2012 1:39 AM EST
      Reply

      I sometimes vent gas and steam from an ashhole of sorts.

      • 6 votes
      Reply#9 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 2:56 PM EST

      can you say Pompei, 40 miles from Mexico City

        Reply#10 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 3:04 PM EST

        It's just the creator telling the bad guys to behave, that the world isn't theirs but that they belong to the earth.

          Reply#11 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 3:16 PM EST

          "Spews gas and vapor"

          All that Mexican food.

          • 3 votes
          Reply#12 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 3:29 PM EST

          Burritos give me gas!

          Challupas make me spew vapors!

          • 3 votes
          #12.1 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 3:50 PM EST

          You ever wonder what the rest of the worlds cuisines were like before they discovered Mexico in 1492? The Italians without tomatoes, the French without chocolates or vanilla the Indians without corn? Do like avocados , mangos, and your food spicy with chilies peppers and over 170 more.

          • 4 votes
          #12.2 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 5:28 PM EST

          Burritos aren't Mexican food, they were invented in America..

          • 1 vote
          #12.3 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 5:48 PM EST

          But the burros in the burritos came from south of the border!

            #12.4 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 7:17 PM EST

            México IS in America, you dolt!

            • 2 votes
            #12.5 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 7:59 PM EST
            Reply

            Jan Brewer stated the gas and vapor better stop at the border ! Now I know what NAFTA really stands for, Not A Frijole That's Ass gas !

            • 2 votes
            Reply#13 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 4:03 PM EST

            ....Popocatepetl volcano has been spewing gas, water vapor and incandescent materials into the skies near the country's capital for days, registering at least 14 "exhalations" late on Wednesday and in the early hours of Thursday,....

            Yup, sounds exactly like me after returning from my last vacation to Mexico.

            • 1 vote
            Reply#14 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 4:15 PM EST

            At first I thought this was the headline for a story about another Republican debate, but perhaps not . . .

            BTW, the only part of Brad Pitt that is suited for portraying Newt Gingrich in a Hollywood movie is his butt, really . . .

            Really! :-o

            • 1 vote
            Reply#15 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 4:49 PM EST

            Brad Pitt has all ready agreed to do it . The movie has been titled " Benjamin Butthead ".

            • 3 votes
            #15.1 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 4:55 PM EST
            Reply

            That Cartels are behind this shyyyyte.

              Reply#16 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 5:54 PM EST

              Maybe we'll get lucky and the volcano will wipe out that entire craphole of a country.

              • 1 vote
              Reply#17 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 6:54 PM EST

              It's a sign from the Mexican god Quetzalcoatl . . . calling all the children of Mexico to return home!

              • 2 votes
              Reply#18 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 7:06 PM EST

              Pray that God's protection through the Lord Christ is with the people of Mexico from the drug lords' attacks or gang violence.

                Reply#19 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 7:24 PM EST

                No thanks, I'll take George Carlin's advice and just pray to Joe Pesci. 'Cause he knows how to GET SH*T DONE .

                • 2 votes
                #19.1 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 8:40 PM EST
                Reply

                Well if I lived in San Fran. or Los Ang. I would be packing to move ! It is time for another big one !

                • 2 votes
                Reply#20 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 8:59 PM EST

                It's the souls of all the murderers and drug lords burning in hell in Mexico that are building up the pressure.

                Oh,, and the corrupt police and politicians.

                • 2 votes
                Reply#21 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 9:37 PM EST

                When I read the headline, for a moment I thought it was about politics.

                • 1 vote
                Reply#22 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 9:49 PM EST

                It is nothing unusual, I lived in Puebla for a year and this happened several times, they like to make it seem like a huge thing, wait until bunches of lava are running down his slopes then the fun will start.

                  Reply#23 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 10:08 PM EST

                  They are emitting way to much co2 into the air!!!

                  • 1 vote
                  Reply#24 - Thu Feb 2, 2012 10:59 PM EST

                  Popocatepetl, has six syllables and it sounds like a big Volcano. The name sounds catastrophic.

                  Yellowstone is getting hot too.

                  The "New World Order" is the "Old World Chaos" in 2012

                    Reply#25 - Fri Feb 3, 2012 4:32 AM EST
                    Jump to discussion page: 1 2
                    You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
                    As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.