If Yellowstone blew, what would you do?

We are long overdue for a catastrophic blow, a time bomb that would make the biggest nuclear bomb developed by Iran or North Korea look like a spit in the ocean. There was raised concerns a eruption could have occurred in 2016 (and I often joke one did, it was Donald Trump) but in reality, this time bomb is no laughing matter. One can't help but wonder not a matter of if, but a matter of when the sleeping Yellowstone Giant will wake. So, hypothetically what would you do if you got a emergency alert (like the one you get that is a test) on your television, or radio, announcing a eruption was imminent? Keeping in mind it would send us into a nuclear winter, cut off access to sunlight, and it would be only one of a series of eruptions, given one will make the entire northwest inhabitable.

The last eruption occurred 640,000 years ago. Geologists say it is unlikely one will happen in the 21st Century. So, it seems we're safe, or are we?

Fun Fact: Indicators of an imminent eruption is a swarm of earthquakes, and animals leaving the area.

 

Well, first I'd blame Trump.
Then I'd bend over, put my head, and kiss my butt goodbye.

Funny thing...

Trump's foreign policy has me doing the same things!

 

Living in Kentucky I would have a few days to prepare.
I would fist fill my bathtubs and all containers with fresh water.
I would place sheets over all windows and doors awaiting saturation with water as needed.
I would place 2x4s with pull ropes in my roof to be pulled down as needed for ash removal.
I would get massive canned good supplies from the store.
I would make sure my weapons are in working order and available.

I would then gather all family at my well stocked home to wait it out.

 

Wouldn't Yellowstone cause global warming? Maybe get an ac unit and build an ark when the ice caps melt?

 

I would get some popcorn and watch CNN.

 

Actually it would probably cool the planet for a decade or more.

 

True..

 

Being in Florida, that particular scenario wouldn't have an immediate impact, however the long term effects would be a devastated nation and massive food shortages.

 

Since I live right about 300 miles due south of Yellowstone. I guess I would just kiss my ass goodbye. I don't worry about it.

 

I've been told that mankind alone makes 2 Mount Saint Helens a day. Why would a ton of pollution make earth cooler

 

One word, aerosols. They block out the sun.

 

Ash and other particulates would create extremely large cloud cover which would circle the earth in time and remain at very high atmospheric levels for many years blocking sunlight.

 

Too late.

We would be fine on the West Coast.

 

If you were in Colorado you would pretty much just die.

 

I would die, what would you do? Remember that when the fall is all there is left, how you do it matters, to paraphrase some Prince or When Doves Cry or some such drivel......





(and yes I know where the drivel originates)

 

I'd bet that's an overreaction. Plus, there is no sign that Yellowstone is headed for that type of eruption in the coming few centuries.

But, just for kicks, I think my first reaction might be to get down on Canadian grain futures.

 

Volcanos are like earthquakes, in that it could happen virtually anytime in any strength. As far as the ashcloud...it could easily blanket the whole country from one inch to tens of feet.
[video=youtube;-p75DmYekg4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p75DmYekg4[/video]
This was a little one

 

I've been somewhat interested in the Yellowstone situation, as it is fun to fly over to see the lava fields indicating the movement of the "hot spot" in earth's crust that the volcanic activity indicates.

I've NEVER seen any prediction as dire as the one you make in your post here.

So, I'd love it if you could post a link to your source.

 

Woohoo I'm at least 800 miles from the kill zone. I'd probably sit on the deck and watch the beautiful sunsets..

 

We had considerable warning for the Mt. St. Helens eruption.

The mountain was under study by scientists, with multiple on-going studies of various kinds of movement and changes in the emission of gasses.

Increasing safety precautions were taken as the eruption time got closer, finally advising all humans to leave.

That's far more warning than I've heard of in the case of earthquakes.

My bet is that scientists are right about there being very little chance of Yellowstone erupting this century, and if activity increased, they would be able to give a more accurate prediction.

 

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/faqs_supervolcanoes.html

 

If the atmosphere is thicker, would't it trap heat like Venus?

 

You were told wrong.

It has nothing to do with "pollution." It has to do with the ash in the upper atmosphere blocking the heat from the sun. It could take years to decades for it to finally settle back to earth. By then, most plant life had long since died, which also affects ocean plant life and that food chain. Plants make our oxygen. No plants, no oxygen. Decay also creates methane, not oxygen. Essentially it would be a decade long super ice age devastating plant and animal life. Food shortages would become massive and worldwide quickly. Most people in the world would be starving to death by month 2, and before then social chaos would break out. However the human race would survive and it would be effects like the great plague in killing, but not extinction.

 

You don't want the upper atmosphere trapping the heat. You want the land and water surface trapping the heat, specifically radiant heat. Think of a very cloudy day. Does it get warmer because the clouds trapped the heat? Or cooler because the radiant heat is blocked. Same thing.

 

why is it cool on clear nights and warmer on cloudy nights?