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Volcanic ash - more flight disruption to come?

Paul Hudson |13:58 UK time, Tuesday, 4 May 2010



This morning Irish airspace was affected by volcanic ash. This follows renewed activity from the Icelandic volcano. Latest information from the Icelandic Meteorological Office has confirmed an increase in activity from the Iceland volcano Eyjafjallajökull, erupting to a height of 18,000ft.

According to the Met Office there was a report from the Outer Hebrides yesterday evening of a milky sky, and in the early hours Tuesday of volcanic dust was detected at 9000ft in the same location.

The latest projection shown below for 7am tomorrow morning shows most of Scotland and parts of Western England affected by volcanic ash, roughly from Newcastle through Manchester and south to Exeter - though of course it remains to be seen whether it's thick enough to affect air traffic.

Volcano10.jpg

The wind direction at 20,000ft is mostly from the north, shown below. This would mean that the area of ash across Scotland, and the area to the north of Scotland, may be dragged across other parts of the UK later tomorrow and into Wednesday.

Volcwind10.jpg

Of course even if volcanic ash affects more areas tomorrow, it's again worth pointing out that it's the density of volcanic ash that is of critical importance. So more flight disruption is not a certainty, although it is certainly possible, in the next few days.

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