© YouTube/webcamsdemexico (scren capture)
A fiery nighttime eruption of the Colima, Mexico, volcano shot ash and smoke over 6,500 feet into the air and could be heard 50 miles away, officials said.
The eruption Wednesday on the 12,000-foot mountain was the third major eruption this year, although the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center in Washington, D.C., part of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, gave almost daily accounts of new ash in the atmosphere since Jan. 3, as well as a spectacular eruption on Dec. 27.
The mountain, one of 14 active volcanoes in Mexico, is on the country's west coast, between Colima and Jalisco states, 300 miles west of the capital, Mexico City.
The center's report of Wednesday's eruption cryptically noted, "Explosion seen on web cam. Based on models, any VA [volcanic ash] would be rapidly mov NE at 40-60 Kts [rapidly moving northeast at 40-50 knots, or 42-69 mph]."
Dramatic video of the eruption Wednesday was captured on a webcam located beyond the five-mile "exclusion zone" surrounding the mountain.
