No, this is not a North Dakota blizzard. This photo is showing the ash fall from Mt. Pinatubo's (Phillipines) eruption in 1992. Many inches of ash fell and the U.S. Naval and Air Force bases near the mountain were closed because of the eruption.

When Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980 the ash cloud rose to an altitude of over 50,000 feet, that is almost 10 miles high! The mountain kept spewing ash for another nine hours on May 18th. The ash deposits were many inches deep in many cities in Washington. This ash choked humans and animals. People were forced to wear gas masks so they could go outside of their homes.

Pyroclasts are particles that are ejected during a volcanic eruption. They range in size from very small particles called dust to ash (1/10 of an inch) to lapilli ("little stones" 1/10 of an inch to 2 inches ) to the largest of the pyroclasts, blocks and bombs (2 inches to many feet in diameter).

Volcanic Ash is any very fine grained material erupted from a volcano that is less than 1/10 of an inch (2 millimeters) in diameter. This is very fine material and was given the name ash because it resembles ashes from the burning of wood or coal.

Volcanic ash is rock that has been exploded and shattered by steam inside the volcano. Ash and lava flows build stratovolcanoes into mountains with repeated eruptions.

Click on the "Next" button next.