PHOTO OF THE DAY: Volcanic lightning over SVG

At 8 pm last night (Friday, April 9, 2021), the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre released this image showing volcanic lightning in a plume of smoke during the eruption of La Soufriere Volcano from Rillan Hill in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

According to Professor Richard Robertson — the lead scientist managing the volcano — the current explosive eruption of La Soufriere is expected to be bigger than the last one in 1979.

The tremor generated by the energetic venting of La Soufrière had continued overnight. The size of the tremor peaked between 8 pm and midnight on 9 April and slowly declined over the next few hours.

There were some periods of increased amplitude (size) during the decline, associated with pulses in the ash venting.

Roughly 16,000 people living in the red zone and will need to be evacuated, Joseph said.

Here’s another look at the volcanic activity in St Vincent whose nationals make up the largest sub-group within the BVI’s expatriate community.