Mexico Raises Alert Level for Popocatepetl Volcano

[InRareForm]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mexico-raises-alert-level-for-volcano

[Drachen]

I've been to this volcano when I was doing an internship at the vw plant in puebla in my senior year.

[CosmicCowboy]

Trivia: This is the volcano PoPo's restaurant in Welfare is named for.

[Halberto]

This is pretty serious stuff. It's not a global danger obviously, but for the region it poses every threat besides creating a caldera (city-sized sinkhole). It's location puts 6 million people in danger and is located in a bottleneck type land area, so I can imagine escape routes would be super congested. Landslides, lahars and pyroclastic flows threaten the immediate vicinity and the higher than usual silica content makes the magma trap gas more than expected and sends a higher ash volume over larger areas. The silica content means it can erupt more violently than normal volcanoes but also allows for better warnings. If it does erupt then hopefully those people get a good warning and hopefully they listen.