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After Undersea Volcanic Eruption, Tsunami Advisories Issued for U.S. West Coast

After Undersea Volcanic Eruption, Tsunami Advisories Issued for U.S. West Coast

Eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano was so big it could be seen from space.
Posted by Saturday, January 15, 2022 at 06:00pm
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On Friday, Professor Jacobson, describing the fear level of the American Left, wrote:

Like the animals that sense a tsunami coming long before it’s visible and run to higher ground, they feel it coming. It’s not a guarantee, but just the thought of it is creating panic.

On Saturday morning, I woke up to news that San Diego was one of the many areas along the West Coast under a tsunami advisory.

The National Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami advisory for the entire West Coast and Alaska in the wake of an undersea volcanic eruption near Tonga.

Nearly all coastal areas in California, Oregon, Washington, Southeast Alaska, South Alaska, the Alaskan Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands are under a tsunami advisory. British Columbia is also under advisory.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for the southern Amami island and Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture and a tsunami advisory for all coastal areas facing the Pacific Ocean. Tsunami waves as high as 1.2 meters were reported near those islands around 11:30 a.m. eastern time.

The Kingdom of Tonga is a Polynesian country and also an archipelago consisting of 169 islands in the South Pacific, of which 36 are inhabited. Large waves were crashing over the island chain as the result of the eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano.

The eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano was so big it could be seen from space. Residents reported feeling blast waves after the eruption. And then a short time later, waves crashed ashore.

“Can literally hear the volcano eruption, sounds pretty violent,” Dr. Faka’iloatonga Taumoefolau wrote on Twitter. “Raining ash and tiny pebbles, darkness blanketing the sky.”

Earlier, the Matangi Tonga news site reported that scientists had observed massive explosions, thunder and lightning near the volcano after it started erupting Friday.

The site said satellite images showed a 3-mile-wide plume of ash, steam and gas rising up into the air to about 12 miles.

More than 1,400 miles away in New Zealand, officials were warning of storm surges from the eruption.

Some footage of the tsunami waves that struck Tonga are chilling, though it appears that the waves will not create the disaster associated with the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 or Japan’s tsunami of 2011.

Here’s a fun one, clearly demonstrating what not to do during a tsunami.

As of the preparation of this post, tsunami-effect waves were recorded along the coast in California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska.

Despite the dire warnings, spectators flocked to the beaches to view the surging tsunami waves, and surfers threw caution to the wind to catch the powerful waves generated by the surge.

The initial tsunami wave hit Los Angeles around 7.45am PST and San Francisco at 8.10am PST, and was expected to last for several hours.

In Santa Cruz, video showed significant flooding near the harbor, with at least one vehicle caught in the surge.

The tsunami advisory in Hawaii was cancelled shortly after 8am local time, after the surge passed through the area damaging some docked boats. There were no early reports of casualties from the islands.

Officials said widespread inundation is not expected, but rather coastal hazards such as rip currents and dangerous waves in harbors. Authorities caution that the first waves to strike may not be the highest waves experienced in an area.

Here’s hoping the remainder of the tsunami’s this year are political in nature.

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Comments

rhhardin | January 15, 2022 at 6:23 pm

The West Coast floods were a disappointment.

NYBruin | January 16, 2022 at 1:20 pm

A 1.2 meter wave? Please! You can bodysurf in bigger waves.

More Panic Porn from the news media

    MajorWood in reply to NYBruin. | January 17, 2022 at 3:05 pm

    Astoria, Oregon had a 6cm surge. Tsunami waves vary based on where it is recorded and often the orientation of the wave source to the recorder. A wave height will be much less on a straight section of beach vs a river entrance on a bay, where the bay focuses the water like a lens. 1 ft on the coast can quickly become 5 ft just a few hundred yards up a river depending on how the water is concentrated. The 1964 Anchorage earthquake generated waves which didn’t cause damage at areas a few hundred miles away, but some locations in California were devastated because of how the wave energy entered a bay oriented to the North.

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