Chile’s Calbuco Volcano Erupted Again Today And It Looks Like Hell

Yesterday and today, Chile’s Calbuco volcano has twice erupted in enormous fashion and it’s been an incredible site to see. For instance, the end result of the above time lapse as night fell was this image.

That bright spot to the right? That’s lightning. The eruption was so powerful that it actually affected the local weather causing lightning strikes both in the crater and the rising plume. The volcano’s first eruption in over forty years has covered everything in an 18 mile radius with a layer of ash. By the time night fell last night, the volcano looked like this.

Thus far, the two eruptions have resulted in a ridiculous ten billion cubic meters of ash being hurled into the atmosphere. Here’s a shot of the cloud as seen from a helicopter.

4,000 people living near the volcano have since been evacuated by the government out of health concerns having to do, obviously, with the volcano’s toxic gases.

The below compilation of timelapses gives a sense of the scale of the explosion which volconologists are saying is one the the strongest Chile has ever seen.