Steamboat Geyser has 2nd major eruption of the year
by Jim Macdonald
For the second time this year, the world's largest geyser, Steamboat Geyser, in the Norris Geyser Basin, has erupted. Thanks to the geyser listserv, I have the following information.
Steamboat Geyser erupted on September 13 at 10:20 PM MDT, the water phase lasted just over an hour, and the steam phase was ongoing (as of 9/14 at 11 AM MDT). According to Sandy Nykerk, the person who posted this to the listserv, rangers were there. She also reported the rumor that someone had lights so that the geyser could be seen.
Steamboat last had a major eruption on April 26. At the time, rangers were not sure whether anyone had witnessed the eruption. In the days following, it turned out that some tourists from Cincinnati had seen it but had not realized that they were witnessing a unique event. Previously, Steamboat erupted on May 2, 2000, and before that, October 2, 1991.
The enormous geyser can eject water between 300 and 400 feet. More frequently, the geyser has minor eruptions, which spray water between 6 and 8 feet.
I want to thank Bob Berger for making this information available to me.
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Replying to:
I will be posting articles on the Yellowstone region on the discussion forum, especially AP stories reported in the Casper Star-Tribune. This paper has a lot of useful stories, especially from the Grand Teton region, but they roll their stories off every few days. I want them up much longer. This discussion forum only rolls off as it gets too large.
