If Yellowstone ever blows, what are the odds of survival if you live nearby?

I'm kinda new here. I browse around, enjoying the opinions of all kinds! A thread stuck out to me a while ago. It was talking about survival.
I live in Colorado. A little too close to Yellowstone in my opinion.
A question for all of you survivalists... What would a person need to do to prepare if Yellowstone, or any other major volcano (or caldera) erupted. And I mean really erupted.
This is assuming evacuation wasn't possible. Is there any chance for survival?

I would guess 0 to none...If it really goes of hard....

reply to post by Denco


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9f3d5e171e10.jpg[/atsimg]

Time to move!

There ain't, if you're not obliterated by the ash and heat you're doing f good. I'm not fear mongering either, that's a serious problem. I heard it would take the state off the map.

your only chance for survival would be to move...now. if Yellowstone blows...everything west of the Mississippi will be dead/history within an hour. i'm here in Atlanta...i'll be safe...for like maybe 2 hours. you do realize that the volcano under Yellowstone isn't just under Yellowstone...it's under like half the states out west. it's extinction waiting to happen. it would be about as powerful as God's orgasm after not masturbating for eternity...

They say that if it blew...all of the central USA, northern mexico and southern canada would be basically destroyed...covered in ash 6 inches to several feet depending on your location...it would destroy America...ruin everything from las vegas nv to about columus ohio would be ruined, uninhabitable and covered in ash and devistation....farmland would be ruined, houses and buildings destroyed...all wildlife dead...water contaminated...would be a waste land.

you won't, it the next one to go. have fun.

Originally posted by saltdog
They say that if it blew...all of the central USA, northern mexico and southern canada would be basically destroyed...covered in ash 6 inches to several feet depending on your location...it would destroy America...ruin everything from las vegas nv to about columus ohio would be ruined, uninhabitable and covered in ash and devistation....farmland would be ruined, houses and buildings destroyed...all wildlife dead...water contaminated...would be a waste land.

forget about the madrid fault, yellowstone is the target.

You can't run. Cars don't drive through ash that well after it starts piling up. It's worse than snow.

Also the ash will get through your car openings and into the interior and contaminate the air in there as well.

Initially the death rates within 200miles downwind will probably be , 10-15 % perhaps?

But within a few months we could be seeing 50%+ death rate for nearby areas, and 5%-ish rates for areas further downwind.

I really don't know I am just guessing based on the level of severity I expect from a caldera eruption. I am probably low balling these figures though.

Honestly we won't know for sure until it happens. Kinda dumb though, maybe we should 'plan ahead' and try to devise a way to mitigate or avoid the biggest negative impacts of the eruption.

The whole state of Wyoming is going to be gone, so I guess I won't feel much when/if it happens.

I still remember the ash from Mount St. Helens pretty well....that was an awful mess.

Also we don't have a clue really how hot the ash will be when it lands nearby do we?

I know that the ash from mount Saint Helens eruption was searing hot. At least 400 + F so people died of getting burnt or seared by it. I am not sure exactly they never let me see the dead bodies to examine the way it was damaged.

I know I saw a car parked like several miles down road from the Mt, and it's tires were melted and the leather on the seats were melted.

So I would expect this type of pyroclastic flow event possibly. Anyone know the make up of the Yellowstone magma? An expect could easily guide us to the right answers. Wikipedia probably could too. But I always have to look everything up.

Just this once please don't make me look anything up.

Ok, I looked it up. Dang it.

A pyroclastic flow (also known scientifically as a pyroclastic density current[1]) is a fast-moving current of superheated gas (which can reach temperatures of about 1,000 °C (1,830 °F)) and rock (collectively known as tephra), which reached speeds moving away from a volcano of up to 700 km/h (450 mph).

Wiki as usual

These figures are for normal volcanoes, obviously my guesstimates were way low balled. I low balled them on purpose because around ATS you want to sound less scary and error, than sound ultra scary and error. Just a rule of thumb.

Anyways this says 1800 F , and it moves at 450 mph. Think of the mega-eruption Yellowstone would cause?

Is it ok to talk about over 2000 F and speeds of 700mph?Possibly breaking the sound barrier? Yeah I think that's legitimate. Let's see what others think about this possibility.

reply to post by Denco


Surival? I'm thinking

The jet stream would carry it east and dump on all the east coast. Within days, the sun world-wide would blocked by ash in the heavens. Only those with tickets to the underground bases would survive (got mine on craigslist).

If we're talking super volcano then I'd say zip.
Ever seen that scene in 2012?



It would be worse than that.





Have a Nice Day!

Here's what Michio Kaku had to say about what might happen when Yellowstone blows:

And check this tidbit out from the link I posted above to wiki on pyroclastic flows.

A recent documentary film, Ten Things You Didn't Know About Volcanoes,[10] demonstrated tests by a research team at Kiel University, Germany, of pyroclastic flows moving over water.[11] When the reconstructed pyroclastic flow (stream of mostly hot ash with varying densities) hit the water two things happened. The heavier material fell into the water, precipitating out from the pyroclastic flow and into the liquid.This large displacement of heavy ash into the water caused a displacement of water; in reality, this would cause a tsunami due to the displacement via precipitate mass, as it did with the Krakatoa eruption. The temperature of the ash caused the water to evaporate, propelling the pyroclastic flow (now only consisting of the lighter material) along at an even faster pace than before on a bed of steam.

Ok so we can all be thankful Yellowstone isn't next to the ocean.

But what about other super volcanoes that are next to large bodies of water?

Too bad we humans don't really have good solutions to these issues. Other than don't live there, stay away, far away. What else can you do?

reply to post by cloaked4u


It would probably trigger major earthquakes with all the magma and lava fliing out of the ground, the pressure on the plates would change and it could easily be an end game for all of north america...then would it trigger sunami waves to wipe out other coastal areas in asia, europe, africa and south america??

It wouldn't be something that we would recover from for several generations..or ever.

Originally posted by muzzleflash

Ok, I looked it up. Dang it.

A pyroclastic flow (also known scientifically as a pyroclastic density current[1]) is a fast-moving current of superheated gas (which can reach temperatures of about 1,000 °C (1,830 °F)) and rock (collectively known as tephra), which reached speeds moving away from a volcano of up to 700 km/h (450 mph).

Wiki as usual

These figures are for normal volcanoes, obviously my guesstimates were way low balled. I low balled them on purpose because around ATS you want to sound less scary and error, than sound ultra scary and error. Just a rule of thumb.

Anyways this says 1800 F , and it moves at 450 mph. Think of the mega-eruption Yellowstone would cause?

Is it ok to talk about over 2000 F and speeds of 700mph?Possibly breaking the sound barrier? Yeah I think that's legitimate. Let's see what others think about this possibility.

HOLY CRAP! That's insane!!!
Denver to Yellowstone is only 540 miles (roughly).
Thank you for your information!
Too bad I can't just up and move. Get the heck out of here! Ah well.

What we need are wide scale plans and protocols passed through society to everyone, detailing exactly how to deal with Ash Contamination, how to use filter systems with air and water, etc.

We should be going through heavy disaster preparation phases. It doesn't matter IF it erupts, it only matters that eventually one of these things is going to blow big time and we need a plan.

Disaster preparation should be our focus as a civilization.

I want to see novel inventive ideas on how to deal with Ash Contamination. Perhaps even really clever clean up methods or ways to block it from getting into your house.

Stuff people would actually NEED to know right away if they lived 400 miles down wind from this thing.