Mysterious Ash Shower In Washington And Oregon: What Could It Be? (STA BREAKING NEWS and ARCHIVES)

by Theresa , Sunday, February 08, 2015, 09:14

Residents in parts of Washington and Oregon have seen a mysterious substance falling from the sky that people describe as white and ashy. Its origin, however, remains a mystery.

In a statement, officials from the Washington state's Walla Walla County Emergency said that they have received reports of the substance covering vehicles and that the ash probably originated from Volcano Shiveluch, a hyperactive volcano located in Russia's Kamchatka peninsula.

The volcano released a 20,000-foot ash plume in late January, and this was deposited in a wide area that covered the states seeing the mysterious ash shower. Experts also said that although the substance could be ash from Volcano Shiveluch, there are also a number of other volcanoes from other parts of the globe that are active.

CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said that the substance may have been brought from an active volcano located in southwest Colima, Mexico, which erupted on Wednesday, Feb. 4. He also said that there is another active volcano in Eastern Russia. The Mexican volcano is located over 2,000 miles away from the areas of Washington and Oregon while the Russian volcano is 4,000 miles away.

"The strong southerly flow from the jet stream could have brought it from an active volcano in southwest Colima, Mexico," Van Dam said. "But if we go farther west towards eastern Russia, there's another active volcano there."

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