Sixth paroxysm of Mt. Etna, as everyone expected and hoped for. Less than 24 hours later, after the paroxysm of the night between 22 and 23 February 2021, Etna resumes the show. Now it has no restraint, it decides, leaves and gives a show with different scripts from time to time. On the evening of February 24th it begins quietly around 8 pm, with the usual flame that is apparently timid and reduced. But it’s only a Ferrari that warms the engine.

The start of the sixth eruptive event is a sprint, this time. Very little interval between the start and the actual “party”. The lava fountains immediately rise, once again exceeding 1000 meters in height. The fire flows start immediately after, directed in the Valle del Bove to the east and to the south-west, from the southern split of the Sella Crater. Above the coast a mushroom of volcanic material rises very high, the wind maybe pushes it slightly towards the south.

While the tremor increases dramatically – exceeding the measure of 10 – unfortunately a dense mist rises from the sea and hides the volcano. So what continues, behind the improvised curtain, only  the tools of volcanologists will tell us in the coming days. The sixth is archived. Is the seventh already on its way …?

(photo by G.Musumeci)