Etna explodes almost without warning at dawn on August 9, 2021, after almost 24 hours of “push and pull”. Tremors rising, falling, rising again, impending eruptions and new changes. On the night of Sunday 8th August everyone went to sleep convinced that the event was postponed. Then something happened after 2 in the morning. First a faint pouring, medium-sized roars … and finally the great paroxysm.

Eruption of  August 9, very loud roars

Although starting from the very high lava fountain, this time Etna does not stop degassing. There are many emission points – both of lava and gas – and therefore the roars are very strong. They are heard distinctly from Reggio Calabria to Ragusa, but they wake up in a particular way the south-east strip of the Ionian coast. The copious fall of ash has hit, this time: Milo, Zafferana, Sant’Alfio, Acireale and Aci Catena. The black carpet of “lavic sand” covered the center of Acireale in a particular.

A part of the South East Crater collapses

The immediate release of the Institure of Volcanology arrives a few hours after the end of the paroxysm (which almost suddenly stops shortly before 7 in the morning). They describe the two lava flows, the longest one descending into the Valle del Bove divided into three branches; also they inform about the collapse of part of the eastern wall of the great South East cone, which caused a flow of cold material downstream, without damage to things or people.

The show, for those who were awake at that hour, was sublime. Those who missed it can see some phases here (video). PHOTOS  BY GRAZIA MUSUMECI