When Yellowstone Erupts, what is your plan?

[CrazyGirl17]

...Well crap. Maybe I could try to move somewhere else, not sure if that'd help...

 

[mrhappy1489]

Considering Australia is thousands of kilometers away, the most I'll have to worry about is the possibility of some damned refugees coming in and takin are JOBS!

 

[RJ 17]

Yeah, not sure if anyone has already pointed this out (just got done reading the first page of responses) but this is one of the many possible "doomsday" theories out there. Be assured, that when/if this does happen, there'll be no "riding it out" We're talking a volcanic explosion so massive that it'll literally blow up pretty much all of western Canada and the western US. The "immediate death zone", if I remember correctly, is said to reach all the way to Kansas or something (could be wrong on that). But even the OP is boned if he thinks he can put some towels under the doors and windows. Canned food and bottled water will only get you so, but rest assured when Yellowstone kerplodes, the whole world is boned. The amount of ash and dirt in the planet's atmosphere will be ridiculous and, as the OP mentioned, it will most assuredly usher in a new ice age.

As to what I would do, living in Kansas City, Missouri, if I wasn't killed in the immediate explosion or the pyroclastic flow that swept out like a shockwave afterwards...I'd probably buy a bullet and rent a gun. Patience has never been one of my virtues, and at that point we'd all just be waiting to die.

 

[DkLnBr]

It seems like every single person I see post in threads like this is either horribly pessimistic, and thinks the world is going to end in the next 5 mins, or they are blissfully ignorant and optimistic.

Correct me if im wrong, but aren't these the only options? Either you think it will turn out bad, or you think it will be alright. There isnt much of a middle ground, the glass is either half empty, or half full, it cant be both (well I guess technically it can... but you can still see my point right?)
On topic. If the volcano does go off soon, then im probably going to get showered with rocks and lava (depending on the strength of the blast). As for the nuclear winter? I like the cold, so i'd be fine (but probably a little more hungry).

It's not even a scientific term, but is generally used to refer to eruptions of VEI 6+. The most dramatic predictions of the yellowstone vocano are VEI 8.

Minor change. VEI of 7-8. a VEI of 6 is too small (in a manner of speaking). But you are right, blasts like that are too rare to worry about. The way things are going now, the global economy will collapse and we'll have WWIII before any 'supervolcano' goes off

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

It seems like every single person I see post in threads like this is either horribly pessimistic, and thinks the world is going to end in the next 5 mins, or they are blissfully ignorant and optimistic.

Please, stop all this doomsday stuff and just have fun with life. The average lifespan is ~80 years (I think). Not a very long time. I just don't understand why everyone has this grotesque obsession with the world ending....I almost get the impression you lot want it to end just for entertainment purposes.

They have been talking about "OMG, yellowstone is going to assplode!" for years. I think there has even been movies concerning it.

*Climbs off of soapbox*
Just my 2¢

Took the words right out of my mouth. I couldn't have said it any better myself.

This doomsday bullshit is really pathetic. One will go insane thinking about that kind of stuff. Like you said, just enjoy life.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Be happy I'm not living anywhere near Yellowstone! I think North Carolina is far enough away that we'll escape the worst of it. If it gets too bad, I could get on a boat and head East, or south to the Caribbean.

Dude your in NC? I'm up near Greensboro, where you at?

OT: I'm going to do nothing. It's gonna put a big ass hole in the ground make some noise and we'll all have a moment of silence for the idiots who stayed or the unfortunate who couldn't leave. After five years no one will care.

Winston-Salem, actually, so not far at all!

 

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

Well, considering I love on the other side of the world, I'm not particularly sure that this will affect me at all [...]

It would affect the entire planet, probably reduce worldwide temperatures by several degrees. The last super eruption of this kind caused a "Year Without a Summer", and Yellowstone would be far bigger:

Global annual average temperatures would drop by up to 10 degrees, according to computer predictions. And the Northern Hemisphere could cool by up to 12 degrees. Experts say colder temperatures could last 6-10 years, gradually returning to normal.

Scientists predict that the Monsoon would fail as a result of even larger temperature changes in the Southern Hemisphere, causing mass starvation in the Asian countries that depend on these life-giving rains.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/supervolcano/article2.shtml

 

[RagTagBand]

Watch it on TV. I live in England so I doubt anybody would even notice an ice age.

 

[Von Strimmer]

watch it on the news probably from where i live at the ass end of the world

Without even looking at your profile I am going to guess you are Tasmanian? If true then your about 10km South of the arse end of the world

Southern hemisphere here so if it blows we should theoretically be fine, although super volcanos have a habit of chain reacting :/ I would probably blame hippies for not causing more global warming while I freeze to death and get shot by raiders.

 

[ACman]

It's really bad, but it being probably the most amazing spectacle I'm likely to ever see and given I'm on a different continant, I'm going to be doing this:

http://i.imgur.com/y8F8s.gif

 

[Daniel_Rosamilia]

Well, considering I love on the other side of the world, I'm not particularly sure that this will affect me at all [...]

It would affect the entire planet, probably reduce worldwide temperatures by several degrees. The last super eruption of this kind caused a "Year Without a Summer", and Yellowstone would be far bigger:

Global annual average temperatures would drop by up to 10 degrees, according to computer predictions. And the Northern Hemisphere could cool by up to 12 degrees. Experts say colder temperatures could last 6-10 years, gradually returning to normal.

Scientists predict that the Monsoon would fail as a result of even larger temperature changes in the Southern Hemisphere, causing mass starvation in the Asian countries that depend on these life-giving rains.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/supervolcano/article2.shtml

Well, dicks.
At least we wouldn't get 35-40 degree days here any more for a few years in summer. Fuck those days.

 

[Toaster Hunter]

I live in New Jersey, so unless the dust cloud gets blown here, I shouldn't have too much of a problem.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I'm somewhat surprised that nobody has called '2012' on this.

Anywho, I'll enjoy the time without sun until the horrible death sets in.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Be Canadian and withstand the cold with our +20% Resist Cold attribute

WORD. *brofist*

Being up in Montreal (Canada), I don't think we'll be TOTALLY !@#$ed since we are so far away...but yeah, there's probably gonna be a shitton of ash making our weather unbearable. Gas masks (or at least scarves over our mouthes) for EVERYONE!

Life will suck for a while, but I think we'll survive.

I'll watch the Republican potential candidates blame each other for it, and promise if they are elected, to remove all volcanic activity from the US.

I dunno..It seems more likely they'll say "It's the fault of them socialist commies like Obama, who want to spend monies on the socialist stuff but not the (non-existent) Anti-Volcano fund". Ironically, if the republicans were in power, they'd probably go "TERRORISTS DID IT!!! Vote for us and we'll get rid of these WMD volcano terrorists!"

 

[DRes82]

Is it really in danger of blowing anytime soon? Cause if not then I'll just continue with my regularly scheduled programming

I don't think that's something we have to worry about in our lifetimes.

When it does happen though... wooo. Shit's gonna get real.

Pretty sure that its overdue for an eruption. Something like regularly every 300,000 years and its been like 320,000. The geological data coming from that area is pretty disturbing. For example, a lake bed being pushed up from underneath and emptied of water in the span of less than one year.

Yeah, so don't get complacent. Its one of those mega disasters that could very well happen at any moment.

 

[Maveroid]

Finally! See pyro physics from FarCry2 in action!
I hope they look just as good!!

Actually, I am extremely scared now that you mention it. Hopefully everything will be fine somehow someday and keep me alive.

 

[Li Mu]

I'd do what the Republicans do and blame Obama. It was his economic and social wellfare plans which would have caused this natural disaster to occur.

 

[RJ 17]

Correct me if im wrong, but aren't these the only options? Either you think it will turn out bad, or you think it will be alright. There isnt much of a middle ground, the glass is either half empty, or half full, it cant be both (well I guess technically it can... but you can still see my point right?

Personally, I prefer all of my glasses to simply be half.

It seems like every single person I see post in threads like this is either horribly pessimistic, and thinks the world is going to end in the next 5 mins, or they are blissfully ignorant and optimistic.

Please, stop all this doomsday stuff and just have fun with life. The average lifespan is ~80 years (I think). Not a very long time. I just don't understand why everyone has this grotesque obsession with the world ending....I almost get the impression you lot want it to end just for entertainment purposes.

They have been talking about "OMG, yellowstone is going to assplode!" for years. I think there has even been movies concerning it.

*Climbs off of soapbox*
Just my 2¢

Took the words right out of my mouth. I couldn't have said it any better myself.

This doomsday bullshit is really pathetic. One will go insane thinking about that kind of stuff. Like you said, just enjoy life.

That's really what this all boils down to. People watch Discovery Channel/National Geographic/even the History Channel has been jumping on board with this recently. "End of the World" type shows popping up and convincing all the lemmings that we're about to die. Newest one: come 12/21/12 Earth will be perfectly aligned between the super-massive black hole at the center of our galaxy and our sun and this is supposed to cause a polar shift that will apparently knock earth on it's side so instead of revolving from west to east it'll revolve from south to north. If this happen's we're all boned. Yellowstone could blow up, we're all boned. The particle accelerators could create a black hole, we're all boned. The particle accelerators could also create some freaky type of particle called a "strangelet", we're all boned. And of course, the classic asteroid smashing into the planet bones us all as well.

It's all really simple, really, this being the year that (supposedly) many ancient cultures and oracles predicted as the year of humanity's end, many in "the mob" are absolutely obsessed with the end of the world. It'll happen sooner or later, to be sure, but as both the above quoted people said: flipping out about it makes no sense. When the day of reckoning is finally upon us, just kick back, spark up a doobie, and watch the fireworks.

 

[Bloodstain]

I live in Germany, the other side of the world (more or less). Still a problem, you say? Oh well, travel to the Alps.

 

[redisforever]

Move home to Israel. Not much else I can do.