"Will" wrote in message
...
I was pondering this this morning. If debris gets injected into the
stratosphere
in any large quantities then I would say that next summer could be a
lot cooler
(and perhaps wetter) than normal. Major volcano eruptions tend to cool
the earth
temporarily. The eruption could be too late now to give us a cold
winter as it
takes time for the debris to spread out in the upper atmosphere.

.... the 1980 event ejected material into the stratosphere, but the
primary thrust of the explosion was horizontal rather than vertical, and
if I understand the data correctly, the stratospheric loading from that
was minimal. As you say, whether this one would do something different
will be interesting to say the least. However, I wonder if Mt. St.Helens
is a bit far north for major long-lasting effects anyway: I understand
that to have world-wide impact, the event would need to be in the
tropical/sub-tropical belt? However, would be glad to be corrected if
anyone has got more on this.

Martin.