--- title: Yellowstone 'Super Eruption' Could Blanket Continental U.S. in Ash description: Supposing Yellowstone erupted into a massive, ash-spewing volcano, how far might the plume travel across the continental United States? From coast to coast, blanketing every city in ash, according to an unsettling new study. canonical: https://time.com/3258704/yellowstone-eruption/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-02T20:33:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:58:21.422Z article:section: Science og:title: Yellowstone 'Super Eruption' Could Blanket Continental U.S. in Ash og:description: Supposing Yellowstone erupted into a massive, ash-spewing volcano, how far might the plume travel across the continental United States? From coast to coast, blanketing every city in ash, according to an unsettling new study. og:url: https://time.com/3258704/yellowstone-eruption/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta743f37102152bbc/6986a1b2d0b6f2949f305e9a/89168332.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: USA, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park (UNESCO World Heritage List, 1976). Region of geysers, Castle Geyser og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Yellowstone 'Super Eruption' Could Blanket Continental U.S. in Ash twitter:description: Supposing Yellowstone erupted into a massive, ash-spewing volcano, how far might the plume travel across the continental United States? From coast to coast, blanketing every city in ash, according to an unsettling new study. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta743f37102152bbc/6986a1b2d0b6f2949f305e9a/89168332.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Yellowstone 'Super Eruption' Could Blanket U.S. in Ash, Study Finds ## Video: Study: Global Warming Hiatus Result Of Volcanic Activity [Watch (HLS stream): Study: Global Warming Hiatus Result Of Volcanic Activity](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Xn3wASQB.m3u8) (1:07)  _Published 2014-02-25. A new study suggests volcanic activity could be part of the reason why we haven’t seen global warming keep pace with previous predictions._  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Sep 2, 2014 8:33 PM UTC  Yellowstone National Park (UNESCO World Heritage List, 1976). Region of geysers, Castle Geyser Yellowstone National Park (UNESCO World Heritage List, 1976). Region of geysers, Castle GeyserC.DANI and I.JESKE—De Agostini/Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Sep 2, 2014 8:33 PM UTC If Yellowstone erupted into a massive, ash-spewing volcano, how far might the plume travel across the continental United States? From coast to coast, blanketing every city in ash, [according](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GC005469/full) to an unsettling new study. Geophysicists developed a computer model of a Yellowstone “super eruption” that would spew 330 cubic kilometers of volcanic ash into the sky. The resulting ash cloud, depending on wind conditions, would blanket the continental United States in ash deposits of varying thickness, according to the study, published late August in the journal _Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems_. New York and Washington D.C., would get a light dusting of ash measuring roughly one-tenth of an inch, while San Francisco and Seattle would get a heaping 2 inches. Billings, Montana, meanwhile, would have to dig out from a 70-inch pile up. If the findings sound far-flung, so to speak, researchers point out that Yellowstone’s last massive eruption spewed ash over tens of thousands of square kilometers. Deposits from that eruption have been traced as far afield as Canada and the Gulf of Mexico. Fortunately, the last time Yellowstone erupted on that scale was some 2 million years ago and counting. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3258704/yellowstone-eruption/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3258704/yellowstone-eruption/"},"headline":"Yellowstone 'Super Eruption' Could Blanket U.S. in Ash, Study Finds","datePublished":"2014-09-02T20:33:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:58:21.422Z","description":"An eruption could blanket the east coast in a few millimeters and bury the Rocky mountains in several meters of ash","url":"https://time.com/3258704/yellowstone-eruption/","keywords":["Volcano","eruption","Natural Disasters","lava"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta743f37102152bbc/6986a1b2d0b6f2949f305e9a/89168332.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta743f37102152bbc/6986a1b2d0b6f2949f305e9a/89168332.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"USA, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park (UNESCO World Heritage List, 1976). 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