Volcano Update 4: We Just Watched Popocatéptl Blow His Top!

About half an hour ago, Reed and I were sitting in the living room enjoying a glass of wine with cheese and crackers when all of a sudden, Reed exclaimed,

"Oh, my god!  Look at that! Popo is blowing his top! A minute ago, there was nothing, and now look!"

Popocatéptl 'exhalation' or eruption
August 6, 2012, at about 6:00 PM Central Time
Photo: Reed

We literally watched over the next five or ten minutes as the plume continued to rise straight up.

CENAPRED is the government agency that monitors Mexico's volcanoes and issues daily bulletins. When I checked just a few minutes ago, nothing had yet appeared.

You heard it here first!  How's this for an answer to that great question, "But what do you and Reed do in Mexico?" Let me put it this way: We're never bored!

Update: 10:00 PM

CENAPRED just issued its 8:00 PM Report, which emphasized that 'el coloso' registered nine 'exhalations' during the last twelve hours, adding that the one that occurred at 5:58 PM was of 'Considerable' intensity, such that CENAPRED warned of possible ash fall in several pueblos -- all downwind of us in Coyoacán.

This is the photo that accompanied the 8:00 PM Report. It was taken at the beginning of the 'exhalation'. Reed's photo (above) was taken a few minutes later from a different angle. Wild, no?

'Exhalation' from Popocatéptl at 5:58 PM
Photo: CENAPRED stationary camera