Ash is Falling!

After the big eruption of Mt. Redoubt this morning, I have been awaiting the ashfall all day, thinking I would be able to tell from my window. Well, it started and I didn't even know it since it is snowing too. I laughed, grabbed my camera and went outside to get these pictures, not realizing that ash is very different from snow. A piece of ash fell into my eye and it has scraped my eyeball. Ouch. My eye still feels a bit gritty, and my computer keyboard is feeling a bit gritty too. And I'm afraid these pictures don't do justice to what this looks like. The one below is of the snow that drips off the eaves of the house and the dark line of ash is more obvious.

Really, it's almost impossible to tell that there is an ashfall going on. The sky is cloudy-looking, like a normal cloudy/foggy day, and not unusually dark. It's only when I look at the ground that the snow is more gray than white, and where my husband's car tracks come in, the contrast is more clear--the white against the gray.

Most school events are canceled for this evening on the Kenai Peninsula and the word is to stay indoors (You don't have to tell me twice. I just learned my lesson!) and drive as little as possible. The ash can rip up a car engine, but supposedly if we put nylons over the air filter it will take care of the problem. I'd rather not chance it.