Seismic activity at the Soufriere Hills volcano during the night has been dominated by near-continuous low to moderate amplitude broadband tremor recorded at the closest seismic stations, especially the Gages seismic station. The tremor started around 18:30 on 27 April and is still continuing at the end of this report period. Several rockfalls also occurred. The largest of these was at 06:28 this morning and generated a moderate-sized ash cloud which drifted towards the northwest, depositing ash in the areas around Upper Gages, Plymouth and Fox's Bay. a few signals interpreted as representing possible small explosions were recorded. Very few of the hybrid earthquakes seen during the past several weeks were recorded.
Visibility during the early morning period from both the Observatory and Bramble Airport was moderate to good. Most of the rockfalls were seen occurring off the northeastern flanks of the dome. Bramble Control Tower also reported near-continuous spiral emission of small amounts of ash, possibly from one of the old vents on the northeastern flank of Castle Peak dome. Another major rockfall at 07:09 this morning from the northeastern dome generated a large ash cloud which drifted towards the northwest , depositing ash on Plymouth and environs. A small pyroclastic flow into the upper Tar river valley area was also observed.
Scientists at the MVO still view the situation at the Soufriere Hills Volcano with grave concern and continue to urge that visits to the evacuated zone be kept to a minimum. The Tar River, Long Ground and Whites areas are extremely dangerous, and should not be entered under any circumstances.