CLEVELAND VOLCANO ERUPTS

CLEVELAND, OH –  The 5,676-foot-peak, located 40 miles outside Cleveland erupted this morning.

Satellite imagery of the 5,676-foot peak, located just south of Downtown, showed a bulging lava dome forming in the volcano’s summit crater, suggesting a buildup of gas pressure.

And this morning, it blew.

Even though the volcano is in a relatively uninhabited area (due to foreclosure, the eruption still has cause a big mess and inconvenienced a number of Cleveland natives.

Some 90 percent of commercial flights in and out of Cleveland were canceled today.

There was even an eruption at Cleveland Browns stadium, where the Browns were already practicing – in front of packed house – for next season.

Officials say that more intermittent and sudden explosions could happen at any time, generating ash clouds up to 20,000 feet above sea level.

The Ohio Volcano Observatory has elevated the Aviation Color Code from Yellow to Orange, indicating that Cleveland Volcano is exhibiting “heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of further eruptions.” Orange is the second highest warning level in the OVO’s four-color alert system.

The observatory says that as of Monday, the lava dome was approximately 130 feet in diameter.

The volcano has sent an ash plume 15,000 feet high.

But that was just a rumble compared to the eruption in 2001, which saw ash clouds as high as 39,000 feet.

Cleveland residents, as always, were undaunted.

“You seen one eruption, you seen them all.  What we need here is an eruption of jobs,” said Will Makerman of Shaker Heights.