What would happen if Yellowstone erupted tomorrow? We follow a Yellowstone supereruption hour by hour, from the first earthquake swarm to the volcanic winter years later.
Based on USGS research, including the Ash3d model of where the ash would fall across America.

The Yellowstone supervolcano has erupted three times in the last 2.1 million years. In this scenario you see the warning signs, the eruption column climbing 30 to 50 km into the stratosphere, pyroclastic flows across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, and the umbrella cloud that pushes ash even against the wind. We look at what volcanic ash does to roofs, power lines, water, cars, jet engines and the farms of the Midwest, how a volcanic winter could follow (Pinatubo 1991, Tambora and the year without a summer), and how the land recovers. Then the real question: is Yellowstone overdue, and what are the actual odds?

Chapters:
0:00 The first earthquakes
1:21 1. The warning
2:54 2. Hour zero: the eruption
4:40 3. Hours 1-6: pyroclastic flows
6:25 4. Day 1: the umbrella cloud
7:50 5. Days 2-7: ash across America
9:08 6. Week 2: what volcanic ash does
11:08 7. Month 1: the food problem
12:10 8. Year 1: volcanic winter
13:59 9. Years 2-10: recovery
15:01 10. Has this happened before?
16:27 11. Is Yellowstone overdue?

Sources:
- USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, "What would happen if a supervolcano eruption occurred again at Yellowstone?"
- Mastin, Van Eaton & Lowenstern (2014), Modeling ash fall distribution from a Yellowstone supereruption, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
- USGS Volcanic Ash Impacts and Mitigation
- Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park, University of Nebraska State Museum
- USGS reports on the Biscuit Basin hydrothermal explosion (July 2024)

Images: Wikimedia Commons, NASA, Pixabay, illustrations; maps from Natural Earth (public domain).
Map: Kelvin Case (CC BY 3.0)
Map: National Park Service
Photo: Acroterion (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo: Ammodramus
Photo: Anusia1984 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Photo: Carpenter, Kenneth (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo: Dave Harlow, United States Geological Survey
Photo: Dietmar Rabich (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo: Donald A. Swanson
Photo: F. Martin Duncan
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Photo: Miguel Hermoso Cuesta (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo: NASA
Photo: Neal Herbert
Photo: Original uploader was Metrodyne at English Wikipedia
Photo: Pacific Northwest Research Station, Forest Service, USDA
Photo: R. Hadian, U.S. Geological Survey
Photo: Shadowmeld Photography (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo: UNAVCO Earthscope Field Trip Participants
Photo: USGS
Photo: Yellowstone National Park
Photo: Yellowstone National Park from Yellowstone NP, USA
Photo: YellowstoneNPS
Photo: gnuckx (CC BY 2.0)
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Narration: synthetic voice.

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