Guest guest Posted April 18, 2010 Report Share Posted April 18, 2010 I think I may be able to provide some valuable volcano info, here, for our friends across-pond: I lived in Idaho directly downwind of Mt. St. Helens went it went off in the 80's. We learned this the hard way: 1. When the ash particulate comes down to Earth, it brings with it the " silica " particulate you keep hearing about. This is basically tiny pieces of a substance like glass. When/if it coats your vehicles, for god's sake DON'T just rub it off. It will scratch your paint jobs big time. Some people tried vacuuming the stuff off their cars; some tried washing it off-but you had to get it ALL off or when it dried, it turned to cement. 2. When the stuff fell heavily, the air filter systems in vehicles could NOT filter out the particulate. There was too much of it and it fell too fast. People who HAD to drive ended up buying boxes of their vehicle's air filters-and changing their filters as many as 5-8 times per vehicle trip. Of course stores ran out of vehicle air filters, and this being America, people were shooting each other over the limited supply. 3. If you have trouble breathing and this stuff comes down, wear a mask or stay inside. Oddly enough, allergic little me had no problem, but my CAT ended up in intensive care because his little lungs couldn't handle it. Good luck! Cyn Sent via BlackBerry by AT & T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 19, 2010 Report Share Posted April 19, 2010 Thanks Cyn – very interesting. Jo On Behalf Of cyn 18 April 2010 19:59 Volcanic Info!! I think I may be able to provide some valuable volcano info, here, for our friends across-pond: I lived in Idaho directly downwind of Mt. St. Helens went it went off in the 80's. We learned this the hard way: 1. When the ash particulate comes down to Earth, it brings with it the " silica " particulate you keep hearing about. This is basically tiny pieces of a substance like glass. When/if it coats your vehicles, for god's sake DON'T just rub it off. It will scratch your paint jobs big time. Some people tried vacuuming the stuff off their cars; some tried washing it off-but you had to get it ALL off or when it dried, it turned to cement. 2. When the stuff fell heavily, the air filter systems in vehicles could NOT filter out the particulate. There was too much of it and it fell too fast. People who HAD to drive ended up buying boxes of their vehicle's air filters-and changing their filters as many as 5-8 times per vehicle trip. Of course stores ran out of vehicle air filters, and this being America, people were shooting each other over the limited supply. 3. If you have trouble breathing and this stuff comes down, wear a mask or stay inside. Oddly enough, allergic little me had no problem, but my CAT ended up in intensive care because his little lungs couldn't handle it. Good luck! Cyn Sent via BlackBerry by AT & T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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