Ash and dust affecting Puerto Rico air traffic

If you will be flying in the eastern Caribbean in the near future, take note: Some air traffic in Puerto Rico is being disrupted today by ash from activity at the Soufriere Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat. Montserrat is located several hundred miles to the southwest of Puerto Rico.

The Associated Press reports that most of the problems have been around the small airport at the city of Ponce in the south of Puerto Rico. Although four Delta Airlines flights out of San Juan were canceled, so far most arrivals and departures at SJU were not affected.

In recent days, officials have warned that a dome of hardened lava over the volcano has swollen to near-record size and could collapse. On Wednesday, the Montserrat Volcano Observatory said the ash cloud had reached 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) and was blowing west.

"There's been little ash venting since Wednesday. You can see very little ash here currently," Vicky Hards, director of the observatory, said from the British Caribbean dependency early Saturday afternoon. [International Herald Tribune]

Adding to the problem created by the volcano ash, a large cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert was contributing to poor visibility, according to Miguel Calimano, general manager of Puerto Rico's regional airport system.

For more information about the Soufriere Hills volcano, visit the Montserrat Volcano Observatory website.

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