Violent Volcanic Eruption (8,000 Miles Away) was Detected in Upstate NY

Can a volcanic eruption 8,000 miles away affect us here in the Capital Region?

Ross Lazear, a scientist with the Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences at the University at Albany has been following the undersea volcanic eruption off the coast of New Zealand, and he's come to some pretty interesting conclusions.

 "This is one of the massive explosions the volcano is capable of producing roughly every thousand years.” -Washington Post

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He, along with the other really, really smart people who calculate the effects of these kinds of things, say that their data shows that even halfway around the world, we can feel its effects in the Capital Region.

The powerful undersea eruption is a force to be reckoned with and islanders in the Pacific are bracing themselves for more power outages, massive storm swells, and volcanic dust.

According to Washington Post, University of Auckland volcanologist Shane Cronin, who has studied the Tongan volcano for years, said “this is one of the massive explosions the volcano is capable of producing roughly every thousand years.”

So, what did the data say about how it affected us in the Capital Region?

Here in the Capital Region, News 10 Meteorologist Jill Szwed thinks it's possible that we could feel more than just seismic waves.  Szwed said some of the ash could make its way to New York, "but it will be at a much lower concentration."