Volcanoes’ message to airplanes: Ash-filled skies are not so friendly
In a matchup of Newt versus the volcano, it’s hard to tell who would win. Volatile, unpredictable, prone to outbursts at any moment — this might mean Gingrich or Grímsvötn.
But when Gingrich erupts, he just splatters words all over the place. When a real volcano erupts, it can splatter enough ash into the air to ground other candidates’ airplanes. And everybody else’s.
Two years ago, for instance, an unpronounceable Icelandic volcano temporarily closed Europe’s airspace for days. Since then scientists have gathered plenty of evidence that volcanoes are weapons of ash disruption.