| Comments: | SB started as Kitt and Warren were still in the parking lot. Kitt saw it climbing over the trees from the bathroom and made the call. 0622 was likely the exact start. SB barely audible from the parking lot. I arrived on the platform at 0634 to NV percussive granding and a percussive chugging/pounding noise similar to what I saw on 8-12-19, but less violent and with more separated bursts. Switch to steam at 0639 with a distinct noise change. Poor visibility, and the water phase ended just before it was bright enough to see easily. Visibility and conditions improved substantially after that. We were all asking why it couldn't have held out another hour.
0653 NV began to have splashes of dirty water put of the vertical area, and by 0701 it was trying to choke. SV went to roaring steam, and NV started bursting dirty water and rocks 20'-70' with quiet in between. Back to steam after a bit before trying to pause again about an hour later. Counted 20 pauses and restarts, which came in series.
0757, 59; 0906; 0916; 0924, 26, 27; 0934, 35; 0943, 45, 46, 47, 48; 1005, 07, 07; 1016, 17; 1025. The first restart was probably 150'-175'. Most of the rest were between 80' & 100' out of NV. These pauses were slightly different, too. NV would start trying to pause, SV would go to roaring steam and NV would shut down. SV would then die down but not quite stop, pick back up (usually with water 25' or so), and then die down almost all the way again. SV would then pick up again in this cycle, and NV would splash and then eventually join in with dirty water on one of the times when SV was picking back up. NV would then shut down again after a bit, and the whole thing would repeat itself until it would restart and switch mostly to steam for a few minutes until it started trying to choke again. Activity from SV never fully ceased, and SV water eventually started becoming dirty as well. The SV double-clutching activity were not counted as individual pauses, instead I counted the pauses based on when NV would shut down. One more thing I found particularly interesting about SV was that when it picked back up with water the column was a fan shape, with one prong basically like SV vertical minor, and another prong with some serious reverse jetting. Basically SV angled minor but to the left. NV was a mix of standard vertical and near vertical with the occasional reverse jet splash.
The wind changed after 1025, and the fun was over.
Cistern down 4"-6" by 1049.
Overall probably the quietest SB I've seen. Tiny steam plume seen from the road as I was driving away, too. |