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Popocatépetl volcano, one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes, spewed a mile-high ash plume into the sky Friday, threatening lives of millions of Mexicans and prompting a mass evacuation alert to prevent catastrophe. Popocatepetl is only 35 miles from Mexico City and 20 miles from Peubla. Many Mexicans have already fled their homes due to the fiery monster's poisonous gas and ash.

Mexico City, the country's capital and the world’s fourth most populated city, is home to 20 million people. Peubla has over 6 million people living there. Everyone in both cities could be at risk if a catastrophic eruption occurs. If the volcano has a massive eruption, an estimated nine million people would be in the blast zone. Impact on the atmosphere could be catastrophic.

Popocatepetl fiery restlessness in 2013

Popocatepetl is the Aztec word for "Smoking Mountain.", according to the Global Volcanism Program. It is the second-highest volcano in North America, measuring 17,802 feet in elevation.

The Popocatepetl monster volcano's last major eruption was in 2000 when 41,000 people were evacuated in advance to prevent catastrophe. Since 2012,  activity has been increasing.

Officials are so worried about a potential catastrophe, on Friday, they issued an early warning. A major eruption places about 9 million people at risk.

At 5,426 meters (17,802 ft.), Popocatepetl is the second highest peak in Mexico, second only to the dormant Citlaltépetl (Pico de Orizaba) about 5,636 meters (18,491 ft.) high in the border between Mexican states of Veracruz and Puebla, also in the eastern part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.

 

The volcano has erupted 20 times in approximately 500 years. That, however, is not the only angry volcano showing its might.

Northwest of Popocatepetl volcano and southwest of Guadalajara, the Colima volcano spewed a 1.8-mile high eruption only a couple of weeks ago.

Some officials say there is a heightened danger of a large explosive eruption from Colima because it has been over 100 years since its last large eruption. "

Heightened explosive activity at Colima has prompted preparations for evacuations if the restlessness continues or increases."

Lava spewing out of Smoking Rock in 2013

Cimate-Volcano Connection

Scientists have shown that a rise in Earth's temperatures during global warming is dangerously impacting volcanic activity globally. In the past, the scietnists reported in 2013, when ice melted, it triggered volcanic activity.

In the recent study a team of geologists examined samples of sea-floor mud from around the Ring of Fire for evidence of past eruptions. Analyzing the frequency of ash layers in the geological record, the researchers found a pattern: Large eruptions tended to occur once every 41,000 years. Random as that number may sound, it's as familiar to paleoclimatologists as the moon's 28ish-day cycle is to the rest of us: over the course of 41,000 years, the Earth tilts gradually forward, and then backward, on its axis. It's called "Obliquity," and it's one of three "Milankovitch Cycles" that occur over long periods and influence Earth's climate.

Ice can trigger a volcano as water shifts weight from ocean basin to land, and continents get compressed by miles-thick ice sheets sitting atop of them. When things warm, melting ice runs back into oceans, taking a great load off of continents. This movement pushes magma under the continents' surface, the same way one end of a water balloon bulges when squeezing the other end, and a sudden decrease in pressure over the land might cause magma to surge upward from deep below.

The climate-volcano connection doesn't apply to Earth's current warming trend, of course, because we're not in the middle of an ice age--it's been 12,000 years since the world's continents felt the weight of all that frozen water.

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