MUSIC BY: DISAPPEARED EXTENDED KINGDOM HEARTS
CREDIT & REFERENCES: POPOCATÉPETL - WIKIPEDIA, THE FREE ENCYCLOPEDIA,
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Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano spewed out huge clouds of ash and fiery rock overnight, closing a local airport on Saturday and frightening nearby villagers, already on edge after weeks of increased activity.

Popocatepetl, 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Mexico City, shook with tremors that belched out four large plumes of ash on Friday night and Saturday morning, the National Centre for Disaster Prevention said in a statement on Saturday.

The biggest expulsion shot an ash cloud 4 km into the air and launched glowing rocks more than half a mile (1 km) from the crater, the statement said.

Raul Arambula, a scientist collaborating with the government's disaster Centre, said the volcano threw out the most ash and fragments of red-hot rock since authorities raised the alert level last month.

"It was spectacular," Arambula said. "Of course, it makes you worry about everyone living nearby."

In Santiago Xalitzintla, a village about 10km from the volcano, the loud rumblings sent residents running to the town square during the night.

"The volcano is looking serious. It was really roaring strongly last night," said Juan Castro, 83, who said he was half-deaf but had no trouble hearing the tremors.

The ash clouds forced the airport in the central state of Puebla to suspend operations on Saturday. Billowing ash earlier in the week closed the airport on Tuesday and Thursday.

Civil protection officials in Mexico City said a change in wind patterns could send ash over the capital next week.

Mexico's disaster Centre raised the volcano's alert level to yellow phase three from yellow phase two in mid-April, the third-highest warning on the centre's seven-step scale. There are no plans yet to evacuate nearby residents.

"They told us that we need to be ready because if we have to evacuate, they are going to warn us with the church bells," said Lizbeth Agustin, a 22-year-old candy vendor who had collected half a pail of ash in the town Centre of Santiago Xalitzintla.

Popocatepetl has spewed smoke and ash sporadically over the past few years. A major eruption in 2000 forced the evacuation of nearly 50 000 residents in three states surrounding the peak. - Reuters
Popocatépetl is an active volcano located in the states of Puebla, State of Mexico, and Morelos, in Central Mexico, and lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. At 5,426 m (17,802 ft) it is the second highest peak in Mexico, after the Pico de Orizaba at 5,636 m (18,491 ft).
Popocatepetl is linked to the Iztaccihuatl volcano to the north by the high saddle known as the Paso de Cortés.
Popocatepetl is 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Mexico City, from where it can be seen regularly, depending on atmospheric conditions. Until recently, the volcano was one of three tall peaks in Mexico to contain glaciers, the others being Iztaccihuatl and Pico de Orizaba. In the 1990s, the glaciers greatly decreased in size, partly due to warmer temperatures but largely due to increased volcanic activity. By early 2001, Popocatepetl's glaciers had become extinct; ice remained on the volcano, but no longer displayed the characteristic features of glaciers such as crevasses. Magma erupting from Popocatepetl is a mixture of dacite and basaltic andesite.

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