Washington's Mount Rainier has suddenly awoken and is buzzing with almost nonstop activity for days, stoking fears that an eruption could come soon.
The mountain is one of America's most dangerous volcanoes, towering over millions of people in major cities such as Seattle, Tacoma, and Yakima in Washington, and Oregon's most populous city of Portland.
Starting on Saturday, Mount Rainier has been experiencing constant vibrations beneath the surface which can be best described as thousands of tiny vibrations blending together.
The constant seismic rumblings were spotted by the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN), where seismometers on Mount Rainier have recorded three straight days of nearly nonstop, high-energy seismic signals across the west flank of the volcano.
Unlike the seismic activity tied to major earthquakes, the patterns being seen in Washington look more like a volcanic tremor, a type of nonstop hum or roar that begins when magma, hot water, and gas moves around inside a volcano.
It doesn't mean Mount Rainier is going to erupt at any moment, but it is a warning sign that volcanic activity could eventually build towards a critical level.
Geologists will be watching for key signs of this volcanic tremor escalating, including its severity increasing in the coming days, actual earthquakes starting inside the volcano, and the ground at Mount Rainier beginning to swell.
When this volcano eventually explodes, it won't be scorching lava flows or choking clouds of ash that threaten Americans, but the lahars: violent, fast-moving mudflows that can tear across entire communities in mere minutes.
Volcano watchers on social media spotted the fresh readings from PNSN, noting that vibrations under the mountain went from normal to chaotic in a matter of hours.
Seismometers registered a sharp spike around 5am ET on Saturday, which proceeded to grow in strength throughout the day.
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