Soufriere St. Vincent Volcano Begins To Build Lava Dome

***UPDATE 12/30/2020***

News coverage has begun reporting on the developments at Soufriere St. Vincent. Some reports are falsely posting articles which show an ash column above the volcano, however the eruption is purely effusive/dome building at this time and no explosions have occurred as yet. 

The alert level has been raised from Yellow to Orange, and scientists are intensely monitoring the volcano in an effort to give at least 48 hours notification to residents should an explosive eruption be imminent.

It seems that the island of Martinique has also decided to raise their alert level, as seismicity has recently been detected under the volcano. This is the first time the alert has been raised since its last eruption in 1932.

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Original article

 Soufriere St. Vincent in the West Indies islands, NE of Venezuela has begun exhibiting lava dome growth, after decades of silence, having last erupted in 1979 after years of activity. The current dome growth appears to be occurring at the South end of the main crater of Soufriere St. Vincent. Vigorous steaming was observed, followed by slow uplift of land between the 1970's lava dome, and the crater wall. 

A post from Facebook on the Vulcanología Esia page revealed the following sequence of events:

Image from Vulcanologia Esia Facebook group.

The last eruption of the volcano produced, in 1979, a VEI 3 scale eruption, and has had many eruptions of VEI 4 magnitude in the past.

Given scant news coverage of the volcano at this time, it is unknown how this eruption will progress. It could remain a mostly dome building, effusive event, or it could turn explosive if the dome event is succeeded by an explosive/pyroclastic event. 

This page will be updated as more details come in. 

The last major eruptive activity in the island chain was when Soufriere Hills on the island of Montserrat erupted unexpectedly, demolishing the capital city of Plymouth in 1995. Other submarine volcanoes may have exhibited minor activity recently, including the humorously named volcano, Kick 'em Jenny,