Volcano Delays Chile’s Snowboarding Season

Lightning strikes over the Puyehue volcano, over 500 miles south of Santiago, Chile, Monday June 6. Authorities have evacuated about 3,500 people in the nearby area. The volcano was calm on Monday, two days after raining down ash and forcing thousands to flee, although the cloud of soot it had belched out still darkened skies as far away as Argentina.

The eruption of the Puyehue volcano in the Andes mountains of southern Chile last weekend provided some spectacular images of the force of nature. Ash covers the landscape and thousands of people were evacuated from the surrounding rural communities. The volcano, which hasn't been active since 1960 when it erupted after an earthquake, sent its plume of ash 6 miles high across Argentina and toward the Atlantic Ocean.

Volcanic lightning is seen over the Puyehue volcano, over 500 miles south of Santiago, Chile, Sunday June 5, 2011. Authorities have evacuated about 600 people in the nearby area. The volcano was calm on Sunday, one day after raining down ash and forcing thousands to flee, although the cloud of soot it had belched out still darkened skies as far away as Argentina.

Lightning flashes around the ash plume at above the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain near Entrelagos June 5. The volcano in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain, dormant for decades, erupted in south-central Chile on Saturday, belching ash over 6 miles (10 km) into the sky, as winds fanned it toward neighboring Argentina, and prompted the government to evacuate several thousand residents.

Rininahue village showing the cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano in southern Chile, 870 km south of Santiago, on June 5.

Rosehip covered in ash from Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain are seen in the mountain resort San Martin de Los Andes in Argentina's Patagonia June 6

A view of the Lago Lacar (Lacar Lake) and a part of its coast covered with ashes from Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain in the mountain resort San Martin de Los Andes in Argentina's Patagonia June 6.

A man covers his face as he walks through an ash-covered street of the mountain resort of San Martin de Los Andes in Argentina's Patagonia region June 6.

A cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano near Osorno in southern Chile, 870 km south of Santiago, on June 5.

An aerial picture showing the cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano near Osorno in southern Chile, 870 km south of Santiago, taken on June 5.

Inhabitants inspect the Gol-Gol river covered with ashes from Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain volcano, June 7.

The Entre Lagos coast, near the Puyehue volcano, close to Osorno, 870 km south of Santiago on June 7. Dozens of South American flights had to be scrapped Tuesday because of the huge cloud of volcanic ash spewing from a Chilean volcano, as fears grew of possible landslides near the eruption. So far 4,000 people have been evacuated from 22 rural Chilean communities surrounding the Puyehue volcano, which rumbled to life on Saturday after showing no activity since 1960, when it erupted following a magnitude 9.5 earthquake.