 Thus, it happened quite rapidly and without much warning.On 7 August 2008, Kasatochi began erupting explosively with an ash plume maintaining an altitude of 35,000 feet and reaching 45,000 feet.The eruption lasted for 24 hours and included "two initial explosive pulses and pauses over a 6-hr period that produced ash-poor eruption clouds, a 10-hr period of continuous ash-rich emissions initiated by an explosive pulse and punctuated by two others, and a final 8-hr period of waning ash emissions."