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Observations for 2018 September 13

One thing we've noticed over the past few days is that Grand seems to be having more two burst eruptions. Thanks to Giant hot periods, I've missed a few of these. But a number of them have also been of the Long Second variety. The pause comes fairly early, before the 9 minute mark. But once the height of the second drops, Grand seems to go almost immediately into Big Sawmill mode.

I've thought that all the one bursts are because Grand is too strong to quit, so we never get the pauses as before. The Big Sawmill mode fits in, in that the eruption is wasting energy and water so when it does stop, it can't restart. The Long Second mode fits, as it's just weak enough to pause, but still stronger than it used to be and goes back into splashing around.

It was a day of watching Giant. The hot periods became stronger as the day progressed, with one that could've resulted in an eruption shortly after midnight. But it didn't, and we still haven't had one where there wasn't a restart.

In the cabin area the last couple of nights I've heard either an elk or a very squeaky door hinge.