The first Turban eruption after I arrive at Grand in the morning is a Delay interval. Three eruptions later we get a second Delay Interval. It takes five more Turban intervals before West Triplet starts to erupt. Grand finally has the One Burst Eruption another Turban eruption interval later. Instead of triggering Rift, West Triplet ends early in Grand's eruption.
2026-May-29 : 10:06:39 D3/D6/T1C 10:06:22 Vent Ovfl -0m17s 10:06:23 Turban -0m16s 10:06:33 Boop -0m06s 10:06:39 B1 --- d=09m44s 10:09:09 Vent 2m30s 10:16:23 P1 9m44s Vent & Turban continue ΣD=09m44s * * * * * 07:12:04 d=05m13s D0 07:30:14 Int: 18m10s d=04m11s D1 07:49:44 Int: 19m30s d=04m22s D2 08:22:03 Int: 32m19s d=03m55s D3/D0 08:38:18 Int: 16m15s d=04m12s D3/D1 08:55:59 Int: 17m41s d=03m57s D3/D2 09:15:08 Int: 19m09s d=03m39s D3/D3 09:32:53 Int: 17m45s d=03m42s D3/D4 09:33:59 West Triplet 09:50:14 Int: 17m21s d=03m21s D3/D5 Turban: 16m09s
After a period of housekeeping chores, I thought I might go down to the Bijou Monkey Cage and check out what's happening at Giant. Didn't spend much time there, as it looked like a rain-shower was coming in. I did see overflow from Emerald and a 1m46s Bijou pause. (The rain never materialized.)
It seems like Grand's series of short six to seven hour intervals has come to a close, but I still went out a bit early to make up for my coming in early. Got out in time to probably see the end of another Turban Delay interval. An hour later West Triplet began to erupt.
On the fourth Turban eruption after the Delay, there was a definite Turban Delay Interval. The interval looked normal, but Grand didn't start dropping around the time the Turban eruption would have been expected. Instead, the pool level continued to rise, with small ripples. Unlike so many recent Delay intervals, this one could be considered short at 26-1/2 minutes.
There was a dark cloud as a backdrop for the eruption, but the sun was out and a rainbow could be seen.
The burst looked like it tried to quit around the eight minute mark, then picked back up. Then 30 seconds later a second slowdown, this time resulting in a pause. That pause lasted almost a minute, and it wasn't until near the end that water could be sloshing in Grand's vent. Once again, it seemed like Turban had quit before Grand, but then the sloshing picked up again before it finally quit for real.
2026-May-29 : 17:46:11 D0/G2Q 17:46:09 Boop -0m02s 17:46:11 B1 --- d=08m25s 17:46:14 Turban 0m03s 17:46:16 Vent Ovfl 0m05s 17:49:24 Vent 3m13s 17:54:36 P1 8m25s d=57s 17:55:33 B2 9m22s d=01m00s 17:56:33 P2 10m22s 17:57:16 V&T Quit 11m05s ΣB=09m25s ΣD=10m22s * * * * * 16:21:54 d=05m48s 16:40:46 Int: 18m52s d=04m18s 17:00:13 Int: 19m27s d=04m36s 17:15:56 West Triplet 17:19:32 Int: 19m19s d=03m48s 17:57:10 Rift Grand: 26m39s
Rift started to erupt as Vent & Turban quit. West Triplet was still in eruption as we left. As so often happens it seems, the rain-showers started for real at that point, making for a wet exit from the basin.
When I head down to Fan & Mortar for the first time in a season, I go with the expectation of getting to see what is the current normal, typical activity. I expect that activity to be different from what I saw last year, or the year before. That feature changes every year. I'm not going to be The One who gets to see it come out of a dormancy, or do something unusual that no one else has seen. I figure others have probably seen before the activity that I see. What seems to be the current normal Fan & Mortar activity is different from previous years, and in previous years would have been considered noteworthy and signs of an imminent eruption.
It seems like every day this week a new gazer shows up and heads down to Fan & Mortar to take a look. They start posting and announcing over the radio a detailed play-by-play of events that have been repeatedly shown to be irrelevant a lead in to an eruption.
This year, it seems we need to get used to seeing Main Vent having periods of huge splashes that last a half-hour or more. These splashes can be as wide as the vent, and reach a height of two meters. We need to get used to the minor Fan vents going into the so-called "lock" state, where for five to ten minutes, they are flooding out water, erupting continuously, and High reaching a height of three to four meters. Angle may or may not join in with High and Gold during these times. We need to get used to Bottom Vent erupting without putting out enough water for the runoff to reach the river.