July was so hot that scientists think it has already been the hottest month ever

[BumRushDaShow]

24. Oh there was quite a bit of dust

The later analysis reports (and investigations are still ongoing) indicated not only record-breaking water was spewed, but record-breaking amounts of dust, reaching a record-breaking altitude, accompanied by a record-breaking amount of lightning. So I think at this point, they really don't know what the medium-term (several years) effect will be. I can imagine the volcanologists are in their glory and in awe.

This was published just last month -

The shocking things scientists found about this extremely powerful volcanic eruption

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai submarine volcano produced a record 2,600 lightning flashes per minute


By Kasha Patel
June 25, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT



Like crime scene investigators, scientists are retracing what exactly happened on Jan. 15, 2022, near the Tonga archipelago in the South Pacific. At the time, the bare facts were obvious: An underwater volcano erupted, and it was enormous. Since then, scientists keep making remarkable discoveries about what turned out to be one of the world’s most powerful volcanic eruptions.

“It was clear right away that this was going to be a showstopping scientific event,” said Alexa Van Eaton, a volcanologist at the U.S. Geological Survey. “It’s several orders of magnitude larger than anything we’re used to looking at. … This eruption clearly was going to teach us something new.”

The climactic awakening of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai submarine volcano lasted less than a day and took the lives of a handful of people, including as far away as Peru.

The volcano has already broken several records: The powerful blast was bigger than any U.S. nuclear explosion. Tsunami waves overwhelmed shores. Ash flew up into the third layer of Earth’s atmosphere, higher than any other recorded volcanic eruption. An unprecedented amount of water, enough to fill nearly 60,000 Olympic-size swimming pools of water, shot up in the atmosphere and could warm our atmosphere in the future.

Now, a new study led by Van Eaton reveals more details of this puzzling event by analyzing lightning data. Researchers found the plume created its own massive weather system — and the most intense lightning storm ever recorded.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/06/25/tonga-volcano-eruption-lightning-record-study/