Breaking – Massive Train Derailment in East Palestine Ohio, Shelter in Place Issued

Getting dark out there but this is a live view of the toxic mess:

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

Look at the sky above the smoke column…that’s all from this burning release.

That giant plume of black smoke looks toxic as fuck!

Thanks for the video link.

That black cloud is sooty incomplete combustion. Looks a lot like a crude oil fire to me, but could be other things.

Those people are danger close and talking with no respirators on. I hope they are lucky.

Yeah, the ‘boom’ happened. Massive fire column and insane black plume.

Yeah I'm trying to figure out how to use this website...

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and determine if this cloud will be passing over my house in Beaver Co. Pa

Ventusky is the best wind app out there.

I also have an app called My Radar where you can get wind speeds and directions at different elevations.

I grew up in Beaver (up on the hill Brighton Township off Dutch Ridge), so I feel for you guys.

It looks volcanic.

The plume is so large that it's underside has flattened out in the upper atmosphere.

Ventusky is the best wind app out there.

I also have an app called My Radar where you can get wind speeds and directions at different elevations.

I grew up in Beaver (up on the hill Brighton Township off Dutch Ridge), so I feel for you guys.


Looks like you have a 4 to 5 mph wind speed coming from the NW, flowing toward SE

[link to www.ventusky.com (secure)]

Did none of these morons even bother to look at the winds ABOVE GROUND LEVEL?

That plume is not going where they expected it to.

https://twitter.com/_/status/1622718671184429067

Did none of these morons even bother to look at the winds ABOVE GROUND LEVEL?

That plume is not going where they expected it to.

https://twitter.com/_/status/1622718671184429067

It doesn't look like much if any real planning went into this.

Looks like they're just winging it.

It doesn't look like much if any real planning went into this.

Looks like they're just winging it.

[link to www.wfmj.com (secure)]

Drone shot of the explosion today

[link to www.wfmj.com (secure)]

Drone shot of the explosion today

Wow. I guess all that black stuff is what comes off a vinyl chloride fire. It will have a LOT of HCl Acid produced.

That will close your airway immediately if you get a whiff of it. (speaking from experience). It will also burn the eyes badly. (the HCL gas dissolves into tears).

Am I right in assuming...if you know...that there are a lot of variables on where much of this comes down and in what concetrations? I guess we can't even tell how high the plume will go or how far it will carry.

https://twitter.com/_/status/1622727372251299841

...the coughing in the video

A lot will depend on what the wind is doing, minute by minute.

Also upon humidity and if it starts to rain.

The wind up at 30,000 feet is around 100 knots headed SSE if I remember. So once it gets up there, (IF it gets up there) it is pretty much gone. But the soot is likely heavier and once it cools will likely limit its rise to the that level.
Maybe around 10,000 feet is where it looks like it is collecting.

any rain will bring the HCl down as acid rain and pit the paint on anyone's vehicles left outside.

I had a modelling program at one place I worked where I modelled chemical hazardous release scenarios, so I have some experience. It looks to me like they opened up too large of a hole in that tank. Wind is a good thing. It will dilute the effects quite a bit.

I would not expect a temperature inversion, but that would be a very bad thing obviously.

It would have been nice if they could have fashioned some sort of burner to get more complete combustion. That huge soot cloud is just nasty. Will likely come dripping down on whoever is downwind once it cools off and condenses the contents of the cloud.



No sure about the phosgene or how much is produced. If it comes down in any significant concentration, it is deadly. It is a war weapon, or used to be. I just don't have experience with it, except is messed up my great uncle pretty bad. But he was 100 years old by the time I was old enough to meet him, and he was deaf by then, so no real way to communicate.

Burning polyvinyl CHLORIDE produces phosgene.
Burning polyvinyl does not, but still terrible stuff.