People Freaking Out Because of Black Steam Coming Out of Old Faithful

The conspiracy theorists are having a field day as there have been reports of black steam coming out of Old Faithful.

I can confirm that I've seen the darker steam coming out of Old Faithful this year. That much is definitely true. I wouldn't call it black, but darker than I'm used to seeing. I check the Old Faithful webcam fairly often and I would recommend you bookmark it, too.

Here's the thing: THIS IS NOT NEW. You may notice the video I shared above is from 2016. There were also videos of the darker Old Faithful steam captured in 2017.

I think I understand why the new reports of dark steam coming out of Old Faithful are causing more of an uproar now. Last time I checked, Steamboat Geyser had erupted 21 times this year after being dormant for almost 4 years. You combine that with the enormous swarm of earthquakes near Yellowstone that Fox News reported back in August and you have a recipe for supervolcano conspiracy theory heaven.

Yellowstone could erupt today or tomorrow for all I know, but predicting what would be a historic event like this is hard if not impossible as Popular Science pointed out.

The Yellowstone area is fascinating to watch and the dark steam, earthquakes and other stuff going on should be monitored. But, taking a chill pill and not making outrageous claims would also be awesome.