Some Claiming Large Earthquake More Dangerous to Wyoming than Supervolcano

We all have that conspiracy theory friend that wants to remind us that the Yellowstone supervolcano will someday ruin our day. If reports I'm reading are true, they should be more worried about what a massive earthquake could to do Wyoming.

Not to make light of the increased thermal activity at Yellowstone this year. There are good reasons to keep our eyes on what's happening there. But, the Yellowstone supervolcano gets all the press when a big earthquake could cause big problems for our state.

USA Today shared a story about why a magnitude-7 earthquake is a bigger concern for Wyoming. They quoted Michael Poland who's in charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory who mentions that a big earthquake in that region is underestimated. The concern is Wyoming will get another quake like the 7.3 that struck Yellowstone on August 17, 1959.

The Daily Mail in the U.K. echoed the Wyoming earthquake concern. The reason scientists think the earthquake possibility should get more attention is that it's much more likely to happen than a supervolcano eruption.

If you tell this to your conspiracy theory friend, he/she is likely to tell you that the earthquake would cause the supervolcano to erupt. If they're right, we're back to that very bad day scenario. Hey, wasn't that a made-for-TV movie?