The Yellowstone RAR! (may be first in a series)

[Broomstick]

Step 1, see if I could persuade Q into preventing a catastrophic eruption. Humanity will prove entertaining for thousands of years yet if they keep trucking, whereas if he lets Yellowstone snuff out most of North America and then basically everywhere else due to a combination of economic and climate effects there will be insufficient people left for him to be entertained. He enjoys watching us ants scamper about, thinking we're a brilliant species that can accomplish almost anything we put our minds to.

Q laughs. Not everyone is going to die and he will find it amusing to watch arrogant ants deal with the upcoming catastrophe.

Not leaving the continent, I would try and convince Q that the North America/South America continents are the same damn continent and hope that works.

Q is a bastard. He will use the conventional separation of the contiguous landmass into two continents.

For the third variation, I can see Q being a cheeky bastard about what qualifies as air/water travel and claiming I wasn't touching the ground so it's air travel, or that crossing a body of water, even by bridge, is water travel. Because Q's a serious fucking asshole.

Q, uncharacteristically, is not going to be that much of a bastard.

[Highlord Laan]

Curse you, edit timer!

"What happens to the rest of the world, and what do they do when the US and Canada get hit in the face with a literal apocalypse and a significant part of it (including the Breadbasket that is the American Midwest) just went full-on Fallout?"

[K. A. Pital]

ADDENDUM: Fun question: What happen to the rest of the world, and what happens, when the US gets hit in the face with a literal apocalypse and a significant part of it (including the Breadbasket that is the Midwest) just went full-on Fallout?

A severe economic crisis around the world and a swift Chinese/Russian ascent to superpowerdom (since their economies are more controllable and easier shifted into mobilization mode, as well as being, together, the largest and best-armed military and economic bloc on Earth with the largest combined nuclear deterrent) just happened instantly. So one would be wise to have assets in Asia. Perhaps intense competition of the European / Asian power blocs will emerge a bit later. The US will cease to exist and thereby dramatically alter the course of history for the next several centuries.

Can't say foreign powers will immediately start fucking with the remains of the US, but after a while they would probably try to secure control over remaining rump regime(s) to plunder the territories for advanced technology remaining from the early XXI century.

It is much more a "Zone" scenario than outright apocalypse for the rest of the world.

[Broomstick]

And now that we're on page 2 here's my plan:

Since I lack a passport I'm stuck in my own country which, unfortunately, is the one in which the catastrophe will occur. Fortunately, it's a pretty big place.

Gas up both vehicles. Pack them with us, the birds, a slice of our clothing with emphasis on the practical (my workboots, shoes, best winter gear, underthings pants, shirts, but leave the dresses and formal wear at home). I'm going to assume we're not coming back so the really valuable momentos like mom and dad's ashes and a few other items. Pack the emergency solar panel kit. Small portable valuables and ID. Also, all our canned food. Our family weapons.

Head to my sister's house in Buffalo. That's partly because it's further away from what will be a really, really bad situation, partly because she's family, and partly because Buffalo gets power from Niagara Falls so I anticipate the lights are more likely to stay on there than some other places.

If I can convince her about the upcoming kaboom I tell her to start stock up on survival items - LOTS of canned food, bottled water, etc.

[Broomstick]

"What happens to the rest of the world, and what do they do when the US and Canada get hit in the face with a literal apocalypse and a significant part of it (including the Breadbasket that is the American Midwest) just went full-on Fallout?"

K.A. Pital covered the geopolitical aspect.

What's going to happen is that, as noted, the US is toast. The Midwest bread basket is buried under volcanic ash. There will be no significant agriculture in the US for years. Global temperatures will fall. The northern hemisphere might not have a real summer for a couple years. Sunlight will dim worldwide due to the crap injected into the upper atmosphere.

The world is going to experience a famine. Any country depending on food aid from outside is going to starve. Any country that can't get at least a subsistence level of food grown in its own borders is going to starve. Millions, perhaps a billion or so, people are going to starve to death.

On the upside - North America's population has probably dropped by a million or so between the numbers in the Certain Death Zone and those that will die of related-to-the-eruption problems including respiratory problems from inhaling ash. On the downside - it probably won't be enough to fend off the upcoming shitstorm.

If the ashfall reaches "only" as far as Iowa the East will be able to eek out some sort of food production - VERY minor. If it reaches all the way to the Atlantic basically everyone in North America is likely to be fucked unless they can leave for elsewhere. In the north, Asia will fair best but it will still be ugly (they get the ash cloud last). The southern hemisphere will still be affected but not as badly.

Not sure how long it would take the ash cloud to reach the west and east coasts of North America (some ash will reach the east coast in the upper atmosphere even if it doesn't coat the ground). I think it's 3-4 days to reach Europe.

Best case in this scenario leaves the some space in North America for survivors. Worst case means evacuate the continent - IF there's anyone is willing to accept refugees under such circumstances. Even if they're not, a lot of people will chance it on their own because what have you got to lose, right?

Air travel will be grounded in the Northern Hemisphere within a week. International trade will grind to a halt. In North America the power grid goes down and stays down except, maybe, where there is hydroelectric power or nuclear (assuming you can keep the power plants running). The sun will shine again - someday - but until then solar power will be minimal to none.

Two global problems will be solved, though: global warming will be put on hold for awhile, and we'll no longer be worried about rising obesity rates.

[Zwinmar]

Yet brother and his kids. We have a standing agreement that if shit goes south we head up to dad's. Get in touch with Broomstick if possible as Dad lives in upstate NY not too far from Buffalo. With other brother in Oregon, I doubt he could make it but he would be told. Even if he cant make it too us my family has a tradition of being military, so we will be able to organize rather quickly, and have access to land and this is the same area the family homestead was started back in the mid 1700's.

[LaCroix]

Tip: If you don't have a military supply shop nearby, go to a hardware store and buy the dust masks they have - not paper/rubber band ones, the ones moade of rubber with exchangeable filters. Buy all the filters they have. I have been using those during allergy season, and they keep everything out. (everything over 5-10 micron size, I've read. The ones filtering even paint fumes are even better)

[U.P. Cinnabar]

I probably do my best to convince my family to pack up anything valuable, plus extra emergency supplies, and take an unscheduled visit to Europe, or failing that the East Coast.

Edit: Although I'd probably find some grim amusement in the knowledge that we will likely never know the outcome of the 2016 election.

I wonder if, in this scenario,with election day utterly disrupted and the nation in ruins, Obama just says fuck it and declares martial law, with himself as President of America in exile, indefinitely. And honestly, I couldn't really blame him.

He wouldn't be in exile. He'll either be airlifted to Cheyenne Mountain/Mount Rushmore, or evaced overland to Mount Weather/Fort A.P. Hill. He would also still be President until January, so no real need to declare martial law, unless something's happened to a significant portion of Congress.

I was going to add a crack about telling Q to get the Elders and the Charmed Ones to make all this go away, but, never mind.

In all seriousness, I'd think I'll have just enough time to get Mom and her neighbors to shelter either in Underground Atlanta, or the bomb shelters on the base(the base has generators and food, and I believe Underground has at least emergency jennies, and I'm certain the nearby State Capitol has a bug-out shelter and emergency supplies). Everyone else that matters can be warned online.

Then, hopefully Q can come up with something in the way of evidence which the USGS can take seriously, so that they and the rest of the Government can plan some sort of countermeasure.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Wouldn't the Gulf Stream be knocked off course by this as well?!

[Elheru Aran]

Wouldn't the Gulf Stream be knocked off course by this as well?!

I... don't think so. I'm pretty sure that operates on a deeper, more fundamental level. Certainly there would be localized disruptions, but I don't think the major ocean currents will change significantly; that would require larger changes in the entire planet.

I could be wrong about that, though.

[LadyTevar]

Well...
WV is in the 3-10 inch zone for the ash fallout, but I somehow doubt it's going to be falling like snow. Normal weather patterns for the area has air from the Great Lakes and Plains swept along and forced to rise as the Appalachian mountains do, climbing into the cooler reaches of the atmosphere. Any humidity in that air column builds up into clouds as it cools, and then percipitates out once the water molecules are big enough to form rain/snow.

Assuming similar weather patterns, the ash cloud would also rise up and hit the cooler reaches. Any humidity would bond to the larger ash molecules and precipitate out faster, causing massive rainstorms along the western edge of the Appalachians. I say 'rain', but it would be more like liquid concrete falling from the sky.

[Tribble]

What about the American military / intelligence services response? With the USA literally being destroyed, would they be willing to sit passively by and let China and Russia become the new world order (assuming the volcanic winter isn't severe enough wipe out most of civilization of course) ? Or would some try to use their WMDs to try and take the rest of the world with them? Depending on how the Americans react we could potentially end up with a nuclear / biological / chemical Armageddon in addition to the volcanic one.

[Zixinus]

There is very little that I could realistically do. I'm over in Hungary, so I might not be directly affected but I am still obligated to try help people.

The problem is that I have no evidence, unless Q provides some. I'll be a crank caller. "An alien with capabilities indistinguishable form a god told me" isn't exactly compelling. If I could get Q to tell me this on a youtube video while demonstrating he is Q, even that is better. Yeah, I might get famous after shit goes down but that will be useless and it will be to the detriment of my life (unless Q is willing to show up again).

And even if I was taken seriously, well, 24 hours is very little time. Maybe it can give people a fighting change, especially those in the directly affected area, but not much. Even stuff like the military and emergency services will barely have time to meaningfully prepare.

Meantime, if the ash could reach here, I can spend all my money on canned and dried food, probably a water purifier too. Also, seal the windows with duct-tape. Get out the old gas mask and have a look at existing filters. Get my parents and by siblings to get their own as well, anyone I can convince, which is depressingly low number of people.

What about the American military / intelligence services response? With the USA literally being destroyed, would they be willing to sit passively by and let China and Russia become the new world order (assuming the volcanic winter isn't severe enough wipe out most of civilization of course) ? Or would some try to use their WMDs to try and take the rest of the world with them? Depending on how the Americans react we could potentially end up with a nuclear / biological / chemical Armageddon in addition to the volcanic one.

That isn't likely really, the volcano isn't an attack. The volcano may end the US's status as a superpower but not necessarily be the end of the nation in of itself. It's fall will not happen overnight, it will takes years, even decades for that to fully happen. The US attacking anyone is utterly insane thing for it to do. Other nations starting a war gurantees making things worse but the US will still have a navy and ICBMs operational (I think, probably a few more things too) that would make any military action very costly to the aggressor. That military might is going to erode very fast but not right away. Any war will happen after the volcano finishes erupting.

The US economy, agriculture and almost everything will go down the drain but eventually restart itself, even if as a shadow of its former self. The US may still survive as a country too, although that is not a guarantee (it may split up with various nations grabbing various bits). That is the important thing and that is what the US leadership will focus on.

[Elheru Aran]

The problem with the US military/navy is that suddenly, it's not going to have much of any means of *supporting* that navy and military infrastructure. I wouldn't be surprised at all if significant portions were abruptly sold off in exchange for food and resources. It's possible that military command might move somewhere more isolated that's still a US territory such as Hawaii, certainly the government could do so as well.

[Broomstick]

Yet brother and his kids. We have a standing agreement that if shit goes south we head up to dad's. Get in touch with Broomstick if possible as Dad lives in upstate NY not too far from Buffalo. With other brother in Oregon, I doubt he could make it but he would be told. Even if he cant make it too us my family has a tradition of being military, so we will be able to organize rather quickly, and have access to land and this is the same area the family homestead was started back in the mid 1700's.

If your brother is in Oregon he won't be joining you in New York unless he goes the long way around the planet. The east and west coast of North America will be cut off from eat other. If the power grid and the internet stay up there will still be communications but getting around the !VOLCANO! will be quite a trip.

But I'd be happy to meet up with you in Buffalo (my sister is north of the city proper). Shall we meet at the Williamsville Wegman's for a little looting foraging?

Tip: If you don't have a military supply shop nearby, go to a hardware store and buy the dust masks they have - not paper/rubber band ones, the ones moade of rubber with exchangeable filters. Buy all the filters they have. I have been using those during allergy season, and they keep everything out. (everything over 5-10 micron size, I've read. The ones filtering even paint fumes are even better)

You'll need a LOT of filters – they're going to clog pretty quick in an ash cloud.

I wonder if, in this scenario,with election day utterly disrupted and the nation in ruins, Obama just says fuck it and declares martial law, with himself as President of America in exile, indefinitely. And honestly, I couldn't really blame him.

He wouldn't be in exile. He'll either be airlifted to Cheyenne Mountain/Mount Rushmore, or evaced overland to Mount Weather/Fort A.P. Hill. He would also still be President until January, so no real need to declare martial law, unless something's happened to a significant portion of Congress.

They're not going to take anyone to Cheyenne Mountain – all of Wyoming is in the kill zone. So is Mount Rushmore even if it's past the South Dakota border. And nobody is going anywhere by air over North America while Yellowstone is erupting. Too damn hazardous and likely you couldn't keep the engines running for long anyhow.

Better to stay in DC in a crisis like this.

Then, hopefully Q can come up with something in the way of evidence which the USGS can take seriously, so that they and the rest of the Government can plan some sort of countermeasure.

I'm not sure what sort of “countermeasures” you think we can take against a volcano. Or maybe you're planning to drag the planet into court and sue the Earth for property damages?

Well...
WV is in the 3-10 inch zone for the ash fallout, but I somehow doubt it's going to be falling like snow.

If you're going by Swindle's chart no you're not – that's 3-10 millimeters, or a centimeter at most. Which is still going to play merry hell with things but it's manageable. That's also a worst-case scenario, the ash might not fall a measurable amount that far east.

Dry ash does look a bit like snow as it falls... but it's a lot heavier. And might be red hot, depending on where you are in relation to the eruption.

With a good wind blowing volcanic ash can scour the leaves and bark off trees. Remember, it's not snow and it's not water, it's essentially powdered glass.

Any humidity would bond to the larger ash molecules and precipitate out faster, causing massive rainstorms along the western edge of the Appalachians. I say 'rain', but it would be more like liquid concrete falling from the sky.

Yep. Something like that.

It's also likely to contain such fun stuff as sulfuric acid.

What about the American military / intelligence services response? With the USA literally being destroyed, would they be willing to sit passively by and let China and Russia become the new world order (assuming the volcanic winter isn't severe enough wipe out most of civilization of course) ? Or would some try to use their WMDs to try and take the rest of the world with them? Depending on how the Americans react we could potentially end up with a nuclear / biological / chemical Armageddon in addition to the volcanic one.

What response?

The US will retain the military assets it has deployed around the world, from submaries at sea to bases in foreign lands. The US won't be attacking anyone, if anything the first response will to call those people back for rescue/evacuation. Anyone thinking this will instantly cripple the US defense capabilities is in for a rude surprise.

I expect the Pentagon has a plan for such a scenario, they seem to have one for everything else.

Over time the US military will weaken... but so will everyone else's.

[Tribble]

What response?

The US will retain the military assets it has deployed around the world, from submaries at sea to bases in foreign lands. The US won't be attacking anyone, if anything the first response will to call those people back for rescue/evacuation. Anyone thinking this will instantly cripple the US defense capabilities is in for a rude surprise.

I expect the Pentagon has a plan for such a scenario, they seem to have one for everything else.

Over time the US military will weaken... but so will everyone else's.

If the eruption is big enough that the USA will effectively cease to be a nation state and a vast amount of its population will die, IMO all bets are off. I could see some war hawks pushing for WMD use just to make absolutely certain that everyone else is knocked out. At this point, what would they have to lose? The USA wouldn't be getting much deader if the eruption is big enough. I could see the "End of the world" being one of those things that'd delight the war hawks as they'd finally get their chance to use all of those expensive toys they've built up over the years. No point leaving the nuclear missle in its silo if its buried under tons of ash! Might as well use 'em and go after the commies! No point worrying about a war if everyone's going to die anyways!

I know its far from certain but I don't think one should be so easily dismissive of how crazy people can get when their country is faced with total oblivion.

[LaCroix]

Tip: If you don't have a military supply shop nearby, go to a hardware store and buy the dust masks they have - not paper/rubber band ones, the ones moade of rubber with exchangeable filters. Buy all the filters they have. I have been using those during allergy season, and they keep everything out. (everything over 5-10 micron size, I've read. The ones filtering even paint fumes are even better)

You'll need a LOT of filters – they're going to clog pretty quick in an ash cloud.

That's why you should buy ALL of them But I know that they do hold up about a month each if you use them as pollen filters, so I'd give them a few days in such a scenario. But other than allergy season, that ash rain will be a rather temporary thing, so you should be fine with a couple spares.

[Broomstick]

For some reason, I'm reminded of the magazine article I read back in the 1970's about making a bomb shelter air filter out of cardboard, duct tape, and several rolls of toilet paper. The guy writing the article actually built one. Said it was exhausting to operate (it relied on muscle power) but apparently it actually worked. Would probably work at least somewhat for volcanic ash as well as atomic fallout.

[Guardsman Bass]

I'm in a bad place for it (Salt Lake City), but 24 hours is enough time so that I could drive down to southern California outside the ash fall zone. I do whatever is necessary to convince my family that this is happening, load up my car with gas, clothes, valuables, food from the store, etc and start driving like hell while pulling money out of my bank account at stops along the way. God willing, I'll make it to California before the eruption happens.

At the very least, the proximity to the ocean will moderate some of the climate impact of the eruption.

[Korto]

Yellowstone explodes, hey? I guess God saw the election result, too.

Well, it's kinda hard to get any actual further away that I already am, so I think the main things to concern myself with will be the economic after-effects, oh, and the global climate thing.
We're an import-export country. Initially, I'd expect turmoil, economic collapse, etc, from the shock, but what about longer term? For instance, as I recall we import petrol--will it skyrocket in price, or will it collapse? No fricken idea, or about how our coal, iron ore and other exports would fare. I'm on a pension--will the government be able to keep paying it, or will they slash it? Again, no idea, although I'm pretty confident they won't leave us completely out in the cold.
We're a food exporter, but if fuel gets short, that could affect prices, along with a possible slashed pension...

I've got a a small bit of money saved, and it might not be worth as much tomorrow.
Cancel plans of buying those motorcycle parts from Europe. They cost a fortune, and they probably won't arrive now anyway. I can fix the the old bike up with what's on hand.
Go and buy a bunch of seeds, easy-growing stuff like silver beet. Buy a male rabbit...and maybe another female, Anna and Lola aren't getting any younger...and grab a rooster to go with my hens.
Pull that old bow out of the garage. New strings, new arrows for small game, resin, flights, etc.
Get some petrol. Not a lot, the stuff deteriorates anyway, but enough to get the postie going if needed. Get a large container of oil, and some gasket materials, and other bits and pieces that occur to me while I'm there.
Couple of big rolls of chicken wire, and fasteners--nails, screws, etc. A big hardware chain's closing down right now, so that's handy.
Some very large containers food-grade containers, in case they're needed for water later. Hmmm... pick up some water-purification tablets, and fossick around the camping store for anything else that looks handy. You know, candles, flint, etc.
Get a cheap push bike, and some bits to make a trailer for it. Should be easy enough.

Longer term
Find out if we should expect flooding rain (in which case, I'm in a flood zone, have to prepare for possible evacuation to Mum's or a friend's).
Cut back that damn camphor laurel. It shades my fruit trees and harbours plum-stealing possums.

Finally
Pull out some of the popcorn I got for the Trump presidency.

[Broomstick]

Yeah, Korto, looks like you won the location lottery. Australia is going to be one of the better places to be.

Can I (and my family) crash on your couch?

[LaCroix]

Oil price would probalby crash - with all the ash, the US people would need to stop driving, or the engines would die. Either way, their consumption gone from the oil market, prices would drop quickly as storage is filled to the brim.