Volcano Disrupts Obama Tour

U.S. President Barack Obama was the first to have a tour disrupted by the most recent cloud of ash to get spewed out of an Icelandic volcano.

Volcanologists insist the latest eruption on the tiny north Atlantic island isn’t as bad as the one that a year ago came close to making northern Europe a no-fly zone.

But it’s still been enough to convince presidential aides that Obama should cut short a visit to Ireland to avoid being grounded by volcanic ash.

“Due to a recent change in the trajectory in the plume of volcanic ash, Air Force One will depart Ireland for London tonight,” said White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest May 24, as he announced that his chief would be flying to England sooner than he’d expected.

Obama is on a state visit to the United Kingdom and Ireland scheduled to include various meetings with the Queen and the heads of the major political parties.

Last year’s eruption came from a volcano called Eyjafjallajokull and caused several acts including Metallica to alter travel plans. Faced with the cancellation of its two-hour flight from Oslo, Norway, to the Latvian capital of Riga, the metal gods embarked on a boat and road trip that took 28 hours.

This year the culprit is a volcano called Grimsvötn, which regularly blows its top but tends not to throw up a cloud as large as Eyjafjallajokull produced in 2010.

The cloud it’s so far produced began drifting toward Scandinavia but a change of wind pushed it toward the UK, which has so far caused the cancellation of more than 200 flights due in and out of Irish and Scottish airports.

The Barcelona soccer team due to play Manchester United in The European Champions’ League final at Wembley May 28 also left Spain a couple of days earlier than expected in order to arrive before the dust cloud drifted further south and shut down English airports.