[Geysers] Geyser Report May 30 should be May 31

[Lynn Stephens]

The heading on this report should be May 31, so I'm reposting the report. The weather was nice today until this evening.  KC and Julie Thomson and I were at the Flood Overlook about 7 pm watching dark gray clouds and horizontal lightening.  I hit the outer edge of the storm when I got to Madison Junction.  About three miles west of Madison Junction I was in the middle of the storm with thunder and lightning, hard rain, and some hail.  One visitor had pulled over to take a picture of an elk wading in the Madison River.  At least he had pulled over far enough so the rest of us could go around him safely.
 
I saw parts of two series of Gemini today and all of one series.  One of the partial series consisted of six eruptions.  (I wanted to get a data point on Till and when I arrived back at Pebble/Gemini, Pebble's water level was low enough that I'm fairly certain I had missed the initial eruption.)  The complete series consisted of five eruptions.  A few years ago Chris Daubert wrote words to the effect, "As soon as Lynn writes about it, something changes."  Sure enough, there has been a small change with respect to Gemini's series--the last interval is no longer always the longest interval in the series.
 
Till Geyser--I saw two major eruptions today.  This morning's eruption followed a double interval that averaged 10h51m.  I watched the entire eruption, which had a duration of 36 minutes.  For many years I watched Till and the duration stayed at 30 minutes.  A few years ago the duration started creeping up from 30 to 33 minutes.  The three minute jump was somewhat of a surprise to me.  I stayed to get the first minor following the major, which occurred 20 minutes after the end of the major.  Again, when I first started watching Till, the quiet period between the end of the major and the start of the first minor was 15 minutes.  It stayed that way for many years until it started creeping up until it reached 18 minutes two or three years ago.  I did not stay to determine how long the minors continued following the major eruption, so also don't know how many minors there were in the series of minors.
    This evening I obtained a closed interval for Till of 10h32m.
 
There are wild strawberries in bloom in several spots where I watch geysers.  The yellow monkey flowers are starting to carpet the hill near Firehole Lake.  And there was one magenta colored stonecrop at the Flood Overlook.
 
NPS personnel comment:  The West Entrance gate is manned starting at 6 am.  I have met three different people who have the early morning shift.  The woman I've met is quite friendly.  I've also met one man who was friendly.  After carefully examining my federal Senior Pass and photo identification, he asked, with a smile, "Is this your first trip to the Park?"  All I could do was chuckle as I said , "Not at all."
 		 	   		  
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