Most European airports closed due to volcanic ash on Sunday have beenreopened. The most recent ash plume has dissipated enough for planes to takeoff and land in Ireland, Britain and the Netherlands.Heathrow and Gatwick in London are running without restrictions onTuesday.
After the most recent closure on Sunday, London's main airports reopened at7 a.m., local time Monday morning with delays and cancellations.
AccuWeather.com meteorologists said prevailing winds will continue carryingash across the U.K. and as far south as northern Germany and the Netherlandsthrough midweek.
The ash is not expected to reach Spain, Italy or the rest of central andsouthern Europe.
Late Monday, the winds near the volcano started steering the ash due east ofIceland, preventing any new ash from being blown toward the U.K. However, it isdifficult to determine how long the ash that just recently spread over the U.K.
will remain there.
If eruptions subside, AccuWeather.com meteorologists foresee winds dyingdown enough for residual ash to dissipate over the next few days. However, ifash continues to spew from Eyjafjallajokull late in the week, prevailing windscould again spread fresh ash across European airspace by the upcomingweekend.
Airports were closed Sunday across Scotland and the north of England,including those as far south as Manchester and Liverpool.
According to an Icelandic Met Office assessment made Tuesday morning, theeruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano shows no signs of ending. The heightof the ash cloud has reached between 16,000 and 23,000 feet.
The Eyjafjallajokull volcano first started erupting in mid-April andsubsequently grounded flights across Europe for almost a week. There have beenperiodic delays and cancellations of flights since that first week followingthe initial eruption.
Story by AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Heather Buchman withcontributions from Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel and CarlyPorterRelated to the Story:Visit our Facebook FanPageFollow us on Twitter BreakingWeatherInternational Weather withJim AndrewsEurope Weather with RaychelHarvey-Jones
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