Based on webcam views and satellite images, the Washington VAAC reported that on 29 January a brief emission from Colima with low ash content drifted 30 km SW. The next day a few brief emissions rose from the crater and dissipated about 37 km SW. In a 2 February bulletin, the Unidad Estatal de Protección Civil reported that Colima remained active, although there was a slight decrease in the number and size of lava-block avalanches. Lava flows on the SW and WNW flanks minimally advanced, and small landslides of lava blocks were observed. Residents were warned not go within 5 km of the volcano.

Geological Summary. The Colima complex is the most prominent volcanic center of the western Mexican Volcanic Belt. It consists of two southward-younging volcanoes, Nevado de Colima (the high point of the complex) on the north and the historically active Volcán de Colima at the south. A group of late-Pleistocene cinder cones is located on the floor of the Colima graben west and east of the complex. Volcán de Colima (also known as Volcán Fuego) is a youthful stratovolcano constructed within a 5-km-wide scarp, breached to the south, that has been the source of large debris avalanches. Major slope failures have occurred repeatedly from both the Nevado and Colima cones, producing thick debris-avalanche deposits on three sides of the complex. Frequent recorded eruptions date back to the 16th century. Occasional major explosive eruptions have destroyed the summit (most recently in 1913) and left a deep, steep-sided crater that was slowly refilled and then overtopped by lava dome growth.

Sources: Unidad Estatal de Protección Civil de Colima, Washington Post