Originally Posted By: hikermor
Look at the 1980 Mt St.Helens eruption as an event that is somewhat comparable. Significant blast effects, lahars (debris flows),and all kinds of mischief....Apparently the 1980 eruption released 24 megatons of energy,much less than 10 Kt. Much will depend upon the location and time of an actual nuke.

I'll bet a nuke could start many more fires than even the most catastrophic lightning storm - enough to overwhelm our very fine fire fighting system - it will depend on when and where....


24 megatons is a lot more than 10 kilotons. 10 kilotons is an explosion roughly equal to ten thousand tons of TNT. 24 megatons is roughly equivalent to the explosion of 24 MILLION tons of TNT.

The two events are not really comparable though, a volcanic eruption can release a lot more energy than a nuke, but this release is spread over hours or days. In a nuclear explosion, most of the energy is released in a fraction of a second.