An infrared image showing high temperatures on Pavlof Volcano's northwest flank, indicating lava flows. /Credit: Dave Schneider/AVO

After a day of intense eruption on the Alaska Peninsula, Pavlof Volcano has suddenly gone quiet.

Pavlof stopped putting out ash on Saturday evening, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. Warnings for pilots to fly around the ash plume -- more than 35,000 feet high at its peak -- were canceled shortly after.

Since then, the AVO’s Dave Schneider says the ash has been dissipating over the Bering Sea. He says it’s pretty typical for a volcano to pause mid-eruption.

“They just kind of run out of magma at some point,” he says. “It can just shut off, just that quick.”

But it might not be finished yet. Schneider says they’re still recording some tremors at the volcano, and lava flows on its northwest flank.

“Based on past history, it could start to ramp up again,” he says. “It’s always difficult to say when a particular eruption is over. Quiet ‘til tomorrow is the same as quiet for the next hundred years.”

Right now, Schneider says it's safe for planes to travel near the volcano. But Pavlof has been known to erupt for weeks or months, with breaks like this in the middle. So the AVO is still keeping it on watch -- in case the eruption starts back up.