The Pavlof Volcano in Alaska spewed out a geyser of ash five miles into the sky, disrupting flights and a nearby town.

The 8,261-foot volcano has been expelling ash and smoke for six weeks now, but on Tuesday there was a powerful eruption, Reuters reported. Pavlof began "low-level rumblings" in May, but scientists can't explain what caused the volcano to erupt with such force.

"For some reason we can't explain, it picked up in intensity and vigor," Tina Neal, an observatory geologist, said.

The 28,000-foot wall of smoke was still not tall enough to affect major airlines, but some lower altitude local flights had to fly around it. Pilots and passengers were not the only ones who had to worry about the eruption, ash rained down on a local town with 900 residents, about 30 miles away.

"It's nothing like what you see on TV. It's literally like if I aerosol-sprayed something. Gritty. That's it," King Cove resident Pam Mitchell told Alaska Public Media (APM).

The National Weather Service has issued a warning, advising people with respiratory problems to be careful of breathing complications.They also asked locals to watch out for damage to exposed electrical equipment, according to Reuters.

Another 8,225-foot volcano called Veniaminof, which is 485 miles southwest of Anchorage, has also been emitting low-level rumbling. Scientists claim the activity from the two volcanos is unrelated. A third more secluded volcano has not been showing any signs of eruption, but had significant activity in May of 2011.

Pavlof is currently the most active volcano in Alaska, and often has cycles of eruption, APM reported.

"So far there's been trace amounts of ash, so it's just a fine coating," he said. "Our best estimate of what is going to happen is similar to what's happened in the past -- this level of activity and some level of ash," David Schneider, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey told CNN.

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