Hello Cherish - As far as we know Sanford is not active. In volcano terms we call it "extinct", rather than "dormant" or "active" like Wrangell is. I'm not sure what you are seeing. One possibility is that you are seeing rock dust or condensation blown up by thermals rising along that steep southwest face. There are often rockfalls or avalanches on that face, and spring sun shining on the rock often creates strong thermals. One spectacular example in the past was in early '80s when a huge rockfall created a dust plume that rose to something like 30,000 feet. That was reported as an eruption by the LA Times. Thanks for letting us know about your observations. If you see more we'd be interested to hear about it. If you get photos we'd love to see them. On this page here: https://www.avo.alaska.edu/volcanoes/volcimage.php?volcname=sanford are meterologic/snow plumes from Sanford. Thank you again for writing with your observations, Cheryl Cameron -------- Cherish Brigner wrote: I didn't find anything saying that Sanford was active right now. I wanted to let someone know that Mt. Sanford has been smoking for over a week. The first time we noticed it was March 7, 2012 the sky was clear with no clouds in sight and the column of smoke coming from the top was really visible. Today March 13, 2012 there are a few clouds but you can still see the column pretty clearly. Could you please email me back and let me know what you think, my husband and I are very curious as to why it is smoking. Thank you very much. Cherish Brigner -- Cheryl Cameron Geologist, Alaska Volcano Observatory Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys voice: 907-451-5012 fax: 907-451-5050