There's Something MUCH Bigger Than Yellowstone. And It Will Happen Again.

Check out our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/PBSWeather... Annual Survey: https://to.pbs.org/2025SurveyWTHR Weathered Merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/wea... Yellowstone was massive. Roughly a thousand times larger than the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, the biggest eruption in the history of the continental United States. And if Yellowstone erupted again, the consequences for the U.S. and the world would be devastating. But there’s something far bigger than Yellowstone. Something so powerful it’s been linked to nearly every mass extinction in Earth’s history. And astonishingly, most people have never heard of it. In this episode of Weathered, we explore the true giants of Earth’s volcanic past: the Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs). These vast flood basalt events dwarf supervolcanoes, pouring out millions of cubic kilometers of lava, filling entire regions thousands of feet thick, and unleashing pulses of greenhouse gases that have repeatedly driven abrupt climate change and global die-offs. Along the way, we investigate what a modern Yellowstone eruption would actually look like, how ash, cooling, and atmospheric disruption would cascade across the world, and what ancient climate catastrophes can teach us about the rapid warming we’re causing now. ***** PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateTerra ***** Subscribe to PBS Terra so you never miss an episode! https://bit.ly/3mOfd77 And keep up with PBS Terra on: Facebook:   / pbsdigitalstudios   Tiktok:   / pbsterra   Instagram:   / pbsterra