Erupting Love: Yellowstone’s Valentine’s Day Connection

The season of love is upon us as Valentine's Day approaches, and it seems Yellowstone National Park is getting in on the season. Well, kind of. Last summer, the Valentine Geyser in the park's Norris Geyser Basin erupted for the first time in over twenty years, and the USGS feels it has been erupting ever since.

The Norris Geyser Basin has been closed since mid-October of last year, so they won't know for sure how often the Valentine Geyser has erupted since then. However, according to the USGS, after the first eruption on August 7, 2025, it erupted every 4-6 days through mid-October. They won't know for sure whether it has remained active until later this spring, when information can be collected again, but with Valentine's Day coming, it's on their minds.

The way geysers work is really interesting, because they're not all as predictable as Old Faithful. For instance, the world's tallest geyser, the Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone, goes long periods without a major eruption, and then all of a sudden it erupts quite often. It's still not predictable. The Valentine geyser is more like Steamboat, not predictable, but when it's active, it's impressive.

There's some discrepancy in the history of Valentine. Geologists believe it has been present in the park since between 1880 and 1902, but the name dates to the early 1900s, when C.W. Bronson was the first to see it erupt on Valentine's Day.

The USGS says that when Valentine erupts, a major eruption could reach 75 feet.

Valentine Geyser erupts from a cone that is about 6 feet (2 meters) high—probably the largest cone in Norris Geyser Basin—but it is unclear if the cone is completely made of silica sinter from past eruptions, or if it is a thin coating of sinter on bedrock. Major eruptions are relatively quiet but can send water to 75 feet (23 meters), although about half that height is more common. Each major eruption starts with water but quickly transitions to steam, and eruptions last from several to more than 20 minutes, often with a longer steam phase.

What does it mean if Valentine has been active for the last 6 months? No one really knows, but it's definitely on the minds of the USGS researchers.