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UPDATE: Heathrow Airport in London will remain closed until 1pm Sunday, but if winds don’t move the volcanic ash out of the airspace, it could remain closed for up to 5 days more!
Click for the latest on that: “Europe Remains A No-Fly Zone Thru The Weekend” on Mut8

Gritty, caustic ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano continues to drift across parts of Britain and Northern Europe today.  The ash is so damaging to moving mechanical parts that air traffic had to be grounded at international airports in Europe and UK.  As of Thursday night, 11 of 16 international airports in Germany – including Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg and Dusseldorf – had halted all flights.  This morning, we’re receiving reports that flights between Asia and Europe have also been stopped indefinitely.

AP photo taken by Brynjar Gaudi

However vast and mighty the destruction seems at this point, it probably won’t affect temperatures on a global scale (which does happen when enuff ash blocks the sun for a long enuff period of time).  Sun reporter Frank Roylance blogged:

Such things are possible. The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, in the Philippines in 1991 had a chilling effect on global temperatures (about 0.7 degree F globally) and caused gaudy sunsets around the world. Eruption of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia in 1815 caused catastrophic changes in the world’s weather cycles, leading to what was called “The Year Without a Summer” in Europe and North America in 1816.

[And let's not forget Mt. Vesuvius which erupted for 2 whole days in 79 A.D. which not only blocked out the sun, but completely buried Pompeii for 1600 years. Of course, that may have been the work of the infamous Doctor Who as seen in "The Fires of Pompeii" in series 4...]

Read more @ Iceland volcano’s ash plume seen from space on Maryland Weather.com

That article includes links to satellite images of the steam plume and ash cloud as seen from space.