Our own little active volcano

Small Eruption at St. Helens

From Koin news:

A thick plume of white steam erupted from Mount St. Helens shortly after noon today, but little activity is visible now.

So far, it appears mainly steam erupted from the mountain, and little or no ash. USGS experts are calling this a steam explosion but say a lava eruption could still follow.

Scientists aren't expecting anything nearly as powerful as the 1980 eruption that blew the top off the mountain and killed 57 people.


http://www.koin.com/storyimages/eruption_1001.jpg

That's a nice picture.. I'll be watching closely to see what happens next.

I remember the 1980 eruption. It really created a mess of ash in various places. And I remember a trip my mother took to visit a friend in Seattle area (travelling from Northern California and through Oregon/Washington to get there). The ash was so bad at one point, people had to use headlights in the daytime and carry extra air filters as they would plug up constantly. Here's a decent site with info on the 80 erruption:

http://www.kelso.gov/recreation/attractions/sthelens.html

Yeah, I was there for the 1980 eruption. We were living in Southwest Washington at the time. I have a fantastic picture of it at the house somewhere, perhaps I could post it (after I re-size it).

Yes, tons of ash after that eruption. :eek:

I was only 8 at the time so I don't remember a whole lot. :-\