Run for your lives, Mt. St. Helens is back!

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tekkmortal

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Quakes at Mount St. Helens Accelerate; Eruption Fears Increase
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The frequency and strength of small earthquakes occurring near Washington state's Mount St. Helens accelerated for a second day, raising expectations that the volcano may erupt for the first time in almost 20 years.

As many as four quakes a minute are taking place in the vicinity of the volcano, which sits about 100 miles (161 kilometers) south of Seattle. Scientists have recorded magnitudes as large as 3.3, the U.S. Geological Survey said at 10:30 a.m. New York time. The last magma-emitting eruption took place Oct. 21, 1986, according to the geological survey.

Scientists monitoring the mountain yesterday raised the alert level to a ``volcano advisory,'' which is the second-highest level on a three-tier scale. The warning means that an eruption is likely, though not certain.

``Were not guaranteeing an eruption,'' Cynthia Gardner of the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington said in a televised press conference yesterday. ``Our best guestimate is something that is small to moderate. What that means is that we might have fragments hurled out of the volcano.''

Fragments could be sent as far as about 3 miles, she said. Cougar, Washington, which sits less than 25 miles from Mount St. Helens, is the closest town to the volcano. Portland is about 50 miles to the south.

Scientists have said an eruption would likely be minor compared with the catastrophic event that occurred May 18, 1980. That eruption followed a 5.1 magnitude earthquake and killed 57 people. Molten lava reduced the volcano's height by 1,314 feet.

Trails on the mountain have been closed to hikers as a cautionary measure. The seismic activity recorded since Sept. 23 has been the most significant since 1986.



To contact the reporter on this story:
Jesse Westbrook in Washington at jwestbrook1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Aimee Sullivan at asullivan@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: September 30, 2004 11:49 EDT

:eek:
 
Hi there ~

Oh, yeah I read about this. And, also I read about Hawaii is havin' volcano.... plus, FLA is havin' hurricanes....and, plus Alaska is havin' global warmin'. I noticed that things are gettin' worse and worse. People are startin' to pray, hopin' that they are safe in God's Hands. Too many things goin' on in this now days...........

It's interestin' to watch. :)
 
Oh yeah, I've heard about it too..... ;)
 
Yeah that has been in papers and on TV everywhere. We are waiting for that to happen anytime. I could feel the earth shaking a few times.

But we wont be harmed by the eruption ..just a pain in the neck because it will spurt out ashes and that is not healthy for our lungs. When it erupted in 1983, everythng came to standstill for a week.
 
ah this is so cool, i visited up there like 5 years ago. i got scared when i zoomed my camcorder into the crater and there was a small steam coming out of there. eek.
whats more fun-- wanna see when it erupts? go to see a live webcam! --> http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/
 
Im sure they will try to sell molten lava on ebay if St. Helens erupts. Like hurricane wind for sale on ebay after Frances hit Florida. LOL
 
Oh wow Mount St. Helens is so beautiful huge mountains. I always thought White Mountains in New Hampsire is more beautiful than other states. I did not realize how big Mount St. Helens is.
 
yeah, i recalled that
i flew to Seattle for a business trip
overlooking this mountain -- very awesome !
and breathtaking !
 
tekkmortal said:
Im sure they will try to sell molten lava on ebay if St. Helens erupts. Like hurricane wind for sale on ebay after Frances hit Florida. LOL
Click to expand...
Hmm... IF they could get their hands on some. That stuff will harden before anyone could even get a chunk of it! :crazy:
 
Update on Mount Saint Helens

Mount St. Helens belches smoke, ash
Friday, October 1, 2004 Posted: 7:24 PM EDT (2324 GMT)

Mount St. Helens blew smoke and ash Friday afternoon.

VANCOUVER, Washington (CNN) -- Mount St. Helens belched a large cloud of smoke and steam Friday afternoon following a week of close monitoring by scientists.

But one scientist described the event as a "hiccup."

The volcano spewed a harmless plume of steam and ash into the air Friday, the biggest eruption by the volcano in 18 years.

Shortly after noon (3 p.m. ET), a small explosion was detected on the south side of the volcano's lava dome, where cracks had been detected in a glacier, said John Major of the U.S. Geological Survey.

The mountain then vented a combination of steam and ash for 24 minutes, sending a pale gray column nearly 10,000 feet into the blue Washington sky.

"There is no indication that magma has reached the surface," Major said, although scientists planned to fly over the mountain Friday afternoon to measure for gases that could indicate whether lava had risen inside the volcano's crater.

Molten rock is called magma before reaching the surface where it then becomes lava.

Scientists said the presence of magma could indicate the potential for a more serious eruption.

Geologist Tom Pierson said the event "was really a hiccup. [Eruptions] could be a little bigger once real magma is involved."

A visible plume -- which was mostly steam but contained some ash -- moved southwest about six miles, Major said.

People living downwind southwest of the volcano might see a light dusting of ash on their cars, but it should otherwise be unnoticeable and poses no threat to life or property, he said.

The Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area lies about 50 miles southwest of Mount St. Helens.

The water flow out of the crater appears to have increased since the eruption, though no potentially destructive mud flows were reported, he said.
Scientists saw this coming

Scientists had been predicting just such a minor eruption after swarms of small earthquakes were detected and the mountain's volcanic dome shifted three inches since Monday.

"This is exactly the kind of event that we've sort of been talking about and anticipating over the past several days. This is a fairly small eruption," Major said.

In anticipation of an eruption, the mountain was closed to hikers, and the media and sightseers gathered at a visitors center five miles away.

Major said none of the scientists working on the volcano at the time of the eruption were injured.

Friday's eruption was a mere sideshow in comparison to the cataclysmic eruption May 18, 1980, which blew off more than 1,000 feet from the top of the mountain.

That eruption killed 57 people, left deep piles of ash hundreds of miles away and caused $3 billion in damage.

After that disaster, small eruptions continued at Mount St. Helens until 1986, when the volcano finally went quiet. Major said Friday's eruption was comparable to the minor eruptions seen during that period.

The lava dome was built up inside the crater left by the 1980 eruption by the smaller eruptions that followed it.
Flights delayed

The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily diverted an unknown number of commercial aircraft after the eruption, primarily affecting air traffic in the Portland area, spokesman Allen Kenitzer said.

Alaska Airlines canceled five flights and diverted four Portland-bound planes to Seattle, airline spokesman Sam Sperry said. The airline has since resumed normal operations.

The FAA is also advising low-altitude aircraft of the volcanic activity but has not issued flight restrictions, Kenitzer said.
 
Suppose Washington state will be covered by molten lava if Mt. St. Helens erupts. :jaw:
 
Lava Dome Pics

2 helens lavadome pics attached. Left is what it looks like now and center is what it looked at the beginning. Added Helens quakes siesmograph to the right.
 

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tekkmortal said:
Suppose Washington state will be covered by molten lava if Mt. St. Helens erupts. :jaw:
Click to expand...


We will not be covered with lava. This is a different volcano from the ones you see in Hawaii or other places. When Mt. St. Helens erupt, we will get only ashes here. When it happened in 1980, Portland was literally covered with ashes.

Traffic was plugged up on Interstates all weekend long, full of people coming from everywhere, even Canada, to watch the volcano.

REmember Mt St Helens is not the only volcano around here. We also have many other mountains...Mt Adams, Mt Hood, Mt Rainer, Mt Jefferson, Mt Bachelor etc.....so it is always on our heads, wondering if any one of them would ever erupt
 
Meg said:
We will not be covered with lava. This is a different volcano from the ones you see in Hawaii or other places. When Mt. St. Helens erupt, we will get only ashes here. When it happened in 1980, Portland was literally covered with ashes.

Traffic was plugged up on Interstates all weekend long, full of people coming from everywhere, even Canada, to watch the volcano.

REmember Mt St Helens is not the only volcano around here. We also have many other mountains...Mt Adams, Mt Hood, Mt Rainer, Mt Jefferson, Mt Bachelor etc.....so it is always on our heads, wondering if any one of them would ever erupt
Click to expand...

Have you seen any mountains erupted before ? Will the ashes harm on the highway, houses, ground, etc.. ?? Will the house insurance be coverage for the damage from the ashes ??
 
Mt. St. Helens in 1980.
Mt%20St%20Helens%20wo%20Frame.jpg
 
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