KABOOM! Thirty years ago today, our neighborhood volcano erupted in a huge way.
"At 8:32 a.m. May 18, 1980, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake triggered an enormous landslide. The entire north side of the mountain collapsed, releasing a furious sideways explosion that swept away forests in an arc of devastation for miles to the north. Within minutes, a column of volcanic ash reached 15 miles above the Earth. The volcano pumped out ash for more than nine hours, darkening the skies for more than 100 miles.
The world changed. Fifty-seven people died in the eruption. Devastation stretched for 230 square miles. Mudflows disgorged by the volcano swept down rivers, wrecking 27 bridges and 200 homes. Sediment filled shipping channels in the Columbia River, cutting off ports for days as dredgers worked to clear the rivers. Ash pumped into the upper atmosphere circled the Earth in 15 days, lowering global temperatures."
~oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2010/05/30_years_after_mount_st_helens.html
Here's an excellent documentary from public television's NOVA. Will the Beast erupt again? You can watch it online:
http://video.pbs.org/video/1485211138
