[OT] Volcano Cam

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Wow, Mt. St. Helens must of blown!!! All I see now at 8:18am EST is static. :D

Jay
 
Remix,

Thanks for posting the link -- saved me a hunt at the CVO Web site.

St. Helens has a special place in the hearts of folks in the Pacific Northwest, not only because of the 1980 eruption. Before that event, it was a beautiful, symmetric, white-capped cone in an idyllic forested setting and was a favorite outdoor destination for many. Fifty-seven people died from the eruption and many thousands of others were affected personally.

Some good did come of it. The state of Washington became a leader in emergency management, which helped over the coming years in dealing with everything from wildfires to earthquakes and even with smaller events like lost person searches. Geologists and vulcanologists have learned a great deal about potential hazards elsewhere from studying St. Helens and thinking about things like lahars (basically mudflows from eruptions) and ash thrown up into the path of aircraft.

I never saw it intact. My mom (retired earth science teacher) and my dad and I once rode a flightseeing helicopter into the crater. When we returned to the heliport and the pilot heard of my mom's occupation, he said that he would have put her down on the dome if he'd known. :mad: She had a great time nevertheless.
 
A few of us were among the first to obtain permits to climb MSH after the volcano was reopened to the public after the big boom.
It was an incredible experience. The hike thru the lower elevations was thru devasted forest and the fresh lava rocks, not having been exposed to weathering for long, was razor sharp. The last 1,000' was up a steep slope, covered with deep, powdery ash. 1' forward and 4" back.
The top was a narrow crater rim that ran about 270 degrees around the blown-out area. Inside, there already was a 750' lava dome, eerily smoking down in the crater. What sounded like constant rainfall on this sunny day was rockfall into the crater, with rocks from the size of marbles to those the size of vehicles, constantly falling into the caldera.
Once we get thru this next period of activity, I'd urge folks to get a permit to climb MSH and have this experience for themselves.
 
Checking in at 9:44PST 10/4 there is a plume of smoke coming out of the crater...

Wasn't there at 9:34PST... :)

Jay
 
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