Many students around campus probably do not know about the natural wonder of Mount St. Helens, which is one of the biggest active volcanoes on United States mainland soil. Most people do know about the volcanoes on the Hawaiian Islands, but not many people realize that Mount St. Helens is in Coldwater Ridge, Washington State.
On Sunday May 18, 1980, at 8:32 a.m., Mount St. Helens had her biggest eruption in centuries. The ash and smoke belted out of the volcano 15 miles into the air and 250 miles surrounding the volcano. Unfortunately, 52 people were killed, including one man who refused to come off the volcano. The man lived on the side of the volcano and, with his dog, was probably buried alive under the rubble that slid down the volcano’s slope.
In 1982 President Ronald Reagan and Congress created the National Volcanic Monument for research recreation and education. The government set aside 110,000 acres mostly for research and education purposes.
September 24, 2004, thousands of earthquakes began occurring under Mount St. Helens and all over California. A lot of the earthquakes had the strength of 3.3 on the Richter scale. The 1980 eruption had quakes up to 5.1 on the Richter scale.
In recent days Mount St. Helens has belted out a great deal of smoke and has left several scientists wondering if she’s all show or if she is going to have another great eruption. There has not been any lava spewing.
USGS seismologist Bob Morris claims, “Magma could be moving underground,” and he would not be surprised to see more explosions in the next few days.
Mount St. Helens becomes more active every day. She is showing a lot of signs of a bigger explosion about to take place. The only thing anybody can do is to sit still and wait for her to blow. At this point in time it would be too dangerous for any scientist to get too close to her. If Mount St. Helens ever does decide to erupt, you can imagine she will affect the weather all over the United States.