Contact FEMA.
U.S. Geological Survey, Vancouver, Washington
University of Washington, Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network, Seattle, Washington
Friday, October 21, 2005 9:35 a.m. PDT (1635 UTC)
MOUNT ST. HELENS UPDATE
Current status is Volcano Advisory (Alert Level 2); aviation color code ORANGE: Growth of the new lava dome inside the crater of Mount St. Helens continues, accompanied by low rates of seismicity, low emissions of steam and volcanic gases, and minor production of ash. During such eruptions, changes in the level of activity can occur over days to months. The eruption could intensify suddenly or with little warning and produce explosions that cause hazardous conditions within several miles of the crater and farther downwind. Small lahars could suddenly descend the Toutle River if triggered by heavy rain or by interaction of hot rocks with snow and ice. These lahars pose a negligible hazard below the Sediment Retention Structure (SRS) but could pose a hazard along the river channel upstream.
Potential ash hazards: Wind forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coupled with eruption models, show that any ash clouds that rise above the crater rim today would drift northwestward to northeastward at low elevations and eastward at high elevations early in the day, then northward to north-northeastward later in the day.
Potential ash hazards to aviation: Under current eruptive conditions, small, short-lived explosions may produce ash clouds that exceed 30,000 feet in altitude. Ash from such events can travel 100 miles or more downwind.
Recent observations: Clear conditions show the volcano emitting a moderate steam plume this morning. There have been no significant changes in seismicity or deformation over the past several days. A glitch following a server upgrade at the PNSN site yesterday caused a temporary outage of the display of seismic records on the web. This glitch affected only the display, and not the collection, of seismic data. Results of a gas flight on Tuesday show that SO2, CO2, and H2S emissions were similar to those measured during the previous flight a few weeks ago and remain very low. Analysis of recent camera images indicates that the dome continues to extrude at a linear rate of about 2 to 3 meters per day (6 to 10 feet per day).
The U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Washington continue to monitor the situation closely and will issue additional updates and changes in alert level as warranted.
OK - Nothing to see here, move along - sorry for the interruption in your day.
No, I hear that Maine still has plenty of ice left.