Posted on 09/30/2004 12:02:30 AM PDT by datura
Note to Admin Moderator: I'm posting this in "Breaking News" since no one has said a word about it as of yet. If you don't feel it should stay in Breaking, please leave on Front Page or FR. Thanks.
While checking the seismographs tonight for the region, it is becoming apparent that Mt. Rainier is also awakening along with Mt St Helens. At first, I had hoped that the seismographs at Mt Rainier were merely picking up the earth movement from St Helens, but the tremors do not correlate.
By checking the charts for St Helens back on the 25th of the month - when the current event began - the buildup is easily seen. There are occasional quakes that are of noticeable strength, while the others are extremely small. Moving forward from the 25th, you can see the intensity grow, as well as the frequency shorten. Well, the same scenario is playing itself out right now under Mt Rainier, especially the Longmire station.
Posted below are the charts showing this growth at St Helens, along with the more current ones from Mt Rainier. If Mt Rainier's activity increases in a manner similar to Mt St Helens, this will be an interesting time indeed for all of this region......
Here is Mt St Helens from the 25th:
And here is St Helens again, from the morning of the 26th:
This is Mt St Helens right now. Constant earth movement......
Alert status for Mt St Helens is now at "3". Now for Mt Rainier. Here's the chart for Rainier from yesterday morning/afternoon:
And this is the current chart for Mt Rainier:
As you can see, the earth is starting to move under this volcano as well. The duration of the quakes under Mt Rainier is longer, and the frequency is longer than at Mt St Helens, but there is obviously something going on here as well. I really want this one to go back to sleep.
The big yellow one was the 6.0 near Parkfield (pop 37), which is sort of close to Paso Robles where we had one in Dec 03 that killed a few people. The one to the east southeast is near Bakersfield--I think it was a 5.0.
You can go to USGS and click on the map and get lots of info. I have it bookmarked :D
http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/latest.htm
Pardon my stupidity, what is the oven mitt for? Could you use work gloves instead if a person pre-prepared a kit? That's what I sometimes use around the campfire.
Pardon my stupidity, what is the oven mitt for? Could you use work gloves instead if a person pre-prepared a kit? That's what I sometimes use around the campfire.
Completely different ash cloud than the 1980 eruption. Interesting. I guess from seasonal differences in windpatterns?
I read somewhere that Mt. Rainier is the most dangerous volcano on the planet due the number of people living so close.
Lol! Thanks. I'll send them pennies.
Seriously, though, I was local when it happened, and it was the same old drivel on the media, might, maybe, could cause some minor ash, etc.
I'm very, very concerned right now that they have not yet detected any gasses, whatever is happening is not venting, and is building up pressure.
And the amount of energy being released is mind boggling.
New road sign on I-5
"Welcome to Crater Lake, Wa!"
Well, if the volcano goes off, and the sky fills with ash, there won't be anything else to do except sit home and bake cookies... ;0)
That's a good question. The prevailing wind, I guess, is from the northeast this morning. Therefore, the ash, if it erupts, now will go southwest. That of course is in the direction of Portland. Needless to say the winds at various altitudes can change at any time.
We want pictures.
I'm certainly of the DUCK AND COVER generation.
I was just reporting on the updated info on quakes for people's info and benefit.
Cheers.
Chad, my guess is that this eruption will demolish the old lava dome, blow some ash, set off some small pyroclastic flows -- and then start a whole new dome-building exercise.
Probably. Guess that means I won't really have any use for this oven mitt. Oh well, there's always next time...
Absolutely! We are already planning a trip down there early next week. And if it goes off before then, we'll try to find a good viewpoint and get some pics.
How close do you live to Rainiers? I am in Tacoma, and close enough to worry. From what I understand, the biggest danger is the mud flow down the river bed areas. The Nisqually is historically the flow of the past, but towards Tacoma/Fife area seems possible by the map.
Thanks for this post.
If you do research on request, could you for the record check out the Yellow Stone Caldura?
I really recommend a book called "Volcano Cowboys" if you're really interested in the subject...look for it at your local library, they probably have it.
It deals with the USGS response to Mt. St. Helens, Pinatubo, and I think Nevado del Ruiz as well, and also the unrest at Long Valley Caldera....people involved tell their stories.
At the time of Mt. St. Helens the real problem is the average USGS geologist was a shy intellectual with no experience dealing with the media at all.
Also, people had been so overwhelmed with footage of Hawaiian volcanoes and people walking around nice calm rivers of lava that the idea of a volcano "exploding" was virtually alien to them, and the USGS had a great deal of trouble conveying this to the media, local officials, residents, loggers, etc. That's the main reason why that Harry Truman guy didn't evac...he assumed he'd see lava coming down the mountain and he could just hop in a car and drive away, and they never could explain to him otherwise.
The USGS was constantly fighting local authorities for larger exclusion zones, more roadblocks....and local residents and loggers were fighting all of the restrictions. I think everyone in the USGS was aware a big destructive eruption was quite possible, they just had difficulty conveying that in a believable way that wasn't panicky..as they couldn't be SURE a big eruption would take place. But they were definitely VERY worried about a big landslide from the bulge. One problem is that in late April/Early May the small eruptions that had occured earlier basically stopped, but the bulge kept growing.
Local residents were having a cow over the restricted areas, and finally pestered authorities to let them in to Spirit lake to get belongings; one group went May 17. Another big group was scheduled to go May 18 at 10:00AM.
Overall the USGS prevented a much bigger loss of life than actually occured.
Not sure why you'd be asking someone who clearly doesn't have the foggiest idea of what they're looking at for research on request.
I remember that storm, picked up some limbs from the yard the day after and caught the flu. My body KNEW Clinton was evil, before my brain did.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.