St. Helens shoots steam as lava dome wells up - "MUCH LARGER EVENT" PREDICTED

The Seattle Times ^ | 10/5/04 | Hal Bernton & Nancy Bartley

[ppaul]

Birth pangs.

[MD_Willington_1976]

The zit in thge middle is getting bigger, have you seen today's pictures?

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/images/Tmshvolcanocam.jpg

[Onelifetogive]

Scientists have repeatedly said they don't expect anything like the May 18, 1980, blast that ripped off the top of the mountain and unleashed a sideways explosion that killed 57 people.

But did they expect it then????

[DannyTN]

"The 1980 blast ranked a 5 on the scale scientists use to rate volcano eruptions. In recent days, scientists have guessed that a new eruption could rate a 2 or 3." Anybody have more info on how the eruptions are measured?

[demlosers]

[bert]

......a recently installed Global Positioning System (GPS).....

Altitude pool......

How high will the gps blow?

When she blows, what will be the GPS altidude at apogee?

[r9etb]

"Zit..." LOL -- a perfect description.

It's deforming pretty good, which means there's a hell of a lot of pressure behind it -- it'll be a big bang when it finally goes.

[ppaul]

But did they expect it then????

Nope.
And for those who died: many did not know what hit 'em.
It was like an atomic blast.
It blew the whole top of the mountain off, flattened miles of forest, and covered thousands of acres with ash and boulders as big as automobiles.

[Question_Assumptions]

They did think that something really big was possible when it erupted in 1980. That's why they tried (but failed) to get almost everyone out of the area.

[r9etb]

But did they expect it then????

Yes. The bulge in the side of the mountain was huge, and they did indeed expect a big blast. The dead folks were, by and large, people who had gone close to the mountain to do some sight-seeing.

[Shryke]

Volcano says, "Pull my finger" alert!

[GOP Jedi]

Heavens! Is that Willie Scott, the famous American female vocalist?

[steve86]

The ash, which would largely be dust but with about 4 percent silicate, has not been shown to pose long-term health effects, said Dr. Justin Denny, the public health officer for Clark and Skamania counties.

Some nut on timebomb2000.com was trying to tell people how gravely hazardous the ash is - like "broken glass in the lungs". He was scaring people unnecessarily. Those of us who dug out in 1980 know how silly that is. Yes, it is sensible to wear a simple surgical mask if you are caught out in dense ash. But no need to worry excessively about health effects.

[not_apathetic_anymore]

This week I've learned more about volcanoes than I probably ever knew before...someone pointed me to about the VEI (Volcanic Explosive Index)

[bikepacker67]

It blew the whole top of the mountain off, flattened miles of forest, and covered thousands of acres with ash and boulders as big as automobiles.

Not to mention what it did to Spirit Lake!

[No Blue States]

Wow that "zit" in the middle has grown alot.

[Red Boots]

http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/msh/comparisons.html

This had some info on a scale ranking eruptions in terms of volume of ejected material. In the link, the 1980 MSH blast was ranked as a 5; same as in the article, so it's probably the same one.

[ppaul]

Click:

Mount St. Helens before the blast

[DannyTN]

Thanks for link

0 non-explosive
1 gentle
2 explosive
3 severe
4 cataclysmic
5 paroxysmal
6 colossal
7 super-colossal
8 mega-colossal

Where's Hugh?

[diamond6]

Those poor people! Was it the suffocating ash or extreme heat that killed them?

Sorry, I'm volcano ignorant.