Mt. Fitzherbert

VANCOUVER - It looks like Mt. St. Helens might be taking a breather.

Scientists lowered the alert level for Mount St. Helens on Wednesday, saying they are less worried about an explosive eruption and that occasional steam blasts and possibly releases of fresh volcanic rock could last for weeks or months.

MOUNT ST. HELENS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Wash. - Government scientists said Wednesday that the danger of a strong Mount St. Helens eruption at any moment has passed, but warned the mountain could continue venting steam and volcanic rock for several weeks.

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Earthquakes on Mount St. Helens increased slightly today after a marked stillness overnight, but the quakes are still so slight that scientists here believe the volcano has entered a lull after more than a week of building eruptions.

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. -- The University of Washington reports that earthquake activity is starting to pick up again at Mount St. Helens.

Activity dropped off after Tuesday's steam burst, leading the U.S. Geological Survey to lower the alert level at the volcano to Level Two from the highest level, Level Three. They say an eruption is no longer imminent.

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. -- Scientists dropped the alert level for Mount St. Helens on Wednesday, saying occasional steam blasts and possibly some eruptions of fresh volcanic rock could last for weeks or months.

"We no longer think that an eruption is imminent in the sense of minutes or hours," Willie Scott, a geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., said after scientists reported a lower level of seismic activity at the mountain.