Mt. Fitzherbert

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — Mount St. Helens appeared to be settling down early Wednesday after a startling blast that shot gritty volcanic ash to about 36,000 feet above sea level.

A fine dusting was reported as far as away 125 miles to the east-northeast in southern Grant County by the time ashfall stopped late Tuesday night, the National Weather Service reported. An ashfall advisory for some areas east of the Cascade Range was canceled at midnight.

A spectacular eruption from 8,363-foot Mount St. Helens sent a cloud of ash and steam 36,000 feet above sea level late Tuesday afternoon – three times as high as the eruptions that marked the mountain's October reawakening, scientists said.

“It was beautiful. There was this big, roiling, cauliflowerlike structure rising in the air,” said U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist Carolyn Driedger, who saw the towering plume from the window of her office at the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., about 35 miles from the volcano.

Mount St. Helens spewed a gray plume of ash miles into the air yesterday, surprising scientists and enthralling onlookers with its largest show of force in months.

The eruption, which began at 5:25 p.m., lasted about 30 minutes and sent a billowing cloud about 36,000 feet into the air.

Mount St. Helens cranked up the drama yesterday, sending a plume of ash and steam 36,000 feet in the air shortly before sunset.

Clearly visible from Portland, the cloud was at least as big as any since the volcano rumbled back to life in late September.

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Mount St. Helens appeared to be settling down Wednesday morning after a startling blast Tuesday afternoon shot gritty volcanic ash to about 36,000 feet above sea level.

A fine dusting was reported as far as away 125 miles to the east-northeast in southern Grant County by the time ashfall stopped late Tuesday night, the National Weather Service reported. An ashfall advisory for some areas east of the Cascade Range was canceled at midnight.

MOUNT ST. HELENS - A plume billowing thousands of feet into air slowly drifted to the northeast Tuesday as Mount St. Helens released a towering column of steam and ash.

The explosion happened around 5:25 p.m., about an hour after a 2.0 magnitude quake rumbled on the east side of the mountain, said Bill Steele, coordinator of the Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network at the University of Washington.

VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Wispy steam rose from Mount St. Helens on Wednesday morning, a day after a steam burst sent a plume of volcanic ash 36,000 feet into the air.

Tuesday's half-hour outpouring began with practically no warning about 5:25 p.m.