Mt. Fitzherbert

With the 25th anniversary of the 1980 eruption this week,The Portland Oregonian (and Associated Press) has published a number of article on Mt.St.Helens:

• What's next? After St. Helens, Mount Rainier poses greatest threat 2005-May-14 09:42 fromThe Portland Oregonian

  In the shadow of Mount Rainier, a father pushes his son on a squeaky swing set. A small dog sleeps undisturbed in the middle of a dead-end road. The tall firs lining the main street whisper in the spring breeze.

  One day, the peaceful hush of this small town will be broken by a rumble that sounds like a thousand freight trains. If everything works right, sirens will wail and the town's 4,400 residents will have less than 45 minutes to evacuate — or be buried by an avalanche of mud and debris tumbling off the flank of Mount Rainier.

• The deadly toll of volcanic eruptions 2005-May-14 09:01 fromThe Portland Oregonian

  "You could hear women lamenting, children crying, men shouting. Some were calling for parents, others for children or spouses; they could only recognize them by their voices. Some bemoaned their own lot, other that of their near and dear. There were some so afraid of death that they prayed for death. Many raised their hands to the gods, and even more believed that there were no gods any longer and that this was one last unending night for the world."

  •Pliny the Younger, 79 A.D., describing the eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum, killing thousands.

• 25 years after the destruction, renewal is evident at Mount St. Helens 2005-May-14 12:17 fromThe Portland Oregonian

  St. Helens. In the distance, trees scattered like dropped matchsticks still lie where they were toppled by a cloud of fragmented rock and ash that exploded from this mountain 25 years ago.

  A quarter-century has passed since the devastating blast killed 57 people and an overwhelming amount of plant and animal life. But the barren landscape is now scattered with green, and wildlife has made a home in the vastly different habitat.

  also in The Seattle Post-Intellegencer
  also in KING (ch.5) Seattle
  also in KOMO (ch.4) Seattle
• Other Cascade volcanos vary in eruption likelihood 2005-May-14 12:16 fromThe Portland Oregonian

  Mount St. Helens is one in a 1,000-mile chain of more than 30 volcanos in the Cascade Range. Here are some of the principal peaks:

  also in The Seattle Post-Intellegencer
• Mount St. Helens timeline 2005-May-14 12:15 fromThe Portland Oregonian

  Recent history of Mount St. Helens in southwestern Washington, as provided by Mount St. Helens National Volcano Monument and the U.S. Geological Survey:

• Some fast facts on Mount St. Helens 2005-May-14 12:14 fromThe Portland Oregonian

  What's the volcano's current status? It's currently at Alert Level 2, the second highest. This indicates heightened concern about potential hazard, but not an imminent life- or property-threatening event. Under current 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.

  Is the volcano going to erupt? By geologic standards, the mountain has been erupting since October, but scientists aren't sure if another large eruption is coming. So far, it has emitted steam and a little ash. A major eruption could produce a flow of superheated rock and ash that destroys anything in its path, as in 1980. People downwind from the volcano may have to contend with ash that could spew as much as 60,000 feet high and threaten aircraft.

• Geologic time speeds up at youngest, most active Cascade volcano 2005-May-14 12:13 fromThe Portland Oregonian

  Volcanoes erupt and simmer, dinosaurs rule and vanish, continents slide and collide. These events occur in geologic time, over millions of years.

  Then there is Mount St. Helens, young, restless and unique in the Cascade Range. The mountain that blew itself apart 25 years ago is now rebuilding its shattered dome— in a generation.

• Scientists have same goals, new tools for volcano study 2005-May-14 12:09 fromThe Portland Oregonian

  In 1980, scientists needed days to compare photos of Mount St. Helens and determine whether the volcano was changing in ways that could lead to an eruption. Today, they get their answers in seconds with digital photos and other new tools.

  Many of those researchers are still on the job, 25 years later. And their memories of the heavy labor they exerted while on the mountain before the deadliest eruption in U.S. history have not faded.

• Pre-eruption peak lured legions of climbers, including writer 2005-May-14 12:08 fromThe Portland Oregonian

  Every high peak has its own allure, its siren's call. Old Mount St. Helens beckoned generations of climbers with a symmetrical profile and cone of perpetual ice.

  The 9,677-foot volcano in the Cascades of Washington state was sculpted by pyroclastic flows over a 50,000-year period. Such facts were absorbed by kids, like myself, who went to school nearby in those pre-eruption days.

• Changes in technology since 1980 eruption 2005-May-14 12:04 fromThe Portland Oregonian

  Some of the changes in volcano monitoring technology and equipment that have occurred since the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens, as provided by the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory:

• Families of St. Helens victims say loved ones not to blame 2005-May-14 12:02 fromThe Portland Oregonian

  The four bodies were found inside the family's car, their lungs filled with ash.

  When rescue workers finally reached them, they also found a cassette tape, recorded by Ron and Barbara Seibold's children on their way to the volcano.

  also in The Seattle Post-Intellegencer