30 years ago today Mt St Helens Blew

[binny]

We were in Clearview Wa, just north of Seattle. I was walking across the kitchen with a box of Kix cereal in my hand. I felt the boom and spilled it all over the floor. My mom didnt believe me until we got to church and everyone was talking about it We didnt get any ash but when we went to visit family in the Spokane area a couple of months later we saw the ash all along I-90. amazing!

It was summer then and I remember thinking "This stuff cant be snow! What is it?"

Where were you when St Helens blew?

 

[Silent1CB]

We're visiting this summer for the first time. Very excited about trip now that I finally got it all figured out.

 

[hopemax]

We lived in Bellingham, WA, which for those that don't know is about 90 min north of Seattle. I was 4, watching cartoons, my parents were still sleeping. I heard a really loud BOOM and ran into my parents' bedroom to ask what it was. My Mom thought it was someone slamming a garage door really hard. But my Dad said, "Nooo, I think that was the mountain."

We also, weren't in the path of the ash cloud. My aunt & uncle lived in Moscow, ID and they were. They had to plastic wrap & duct tape the windows, and try to seal off their fireplace. They sent us the baby jars full of ash. And like you said, seeing the ash on the drive across the eastern part of the state. I used to look for it, even 10-12 years later you could see little bits of it off the side of the road.

I remember in 2nd grade, someone came to the school and sang a song about Harry Truman, and the musical accompaniment were spoons But I still have the little book that was made about him, "The Man & His Mountain." I should explain again, this Harry Truman was not the former president. He was an old man who owned the Spirit Lake Lodge. He refused to evacuate, and he, the Lodge, and the Lake were buried under the giant landslide.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

My mom, uncle and grandparents were living in Centralia... Chehalis... I don't remember which (they're the same to me anyway). I think it's which ever one has the outlets.

Anyway, my uncle and grandpa were supposed to go camping with some friends on one of the lakes of St. Helens. I don't know what happened that made them not go but it's entirely possible that I could grandpa-less and uncle-less.

 

[Meriweather]

I was living in Bothell at the time.
DH was in the shower, so he missed it
Just sounded and felt like someone threw a ball hard on the garage door.
Relatives came up from CA in June and collected ash along I-5...and had to get the car air filter changed.

 

[FireDancer]

She needed the money...wakawaka.

I was two and don't remember where I was but I have seen some specials on the eruption and find the way nature destroys and rebuilds itself fascinating. Whenever people worry too much about what humans do to the planet this just reminds me that the Earth could shake us off like flees move on.

 

[kacaju]

OK I can't believe that was 30 year ago.... That means I was 13 at the time.... I am feeling very old all of a sudden....

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I wasn't alive yet, but my parents lived in eastern Washington (Tri-Cities) at the time. They didn't get a lot of ash where they were, but a lot fell a little bit to the north of them.

Here is the link to the special section the newspaper put together for the 30th anniversary. http://www.tri-cityherald.com/sthelens/ It has some photo galleries of the newspaper from 30 years ago where a lot of the ash fell, among other things.

 

[Sparx]

I wasn't alive, but I do have a sculpture from Seattle that was hand carved out of pressed ash from the explosion.

 

[minkydog]

Thirty years ago I was a young nurse working in rural Alabama. We had followed the news for days and were really stunned at how bad the eruption was. In about 2 weeks we began having the most brilliant red sunsets which were caused by the ash still suspended in the atmosphere. They lasted all summer.

Back in 2007, my family had the unique opportunity to take a cross-country RV trip. The one place I wanted to see, other than Yellowstone, was Mount St. Helens. My sister lives in Poulsbo,WA, on the west side of the Puget Sound so she made arrangements to meet us at Seaquest State Park and we spent the whole day up at the observation center. We were very lucky to see the mountain that day--the sun came out and the low clouds parted just enough for us to see the caldera and the current vents. The mountain is still active and growing. It was quite a sobering experience to see how barren the mountain is still, then 27 years later, and how gray the mountain streams still are. I'm really glad we were able to go there, to experience it.

 

[daisy2]

Saw Mt. St. Helen's blow several times woke up a couple of times with Ash on the ground. Remember my dad had to wrap toilet paper around the air filter. And the fire station brought big hoses so we could get rid of the 3 inches of ash that was on the ground. On May 18th we were at my grandmas in Aloha Oregon and watching it on tv. Boy I can't believe it was 30 years ago I was 13 years old I am so old!!!

 

[cirquelovers]

I was 14 and my parents had just separated. I immediately called my brother because I was a little freaked out by a volcano coming to life so close. We were living in the Willamette Valley here in Oregon. We had a lot of ash on the cars.

 

[disneycruising]

At the time my family lived in Aloha, Oregon. I was 13. My Dad was a newpaper carrier... and had to delivery papers in the ash. You had to go to the store buy a mask to be out in the ash.

I can remember we drove over to my grandmother in Portland. On our way, we see Mt Saint Helen's off in the distance...with the ash cloud above it. When we arrived at my grandmother's house, she was taking pictures of the TV.

I can't believe it has been 30 years.

 

[Becky2005]

Very far away considering I'm in Illinois. It's hard to believe it's been 30 years. I remember the news about it at the time.

 

[flipturngirl]

I can see Mt. St. Helens from my backyard... I like it.. I saw it blow in 2004.. not as big but yeah

 

[Lassie Lynne]

I was camping with my grandparents outside of Olympia, Washington. We heard the first explosion but wasn't sure what had happened.....then there were weird clouds coming from the south. Grandpa said we needed to pack up the trailer....he had been down to the little store and I bet he knew what had happened but didn't let me know (I was about 11 at the time).

So we started to drive back to our home in Sumner (by Tacoma). And then my grandpa shouted, pulled off the side of the little back road and we all got out.........we could see the upper ash plumes (second erruption) and then we turned on the radio, trying to get as much info as we could. By now, we had a tiny bit of ash coming down, but not too much. We got a little ash everywhere, but not as bad as where my brother and sister lived in Yakima.....they shoveled it like snow!! I also have items made out of Mt. St. Helen's ash too.

The funny thing is that my grandfather designed bridges for Weyrhouser and we took a day trip to Mount St. Helen's a month before they started evacuating people to check his bridge and see Harry Truman's lodge and the Mountain, it really was a very beautiful one, I thought it looked like an ice cream. So sad that it was all gone about two months later, even grandpa's bridge fell down during the eruption and we constantly teased him about that!

 

[binny]

Thirty years ago I was a young nurse working in rural Alabama. We had followed the news for days and were really stunned at how bad the eruption was. In about 2 weeks we began having the most brilliant red sunsets which were caused by the ash still suspended in the atmosphere. They lasted all summer.

Back in 2007, my family had the unique opportunity to take a cross-country RV trip. The one place I wanted to see, other than Yellowstone, was Mount St. Helens. My sister lives in Poulsbo,WA, on the west side of the Puget Sound so she made arrangements to meet us at Seaquest State Park and we spent the whole day up at the observation center. We were very lucky to see the mountain that day--the sun came out and the low clouds parted just enough for us to see the caldera and the current vents. The mountain is still active and growing. It was quite a sobering experience to see how barren the mountain is still, then 27 years later, and how gray the mountain streams still are. I'm really glad we were able to go there, to experience it.

I love the Silverdale/Poulsbo area! I would live there in a heart beat.

 

[minkydog]

I love the Silverdale/Poulsbo area! I would live there in a heart beat.

We do, too. I"m hoping that in a few years we can go bi-coastal--spend May-October in western Washington and October-April in Georgia.

 

[Diznotyzed]

Then, as now, I was living in Portland. Being SW of the mountain, we didn't hear the big boom or get any ash that day. I had to work that morning, and didn't know anything about it until I got into the store and saw it on a TV in the electronics dept. Later, after work, we drove up to the Pittock Mansion in the west hills and though the eruption had abated quite a bit by then, it was still an amazing sight. Later eruptions brought ash our way. We were planning an outdoor wedding that summer and worried that ashfall could be a problem. It wasn't, but some of our family that came for the wedding took ash from our yard home as a souvenir.