On the morning of May 18th,1980 at 8:32am Mount St. Helens has a massive eruption, killing 57 people and destroying 210 square miles of wilderness.
The volcanic peak sits in southwestern Washington. It is located in the Cascade Range and stood 9,680 feet before its eruption.
Native Americans call Mount St. Helens Louwala-Clough, or "the Smoking Mountain."
Beginning on March 20th, 1980, volcanic activity began to be noticeable after a series of tremors on the ground beneath the mountain. The earthquakes escalated, and on March 27th a minor eruption occurred, and Mount St. Helens began emitting steam and ash through its crater and vents.
Daily small eruptions continued, and in April people began to notice changes to to its north face. Studies confirmed a bulge more than a mile in diameter was moving upward and outward over the high north slope. It was estimated that the bulge grew as much as six feet per day.
A 5.0 earthquake occurred on the morning of May 18th, shaking Mount St Helens. The entire north side of the summit began to slide down the mountain. One of the largest landslides of rock and ice in recorded history began followed by an enormous explosion of steam and volcanic gases, surged northward along the ground at high speed creating a lateral blast that stripped the trees from most of the hill slopes within six miles of Mount St. Helens and leveled nearly all vegetation as far as 12 miles away.
The violent explosion surged down the mountain at speeds over 100 miles an hour. The landslide debris were liquefied. The avalanche flooded Spirit Lake and roared down the valley of the Toute River up to 13 miles away.
The explosion, avalanche, mudflows, pyroclastic flows, and floods destroyed roads, bridges, parks, thousands of acres of forest. Thousands of animals and millions of fish were killed. Approximately 10 million trees were felled by the blast.
By - SC
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