From KOMO TV 4 Seattle:
http://www.komotv.com/stories/35624.htm
SKAMANIA COUNTY - Mount St. Helens released a towering plume of ash on Tuesday, marking the most spectacular eruption in months.
Late afternoon television footage showed the plume billowing thousands of feet into the air, then drifting slowly to the northeast. The photo at right was taken by Terry McClainfrom a United flight coming into Seattle from San Francisco.
The National Weather Service issued an ashfall advisory after pilots reported spotting ash higher than 30,000 feet, National Weather Service meterologist Danny Mercer said.
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.
Steele said he did not believe the explosion had increased the risk of a significant eruption and noted that recent flights over the volcano's crater did not reveal high levels of gases.
"We don't expect another explosion," said Peggy Johnson, a UW seismologist.
The volcano has vented ash and steam since last fall, when thousands of small earthquakes marked a seismic reawakening of the 8,364-foot mountain.
Steele said Tuesday's ash burst may have been triggered by partial collapse of a lava dome in the crater, which has been growing steadily over the last several months.
"Until we get a better view in the crater we won't know," Steele said.
Johnson said there had been no increase in quake activity before the explosion. "The seismicity had been continuing just as it had been," she said.
Geologists have said there is little chance of anything like the massive explosion that blew off the top of the peak on May 18, 1980, killing 57 people and covering the region with gritty ash.
Mount St. Helens rumbled back to life Sept. 23, with shuddering seismic activity that peaked above magnitude 3 as hot magma broke through rocks in its path. Molten rock reached the surface Oct. 11, marking resumption of dome-building activity that had stopped in 1986.
Scientists have said a more explosive eruption, possibly dropping ash within a 10-mile radius of the crater, is possible at any time.
UW seismologists said Tuesday's explosion destroyed three sensors in the volcano's crater, but that other instruments around the rim of the crater remained intact.
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I somehow had a funny feeling that we'd see an eruption of this size soon, given the rate of dome growth and volcanic activity, as well as St. helens' record of volcanic activity.
Another interesting note. 36,000 feet is just shy of half of the height of the 80,000 foot plume St. Helens belched out on May 18th, 1980, almost 25 years ago.
And to think that I'm going up again this summer in a helicopter around the crater...
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