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Science

Mt. St. Helens' Grumbling May Presage Eruption 40

Posted by timothy from the sell-ash-to-easterners dept.
stand writes "The Seattle Times is reporting (press release here) that scientists believe that there is a 'significant chance of a small eruption of Mt. St. Helens in the days or weeks ahead.' There have been a series of earthquakes at the site in the last few days. I think it's about time Washington state took over the natural disaster coverage from Florida, don't you?"
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Mt. St. Helens' Grumbling May Presage Eruption More

Mt. St. Helens' Grumbling May Presage Eruption

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  • I hate to tell you this, but Mt. Saint Helens is just a few miles from the Oregon border, so any eruption effects southwest Washington and northwest Oregon equally.
    • It's more than just a few miles. It's a few hundred. It's near Cougar. Last time it blew, Portland (right on the border) wasn't affected besides some ash (not hot ash, just ash).
    • You're also forgetting several Canadian provinces, you know, the blacked out part at the top of your USA maps? :) (polite jab at USians, don't hate me - I order all my stuff from the US, I promise! /waves flag)
      • Yes, I remember the last eruption here in Saskatchewan. Obviously not as badly as those closer, but I do remember a significant amount of ash coming down from the skys.

    • Re:Just Washington? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Probably not. It depends on the nature of the eruption and possibly (assuming a large enough eruption) which way the wind is blowing.

      Most likely any eruption from St. Helens would be very small and unlikely to affect much outside the immediate crater. That is, only SW Washington would be affected. If, however, there were an ash eruption, the wind direction would be a critical factor in determining areas affected. The wind usually blows E to W, so it's unlikely that Northern Oregon would be much affected, a
  • Not to sound like a bad Hollywood plot, but is it even imaginable that there could be a way to incite a controlled eruption? Something analogous to lancing a boyle or something...

    =Smidge=

    • Re:Controlled eruption? (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Humans have only ever induced a single volcanic eruption. If I recall correctly, it was at a steam well in Iceland where the well tube became a conduit that allowed a very tiny amount of tephra to erupt. It damaged part of the pipe.

      To induce an eruption you would need to provide a path to the surface from an a pressurized magma body, and that path would have to be sufficiently robust to not get quickly plugged, or you would need remove enough pressure confining the magma that it could expand in spite of an

  • No reason to worry (Score:3, Informative)

    by bar-agent ( 698856 ) on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @08:45PM (#10379849)
    From the article:

    "Such an event could fling ash and rocks thousands of feet into the air but would not be expected to pose hazards beyond the volcano's crater and flanks."

  • Dupe (Score:1, Informative)

    by complete loony ( 663508 )
    Dupe Dupe Dupe Dupe ... [slashdot.org] (sung to the theme of Gold Gold Gold Gold ...)
    • Uhuh. Uuuum, why is your link also linked in this slashdot article? Could it be that you're karma whoring, or are you simply unobservant?

      I suggest you learn to tell the difference between an update and a dupe.
      • well IANAS, but it didn't look to me like any new information had been revealed.
        • well, seeing as the article you link is about what the USGS and the University of Washington said on suday the 26th and the article referenced in the seattle times goes on about what the vulcanologists, geophysicists, seismographs and Mount St Helens did on the 27th, I'd say there was some new information revealed. A classic case of RTFA unfortunately...
  • In Bill Bryson's excellent book, "A short history of nearly everything" (ISBN 076790818X) he gives a fascinating account of the lead up to the last erruption at Mt St Helens which killed over 60 people. If it wasn't for the fact that so many unfortunate people died, the appalling errors of judgement and subsequent decisions made at the time would be really funny (in a Dilbert way). So if you live in the area, I wouldn't trust the "experts". Learn from history.

    • Re:Don't trust what they tell you.... (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I disagree with your premise. Unfortunate events in the 1980 eruption are not a valid reason not to trust the experts today.

      For one thing, we know a lot more about Mt. St. Helens and Cascade volcanoes today than we did then. By that I mean since the 1980 eruption the behaviors of the mountain have been extremely carefully studied and monitored. Every aspect of the eruption has been reviewed countless times. St. Helens is one of the best studied stratovolcanoes in the world. Scientists have swarmed over eve
  • I think it's about time Washington state took over the natural disaster coverage from Florida, don't you?

    FYI, Microsoft is an Unnatural Disaster.

  • I don't knwo where I'm a gonna go.... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by crapnutassneck ( 243159 ) * on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @11:19PM (#10380683) Homepage
    Anyone else from the area remember the first time? I was 7, playing in my house in Longview, Wa. We heard the news, went out in the backyard and watched the mushroom cloud. Then got inside as about 3 inches of ash piled up on everything. We had to wear little paper masks to go outside....
    • I also was 7 when it blew the first time. I was living in Missoula, MT, about 500 miles away. Being young, I didn't know much about volcanoes and was expecting to see lava come rolling down the valley. I didn't know what to think when it started 'snowing' grey stuff. We also had to wear the masks to go outside to clean it up. We had about an inch of ash.
    • I lived in Lake Stevens, Washington at the time. On the morning of May 18th my dog started barking for no apparent reason. A moment later, we head a very loud boom that sounded like it could have come from our front yard.

      We were not downwind, so we didn't get any significant ash.

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