Henry Rifle Forums

42 years ago today Mt. St. Helen’s (a volcano) blew up. It’s located in Southwest Washington State and the prevailing wind from there usually heads right to Spokane which is located in central Eastern Washington State. I believe it blew around 9 or 10 am and at around mid-day here in Spokane it got completely dark. I remember looking to the west and thinking that “that’s one mother of a storm coming” which surprised me as there was no storm in the forecast. It was the ash cloud from the volcano and it remained dark for over two hours. The ash was falling like rain and everything, ground, buildings, cars, streets, etc. was a grayish white like a dirty snow. Pretty crazy times back then as nobody and I mean nobody including scientists and government agencies knew what to expect. In the end all was good and for several years the crops in central Washington were bumper crops. The theory was that the layer of ash helped retain the available moisture leading to the great harvests.

Incredible event

I remember that day all too clearly.

Here in Wenatchee it didn't get much darker than a overcast day, we got less than a ¼inch of ash. I was playing tennis that morning and no one knew St. Helen's had blown, the ash fall was so light you couldn't see it coming down but we started seeing little marks where the balls where hitting the courts. Someone went in and listened to the radio and heard what had happened.

Mt. Rainer, along with most of the Cacade peaks are still active volcanoes and if (when) it erupts the mud and water flow from the west slopes could (will) cause some major damage.

https://www.wired.com/2015/05/volcanoes ... et-lately/

My sister had just moved to Portland OR to start a new geology career as a hydrologist when the mountain blew. What a welcome.....! I live in Spokane now, but I was 2500 miles away back then.

https://www.inlander.com/spokane/blast- ... d=19607738

I feel pretty safe here, at least from St Helens, but there is no guarantee that Hood or Rainier of one of the Three Sisters in Oregon won't pop in my lifetime. But I am safer than all those hundreds of thousands of folks living on the high risk lahar floodplains.

https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/mt-ra ... hazard-map

John Davies
Spokane WA

John E Davies wrote: ↑

Wed May 18, 2022 2:21 pm

I feel pretty safe here, at least from St Helens, but there is no guarantee that Hood or Rainier of one of the Three Sisters in Oregon won't pop in my lifetime. But I am safer than all those hundreds of thousands of folks living on the high risk lahar floodplains.


John Davies
Spokane WA

A lot less frequent but they say at some point in time Yellowstone's super volcano will blow and then we're all likely screwed. I've heard the time line is around 300,000 years between eruptions and we're overdue for one.

I remember that, it was a rather big event. I plan on missing the Yellowstone eruption.

Yep, the Yellowstone Caldera is about 40 MILES wide. If that pops, the world will be back in the Stone Age. I hope you guys have plenty of primers…. and I hope we have established colonies on other planets and moons by then. Now image if a city sized asteroid hit dead center in that caldera….… Time to rewatch The Expanse for the third time. Or one of these other Asteroid Kills Everybody flicks.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/vissiniti ... id/%3famp

John Davies
Spokane WA

John E Davies wrote: ↑

Wed May 18, 2022 6:58 pm

Yep, the Yellowstone Caldera is about 40 MILES wide. If that pops, the world will be back in the Stone Age. I hope you guys have plenty of primers…. and I hope we have established colonies on other planets and moons by then. Now image if a city sized asteroid hit dead center in that caldera….… Time to rewatch The Expanse for the third time. Or one of these other Asteroid Kills Everybody flicks.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/vissiniti ... id/%3famp

John Davies
Spokane WA

If any one of those events happen, not worrying about. Nothing we can do. Enjoy what you do while you are still able.

We were camping near Dubois, Wyoming that day, and we woke to find ash over everything. That’s a long way from St Helens. I can only imagine what it was like nearby.

I was working and living in Northern Virginia and the sky went gray for several days as the ash
blew over us.