On May 18th, 1980 the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in southwest Washington state disrupted the lives of thousands and changed more than 200 square miles of rich forest into a grey, lifeless landscape.

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/volcanocam/

MT. ST. HELENS WEB CAM

Eruptions of Mount St Helens Volcano
1990-91, 1989-90, 1980-86, 1921?, 1903?, 1898?, 1857, 1854, 1853, 1850, 1849?,
1848, 1847, 1842-45, 1835, 1831

Above: Here is an image of a "spine" that has developed inside the volcano. This picture was take 5-4-06

Different view of spine

Above: Here's a look at the spine itself over a period of 10 days.

All photos by the US Geological Survey.

May 17, 2006
USGS

Current status is Volcano Advisory (Alert Level 2); aviation color code ORANGE: Growth of the new lava dome inside the crater of Mount St. Helens continues, accompanied by low rates of seismicity, low emissions of steam and volcanic gases, and minor production of ash. During such eruptions, changes in the level of activity can occur over days to months. The eruption could intensify suddenly or with little warning and produce explosions that cause hazardous conditions within several miles of the crater and farther downwind. Small lahars could suddenly descend the Toutle River if triggered by heavy rain or by interaction of hot rocks with snow and ice. These lahars pose a negligible hazard below the Sediment Retention Structure (SRS) but could pose a hazard along the river channel upstream.

Potential ash hazards: Wind forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coupled with eruption models, show that any ash clouds that rise above the crater rim today would drift northeastward.

Potential ash hazards to aviation: Under current eruptive conditions, small, short-lived explosions may produce ash clouds that exceed 30,000 feet in altitude. Ash from such events can travel 100 miles or more downwind.

Recent observations: The lava spine continues to grow, accompanied periodically by rockfalls and moderate-size rock avalanches. At night incandescence associated with hot rockfalls may be visible. The west part of the new dome continues to deform as fresh lava extrudes from the vent. Seisimicity remains at levels typical of the past few days. Large rockfalls and avalanches caused by the growing spine can generate ash clouds that rise above the crater rim.

The U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Washington continue to monitor the situation closely and will issue additional updates and changes in alert level as warranted.

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Cascades/CurrentActivity/2006/current_updates_20060517.html

2nd Eruption; Government Raises Volcano Alert
POSTED: 7:49 am PDT October 2, 2004

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. -- Government seismologists raised the alert level for Mount St. Helens on Saturday after its second steam eruption in two days was followed by a powerful tremor. They said the next blast could threaten life and property in the remote area near the volcano.

The hundreds of visitors at the Johnston Ridge Observatory just five miles from Mount St. Helens were asked to leave. They went quickly to their cars and drove from the scene.

"We're in an eruptive period where there's a potential hazard," said Bill Steele at the University of Washington's seismic laboratory in Seattle. The concern was not Saturday's small steam release, "but the nature of the volcanic tremor signal that followed," he said. "It was far stronger after today's steam eruption" than the tremor that followed Friday's blast.

"We were picking it up throughout western Washington and into central Oregon. Yesterday we had a very weak tremor signal." Also, earthquakes continued Saturday during the tremor. Tremors indicate movement of gases or fluid within the volcano," Steele said, while earthquakes indicate "a pounding and breaking of rock."

Steam Eruption Begins At Mount St. Helens
POSTED: 12:06 pm PDT October 1, 2004

Video from KIRO 7 Eyewitness News at Mount Saint Helens shows what appears to be a steam eruption. A cloud has risen above the crater rim. The mountain released a thick plume of white steam just after noon and more than a week after a flurry of earthquakes first warned an eruption was on the way. The steam shot from the crater in exactly the way scientists had predicted, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/3777435/detail.html

Small Eruption at St. Helens

A thick plume of white steam erupted from Mount St. Helens shortly after noon today, but little activity is visible now.

At 12:03 p.m., steam blew from the volcano. A small ash cloud followed. USGS experts are calling this a steam explosion but say a lava eruption could still follow.

KOIN News 6 reporter/pilot Warren Petrie was flying over the mountain when it erupted. He said he can taste and smell it.

Scientists were airborne with an infrared camera at the time.

The ash plume flew about 10,000 feet into the air, Petrie said. Within 30 minutes, it drifted between 5 and 10 miles to the south-southeast.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been notified, but the cloud does not appear to be a threat to airplanes.

Scientists aren't expecting anything nearly as powerful as the 1980 eruption that blew the top off the mountain and killed 57 people.

As of the 30th of September, the United States Geologic Survey (USGS), has reported that over night, seismic activity at Mt. St. Helens has accelerated significantly, which increases our level of concern that current unrest could culminate in an eruption. We are increasing the alert level to the second of three levels, which is similar to Color Code Orange of the alert system used by the Alaska Volcano Observatory and analogous to the National Weather Service's hazardwatch. Earthquakes are occurring at about four per minute. The largest events are approaching Magnitude 2.5 and they are becoming more frequent. All are still at shallow levels in and below the lava dome that grew in the crater between 1980 and 1986. This suggests that the ongoing intense earthquake activity has weakened the dome, increasing the likelihood of explosions or perhaps the extrusion of lava from the dome.

The cause and outcome of the accelerating unrest is uncertain. Explosions from the lava dome could occur suddenly and without further warning. During such explosions the dome and crater floor are at greatest risk from ballistic projectiles, but the rim of the crater and flanks of the volcano could also be at risk. Explosions would also be expected to produce ash clouds that rise several thousand feet above the crater rim and drift downwind. During today, wind forecasts from the National Weather Service, combined with eruption models, show that ash clouds will move in a southeasterly direction and could dust areas tens of miles or more from the volcano with ash. Landslides and debris flows from the crater that are large enough to reach the Pumice Plain are also possible. If the current unrest is being driven by a small slug of magma at shallow depth, extrusion of lava could also occur. At present there is no evidence that new gas-rich magma has ascended to shallow levels and could generate a large sustained eruption. But we are being especially vigilant to become aware of such evidence should it appear. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will issue additional updates as warranted, whether activity escalates or returns to background levels.

Mount St. Helens "The Mountain Is Closed"

A report has just came out minutes ago (time now 23:40 hours) stating Mount St. Helens activity "escalates". More than 2000 small quakes have occurred since last Thursday. As of today, all hiking trails are closed. Near by schools and community centers conducted evacuation drills. Small 1.0 to 2.5 magnitude quakes are now occurring every one or two minutes.

For those of you in Seattle, WA., I can tell you people are starting to get a little nervous. This is not uncommon when a previous disaster as occurred in a particular area. It is in part related to PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). I would say on a scale of 1 - 10 with ten being the highest level, most of us are at 3. But if steam vents begin to open and rocks slides occur, it would not take much to see a jump to 4 or 5. And if a new swarm of earthquakes reach 4.0 - 4.5 or higher, the State will be put on notice.

The article below is over twelve hours old and filed by KOMO News 4 Seattle, WA. Remember, the above is just minutes old and updates article below.

SEATTLE - Small earthquakes rattled Mount St. Helens at the rate of one or two a minute Monday, and seismologists were working to determine the significance of some of the most intense seismic activity in nearly 20 years.

Carbon dioxide and sulfur gas samples collected above the volcano - which erupted to devastating effect in 1980 - will help scientists figure out what is going on beneath the 925-foot-high dome of hardened lava within the mountain's gaping crater. They want to know whether the quakes are the result of water seeping into the mountain or magma moving under its crater.

In either case, scientists will continue to watch it from the Cascade Volcano Observatory operated by the U.S. Geological Survey in Vancouver, Wash., about 50 miles away.

"But if it's magma, we'll be a lot more nervous," said the observatory's chief scientist Jeff Winn.

A helicopter was to carry scientists and instruments over the crater Monday afternoon, to assess the gases and ground deformation that would indicate pressure building below the dome.

Measurements of ground movement "will tell us whether there's any new magma coming into the system," said Seth Moran, a seismologist at the observatory. That data will not be immediately available.

Swarms of small earthquakes began Thursday and increased in frequency and magnitude until Sunday, when there were more than 10 events with a magnitude of 2 to 2.8. The quakes are at depths less than one mile below the lava dome.

By Monday, the pace was unchanged but the magnitude had lessened, Winn said.

Moran said there was potential for explosions within the crater that could throw rocks as far as the rim.

The USGS issued a notice of volcanic unrest on Sunday, citing "an increased likelihood of a hazardous event." U.S. Forest Service officials closed hiking trails above the tree line at 4,800 feet on the 8,364-foot mountain, though the visitor's center and most other trails at the Mount St. Helens National Monument remained open.

St. Helens' May 18, 1980, eruption killed 57 people, leveled hundreds of square miles of forests and dumped volcanic ash across the Northwest.

In October 1980, the lava dome began building in the crater. The last dome-building eruption was in October 1986, but there have been periodic steam explosions.

Sunday's activity was the most in a 24-hour period since the 1986 eruption, said survey geologist Willie Scott. Earthquake swarms in 1998 and 2001 did not result in any surface activity.

If there is an explosion, Scott said concern would be focused within the crater and on the upper flanks of the volcano. A five-mile area, primarily north of the volcano, could receive flows of mud and rock debris.

On Monday, a helicopter lowered a geophysicist onto the lava dome to replace a failed instrument used to measure tiny movements that indicate whether the dome is swelling, Winn said.

While the chopper was near the dome, the pilot was in radio contact with Bobbie Myers, another geophysicist who during the 1980 blast learned to detect subtle changes in seismic monitors.

"She's known to be able to predict explosive events up to a couple of minutes ahead of time," Winn said.

Geologists study crater for clues in quake activity

02:59 PM PDT on Monday, September 27, 2004

By kgw.com and AP Staff

MOUNT ST. HELENS -- Scientists in a helicopter were flying over Mount Saint Helens Monday afternoon, for a closer look at the rumbling volcano.

KGW Photo

Mount Saint Helens.

Jeff Winn, a scientist at the Cascade Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, said the team of scientists was collecting samples of gasses, including carbon dioxide and sulfur, hoping to gain more insight into recent swarms of earthquakes on the mountain.

The swarms, measuring at 2.0 and higher, continued Monday morning at the rate of one or two a minute. All trails and climbing routes were closed on the popular tourist attraction and a notice of volcanic unrest had been issued by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Scientists were also working Monday to erect additional seismic sensors and sophisticated global positioning devices to measure activity. They hope to determine whether there are steam explosions happening in the crater or whether magma is moving under the volcano.

Willie Scott, a geologist with the USGS office in Vancouver, said that the biggest concern was a small explosion without warning.

But U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Seth Moran at the Volcano Observatory in Vancouver said there's no danger outside of the crater of the mountain in southwest Washington.

He said a repeat of the big 1980 blast was unlikely but there was potential for explosions that would throw rocks as far as the rim of the crater.

Blown-down trees, still pointing away from the blast where they fell 20 years earlier, frame the north side of Mount St. Helens at Loowit Viewpoint.

Activity began Thursday morning

Initially, hundreds of tiny earthquakes that began Thursday morning had slowly declined through Saturday. By Sunday, however, the swarm had changed to include more than 10 larger earthquakes of magnitude 2 to 2.8 and similar activity continued Monday morning.

This marked the most activity in a 24-hour period since the last dome-building eruption in October 1986.

Some of the earthquakes suggested the involvement of pressurized fluids, such as water or steam, and perhaps magma. The quakes have occurred at depths less than one mile below the lava dome within the mountain's crater.

In the event of an explosion, Scott said the concern would be focused on the area within the crater and the flanks of the volcano. It's possible that a five-mile area primarily north of the volcano could receive flows of mud and rock debris.

KGW Sky-8

Scientists fly over Mount St. Helens, to study the crater.

That portion of the mountain blew out during the May 18, 1980, eruption that left 57 people dead, devastating hundreds of square miles around the peak and spewing ash over much of the Northwest.

"We haven't had a swarm of earthquakes at Mount St. Helens since 2001," state seismologist Tony Qamar said. "Clearly something new is happening."

The Spirit Lake Basin is closed to public entry. The Loowit Trail 216 between the junction with Windy Trail 216E and Studebaker Ridge, the Truman Trail 207A between the junction with Boundary Trail No. 1 and Windy Trail 216E, and the entire Willow Trail 207A between the Truman and Loowit trails is closed.

There are no plans to evacuate the area, said Skamania County Undersheriff Dave Cox.

"There's been no explosions, there's no outward sign that anything is occurring. This is all based on the pattern of earthquake activity that is occurring below the dome," said Scott.

Rock slides and mudflow possible

Experts believe there is "an increased probability of explosions from the lava dome if the level of current unrest continues or escalates," USGS and the University of Washington Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network in Seattle said in a joint statement.

A similar swarm of quakes in November 2001 and another in the summer of 1998 did not result in an eruption. However, the quakes could increase the likelihood of small rock slides or mudflow from the 876-foot-tall lava dome within the mountain's crater.

In the 1986 eruption, magma reached the surface and added to the pile of lava on the crater floor.

Mount St. Helens Notice of Volcanic Unrest
September 26, 2004 3:00 P.M., PDT
U.S. Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington
University of Washington Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences, Seattle, Washington

Seismic activity at Mount St. Helens has changed significantly during the past 24 hours and the changes make us believe that there is an increased likelihood of a hazardous event, which warrants release of this Notice of Volcanic Unrest. The swarm of very small, shallow earthquakes (less than Magnitude 1) that began on the morning of 23 September peaked about mid-day on 24 September and slowly declined through yesterday morning. However, since then the character of the swarm has changed to include more than ten larger earthquakes (Magnitude 2-2.8), the most in a 24-hr period since the eruption of October 1986. In addition, some of the earthquakes are of a type that suggests the involvement of pressurized fluids (water and steam) or perhaps magma. The events are still occurring at shallow depths (less than one mile) below the lava dome that formed in the crater between 1980 and 1986. The cause and outcome of the earthquake swarm are uncertain at this time. Several causes are possible, but most point toward an increased probability of explosions from the lava dome if the level of current unrest continues or escalates. During such explosions the dome and crater floor are at greatest risk from ballistic projectiles, but the rim of the crater and flanks of the volcano could also be at risk. Explosions would also be expected to produce ash clouds that drift downwind at altitudes up to several thousand feet above the crater rim. Landslides and debris flows from the crater that are large enough to reach the Pumice Plain are also possible. Such events occurred at Mount St. Helens between 1989 and 1991.

We continue to monitor the situation closely and will issue additional updates as warranted, whether activity escalates or returns to background levels.

Daily updates of earthquake data and other information can be found on the WORLD WIDE WEB at URL:

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Cascades/CurrentActivity/current_updates.html and http://www.pnsn.org/HELENS/welcome.html

Webicorder and spectrograph archives for this sequence - from the PNSN

Mount St. Helens Swarm Activity
Special information statement of Sep 24, 2004 10am PDT
U.S. Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington
University of Washington Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences, Seattle, Washington

Since about 2 am PDT on the morning of 09/23 an earthquake swarm has been occurring at MSH. Through 5 P.M. PDT about 200 small (less than magnitude 1) earthquakes have been located at Mount St. Helens and many smaller events have also been recorded through this morning. The earthquakes are occurring at shallow depths (less than 1 kilometer, or 1/2 mile) mostly under the lava dome that formed between 1980 and 1986. Such earthquakes are common at St. Helens, but a swarm with this many earthquakes has not been recorded for several years, most recently on November 3-4, 2001. The probability of small landslides and debris flows in the crater may be enhanced during these periods. Such events could affect areas several kilometers (miles) north of the crater on the Pumice Plain. The probability of small steam explosions that hurl rocks a few hundred meters (yards) may also be increased during periods with increased shallow earthquakes. The cause of such shallow swarms is uncertain, but may reflect increased ground water levels with the onset of autumn rain.

Prior to the 2001 swarm, the last period of increased earthquake activity at Mount St. Helens occurred in the spring and summer of 1998 when hundreds of earthquakes per month, most smaller than M=2, were detected at depths as great as 9 kilometers (6 miles). An intrusion of magma, or molten rock, deep under the volcano and resulting increased gas pressure in the conduit that leads to the lava dome likely caused this increase in earthquakes. The current swarm is different in that the events are typically much smaller and shallower. We see no evidence that an intrusion of magma similar to that of 1998 is underway. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will issue additional Updates as warranted.

Daily updates of earthquake data and other information can be found on the WEB at URL: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/CurrentActivity

Webicorder and spectrograph archives for this sequence - from the PNSN

Magma Movement Reported at Mount St. Helens

September 29th 2004

Chief scientist Jeff Wynn of the USGS Cascade Volcano Observatory made the following statement early this morning. “There seems to be some movement in the lava dome”.

The lava dome in Mount St. Helens' crater apparently is growing, possibly a new sign of an impending eruption, but a major explosion doesn't seem likely, a top volcano scientist said today. Wynn said the movement "sort of suggests that we're getting closer" to an eruption that could hurl rocks and ash a few thousand feet into the air.

As reported by KIRO News 7, chief scientist Jeff Wynn emphasized that the estimates were highly preliminary and inexact because there is only one measuring device on the dome, estimating scientists will need about 48 hours to interpret the data more clearly.

Scientists are trying to determine if the quakes are caused by steam from water seeping into the dome or by magma moving beneath the crater.

Early tests of gas samples collected above the volcano by helicopter Monday did not show unusually high levels of carbon dioxide or sulfur, which could indicate the movement of magma.

Seismologist George Thomas at the University of Washington said that on a scale of zero to 10, with 10 being the explosion at the mountain in 1980, the current activity would rate a one. Thomas said any rocks, ash or steam coming out of the volcano would most likely be contained within the crater itself.

"The alerts we're sending out are just to protect hikers and scientists doing research within the crater," he said.

Mount St. Helens may erupt within days, experts say
Chance of small blast 70 percent, scientist says

The Associated Press

Updated: 9:09 p.m. ET Sept. 30, 2004

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. - The flurry of earthquakes at Mount St. Helens intensified further Thursday, and one scientist put the chance of a small eruption happening in the next few days at 70 percent.

Jeff Wynn, chief scientist at the U.S. Geologic Survey's Cascade Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., said tiny quakes were happening three or four times a minute. Larger quakes, with magnitudes of 3 to 3.3, were happening every three or four minutes, he said.

New measurements show the 975-foot lava dome in the volcano's crater has moved 2 1/2 inches to the north since Monday, Wynn said.

"Imagine taking a 1,000-foot-high pile of rocks and moving it 2 1/2 inches. For a geologist, that's a lot of energy," Wynn said.

Wynn estimated there was a 70 percent chance the activity will result in an eruption.

Scientists did not expect anything like the mountain's devastating eruption in 1980, which killed 57 people and coated towns 250 miles away with ash. On Wednesday, they warned that a small or moderate blast from the southwest Washington mountain could spew ash and rock as far as three miles from the 8,364-foot peak.

Scientists planned to fly over the volcano again Thursday to test for gasses that could indicate the presence of magma moving beneath the volcano.

Few people live near the mountain, which is in a national forest about 100 miles south of Seattle. The closest structure is the Johnston Ridge Observatory, about five miles from the crater.

The heightened alert has drawn a throng of sightseers to observation areas. Dawn Smith, co-owner of Eco Park Resort west of the mountain, told The News Tribune of Tacoma, "It's just been crazy the past couple of days."

A sign in front of her business reads, "Here we go again."

The Geological Survey raised the mountain's eruption advisory from Level 2 to Level 3 out of a possible 4 on Wednesday, prompting officials to begin notifying various state and federal agencies of a possible eruption. The USGS also has asked the National Weather Service to be ready to track an ash plume with its radar.

In addition, scientists called off a plan to have two researchers study water rushing from the crater's north face for signs of magma. A plane was still able to fly over the crater Wednesday to collect gas samples. Negligible amounts of volcanic gas were found.

"An aircraft can move ... out of the way fast," Wynn said. "We don't want anyone in there on foot."

The USGS has been monitoring St. Helens closely since Sept. 23, when swarms of tiny earthquakes were first recorded. On Sunday, scientists issued a notice of volcanic unrest, closing the crater and upper flanks of the volcano to hikers and climbers.

Scientists said they believe the seismic activity is being caused by pressure from a reservoir of molten rock a little more than a mile below the crater. That magma apparently rose from a depth of about six miles in 1998, but never reached the surface, Wynn said.

The mountain's eruption on May 18, 1980, blasted away its top 1,300 feet, spawned mudflows that choked the Columbia River shipping channel, leveled hundreds of square miles of forest and paralyzed towns and cities more than 250 miles to the east with volcanic ash.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6092368/

Mount St. Helens Swells, Scientists Remain on Alert
Fri 1 October, 2004 19:27

By Reed Stevenson

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Mount St. Helens swelled slightly on Friday and cracks appearing on the glacier inside the rumbling volcano's crater, scientists said, but they kept their alert status steady at the second-highest level.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) also maintained its estimate of a 70 percent chance of an eruption or explosion of the volcano's lava crust within the next few days.

The southern edge of the lava dome, created after Mount St. Helens' catastrophic eruption in 1980, has risen by "a few tens of feet" and shifted slightly, cracking the glacier nestled next to it, said Jon Major, a USGS researcher at its Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington.

"Something is pushing up from beneath the glacier," Major told reporters.

Government scientists have said that any eruption or explosion would be small compared to the one in May 1980 that blew the top off of Mount St. Helens, considered the deadliest and most economically destructive in recorded U.S. history.

That eruption had a force of thousands of atomic bombs. It killed 57 people, destroyed more than 200 homes and devastated hundreds of square miles of surrounding land.

Ash from the 1980 eruption billowed across North America and was carried as far east as Oklahoma.

EARTHQUAKES

Recent activity, which started with a series of small earthquakes a week ago and a 2.5-inch (6 cm) shift in the lava dome's location, is happening within the horseshoe-shaped crater that formed after the eruption.

Activity intensified on Thursday, with small earthquakes occurring at the rate of three to four per minute, with larger ones of magnitude 3 to 3.3 detected every three to four minutes.

Elliot Endo, chief USGS scientist, said that researchers were now taking measurements to detect temperature changes within the crater.

"It's possible that we're seeing a deformation of the south side of the crater because it's a weaker part of the crater floor," Endo said, "Whatever takes place will be localized."

The scientists also said there was a chance that recent activity would subside and the volcano would return to sleep.

"Ultimately, this could all quiet down," Major said.

Any potential eruption would most likely be similar to a minor 1986 eruption that disrupted the lava dome in the volcano's crater, scientists said.

ASH PLUME

Government scientists and officials said that the main concern was whether a plume of ash formed and interfered with air traffic.

Mount St. Helens is in the southeastern part of Washington state, about 100 miles south of Seattle and 50 miles north of Oregon's largest city, Portland.

Air traffic officials said they were on alert and prepared to divert air traffic in case of an ash-spewing eruption.

Seismologists said there was no connection between activity at Mount St. Helens and a strong earthquake near Parkfield, California or a smaller series of quakes in Alaska earlier this week.

The violent eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, blew off the top of the volcano, reducing its summit from 9,677 feet to 8,364 feet.

In addition to the 1986 eruption of the mountain's lava dome, strong earthquakes were detected in 1989, when fresh magma entered the volcano's lava system.

PREDICTIONS OF VOLCANOS AND EARTHQUAKES

Hi Y"all!

Below from Red Elk I just received. And as I have mentioned before, Philip and I can attest he did make a prediction that there would be an earthquake 10 days from when we first met him. Olympia's last earthquake was to the very day and magnitude he predicted. Make of it what you will but that is pretty good statistics over any USGS or University indicators.

From Red Elk (wording a bit edited):

"To the group; this morning I was given a horrific dream. Dreams of this sort sent to me ALLWAYS COME TRUE. Mt. Rainier blew unexpectedly. NO NOTICE/WARNING. It was between 8:10 - 10:30 on a workday morn.. Was just before or right at the beginning of elk season (in a week or so from now.) This will be either this time or a year from now. Dream indications are for this. First comes the giant shock wave...bowling many walkers over. Then the ash. During this blow a number of holes are blown open in my area (Kittitas County) due to compressed air releasing. Also underground. Streams are forced to the surface. Many will have a hard time breathing as the ash is very thick here. This will all be when the skies over/around the Mt. are in heavy clouds (rain type) what was shown was for this area..... God help you if you are closer. Best to you - ho.

Note: a year before Mt. St. Helen's blew I was given a vivid vision of it....aprox time of day etc but not year.. I told many. none accepted. In the near future (time unknown) she will blow again....this time towards Cougar, Wa./Portland Org.. as before it will be a beautiful spring like morning in early 6:00 AM or so. no later then 10:30. ho

ALSO: a 7.2 Earthquake due to be coming. This will come from the Vancover, Wa./Portland, Org. area and will travel to (beyond?) Olympia, Wa..again on a beautiful spring or summer day. Some will claim it as a 7.3....but this will be untrue. 7.2!

Best to all. You have been pre warned. Not much you can do about it save to get masks NOW as well as water/honey on hand. If the Rainier blow holds true (it will) all can kiss-off Mels' Hole. wont be much left in its innards. all tunnels too. this is one reason those below Ronald etc. have been hi-balling it out of there. safer for them in the 4 Corners' area. Expect HUGE earth changes in the VERY NEAR Future. Ho.

Red Elk

12-28-89 Meditation:

Q: Please tell me about the future earth changes.

A: The object expected in 1997 will not cause the pole shift per se, but will be part of a chain of events that will lead to the pole shift. The chain of events will begin in 1990 and will take several years. (The object was the comet Hale Bopp)

As you know the pole has shifted many times before, but it has been a gradual process of the continents movements over the face of the earth. This has not happened without violence. The land masses quake and quiver and mankind does not tolerate disequilibrium of its senses and does not have the capability of building to withstand the violence of the earth tremors nor the emotional or mental capacity to deal with the aftermath of particular violent episodes. Many there will be who will survive these events who will wish they had not. The earth and mankind will be shaken along many faces and many will not be able to deal with it's effects. It will cause upheavals along many lines , not only the aforementioned physical effects but also in religion, political, economics, and philosophical thought.

by Dee

*******************

1-15-90 Meditation: The chain of mountains between Portland, Oregon and Alaska will all come to life and spew smoke, lava, and cause many earthquakes.

NOTE: Since this meditation, Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier, and Mount Baker, all in Washington State have been known to be blowing steam, Mount St. Helens has been blowing smoke, and areas both north and south of these three major mountains have been rocked with earthquakes on a continuous basis. Most of them are too minor to be felt, however in checking the records over the years, the evidence shows that these mountains will eventually blow like they have in the past.

by Dee

2-18-90 Dream: I was shown a map of the United States that was graded according to the amount of damage that would be done in the earth changes. I was told to run my finger over the map to where it was sticky. The Northwest was a raised red section where the worst destruction would be. The map was sticky from Seattle southward.

4-14-01 - Had this dream at exactly 2:00 a.m. DREAM - I was with a woman and her small children, her extended family and a bunch of other people in hilly county. Off to the northwest from where we stood was a mountain or extremely high hill. It seemed to be several miles away. It was a lovely summer day, the sun was shining, and people were strolling around enjoying the weather. The mountain didn't have any snow on top, so it had to have been high summer.

All of a sudden, a spout of hot water came up out of the side of the mountain, similar to Old Faithful. But it shot up so high and so far that it sprayed hot water all the way over to where we were, several miles away.

We were all rather shocked, and started to talk about it. And while we discussed this event, it happened again, only stronger this time, only it didn't stop, the water started spraying higher and higher and all of a sudden, the whole mountain let loose, water, steam, smoke, dirt, rocks, (like mount St. Helen's) except it just kept getting bigger and bigger. We knew that what went up had to come down, and there didn't seem to be any place to hide.

It seemed stupid to run into a wooden building, but that's all I could think of. We ran down a winding path to a wooden building like a garage, between some fruit trees or whatever those trees were. The grandfather was carrying one of the little kids, the woman carried one of the toddlers, and a couple other kids around age 5 or 6 ran alongside. I hurried them along the path, which was actually more or less back towards the mountain that was exploding. Somehow, miraculously, the path we took was still dry, and we ran fast enough that we made it into the garage before the deluge of hot water, dust, ash, and rocks came back down.

I doubt that the other people made it out alive, because there was no where else to run. The whole mountain had disintegrated in explosion after explosion.

NOTE: I hope I never see a disaster like that again. It was horrendous. (The clock now says 2:22)

MORE: I went to lay down to meditate on 'when' this was going to occur. Instead, I saw a white radio. On the front of the radio where the station would be listed, it said, "Microfront', and underneath that it said, "Volcanic Center" and then the word 'underground' came to me.

The Land is overcome by the water. 11/11/97 9:12 AM

In this dream I was with my mother, sister, children and some friends. We were on an island and the top of the island was covered with green grass but there were very few trees. Everything was in vivid color and it was daylight. There were a few buildings that appeared to have been put up very quickly. Like beach houses. As I watched something happened and I came out of the house where I was and looked around. The ocean had come up around us. The people, all of them playing like children. Swimming, doing things and having fun as if nothing was wrong. Then suddenly I saw as if from above almost like a satellite picture. I saw the West coast and in a series of frames or pictures I saw the land sink below the water line and the water come up onto the land creating the island that we were on. It once was a mountain top, now it is an island. I saw these things so clearly I could draw a picture of that map and the process that caused this mountain top to become an island. I saw the island and the shape of it very clearly. It having points to the West and to the East and being rounded to the North and South. It had a huge rock cliff on the South side and another smaller island to the South West. You could see land in all directions at different distances except to the West where the land was totally submersed.

The waves were washing against the cliff side of the island in cycles ranging from a few feet high to waves reaching the top of the cliff at some points perhaps 20 or more feet high. People were diving into the huge waves and swimming around in the water.

My mother, sister, and friends were all people who I saw clearly but they were not my own family. That is to say it was as if I was someone else, or viewpoint with someone else in the dream. It was as clear as any night vision I have ever had.

Now I went to the beaches of this island in each direction and took note of what I saw and puzzled over how in a few more days this island may be totally underwater. Sometimes I flew around and sometimes I walked but then I looked and there sat that house I had started out in right on the edge of the cliff on the South of the island. One more building remained at the top of the island surrounded by very short green grass. There was a "tent" just to the East of that small building. People were gathered under it to get out of the sun.

My sister or daughter who ever it was came to me and wanted me to come see what they had found to the West but I had just come from there and my friend, a young man with short blond hair was urging me to go South to the "slide" and swim with him in the ocean. I told the girl I was going to the "slide" even though it was not what I expected when I got there. What the people were doing was waiting until the waves came in real high and jumping into them and swimming around to climb up and do the jump all over again. While I was standing there watching this blond headed young man went down and stood on the lower part of the rock wall waiting for the right wave. Others were all around him but most of them setting or standing higher up on the wall. I came down the hill to that same wall and the wave washed in over the top of it and I slid along on the top of the wall to a position near him. Then when the next waves came in they were far to low but we waited and I watched this guy and the girl to his right. Then a huge wave came in that came up over our feet and the boy and girl dove into the wave. I waited only a moment watching for them to be clear and I jumped in the wave and followed them out.

It appeared as though I had gone down into the water 30 or 40 feet deep and even thought I was going to hit the bottom. The water was crystal clear there and I could see the rocks below, a gravel bed sloping off toward the South into deeper water. Then I came up and saw the rock cliffs high above me to the North. I saw my friends swimming along toward the West to a place where they could climb out. I saw other people swimming to the East to a place where they could also climb out and return to the island to catch the next wave. I followed my friends to the West and that was the end of the dream.

EOD

I have had prophetic dreams about the land being overcome by the water at different times in the past. Some were clearly prophetic night visions while others were more like dreams. These kinds of dreams and night visions started a long time ago, years ago but they have never ceased. Every so often I have one similar to this and must ponder on the meaning. Is it symbolic ? Is it literal ? Is it a combination of both ?

The first and most powerful night vision about the West being overcome by water was many years ago and I remember it like it was just last night. In it I flew as fast as lighting to the West coast where I found the land ripped apart as if by an earthquake. Smoke filled the air. I saw both new and old East/West rail road tracks ripped apart. I saw the air filled with smoke and ash. I saw fires along the edge of this high mountain where there was fresh dirt as if the land was ripped apart. I saw a few men fighting to stop the fires. As I hovered just a foot or so above the ground I saw palm trees through the smoke and a few houses that were along the top of the mountains. I saw children wandering around saying "I can’t find my home, I can’t find my family." There was nothing I could do but observe and ponder on the meaning of the things I had seen.

Then as quickly as I had come I flew back to my house in IL and through the bathroom window and right into the kitchen where I found my father who was God and I told him "Do you know what I have just seen ?" And he said that he did know all these things and they were in the future for our world.

I did not get a day or time only "in the future" and other dreams and night visions of similar things in different places.

Then one day I was watching a TV show where some people said they had received dreams and visions and saw maps of the United States of America being overcome by the ocean. Some said this was caused by earth quakes and some said by a comet hitting the earth. One said it was a combination of both, that the earth quakes were caused by the comet or something hitting the earth from space. One women and one man drew their maps and they are selling these maps and perhaps some of them you can get from the Internet, I don’t know. The maps were very similar but not identical.

The East, West and South coastal areas were submersed in water. The coastal cities and towns were under water. Many millions of people were killed in these events. LA, New York, New Orleans and almost all of Florida were under water. A huge section of the central U.S. coming up the Mississippi River was under water. Massive areas of Texas was under water. Islands dotted the Western areas where California, Oregon and Washington States once were. Huge areas of Mexico were totally submersed in water.

Some of the people said that aliens showed them these things. Others said it was angels who showed them and others like myself said they saw visions and night visions and dreams where they saw prophetic messages concerning the future of this world. Some of them even gave dates as being around the year 2000 when these things would take place. Some even said the rapture mentioned in the Bible would happen about the same time as these events.

I do not have the answers or miraculous insight into these night visions and dreams which I have seen or the messages which were given to these others who have seen similar things. I can only honestly testify to the fact that I have seen similar things in powerful night visions and in crystal clear dreams that have impressed upon me feelings of great concern. An urgency to share what I have seen with others and prayer to God for the understanding of the things we have seen.

The other things I can do is try to speculate and analyze the symbols and make a guess at what these things might be trying to tell us. Because of the images I saw in the first night vision and how I saw the land torn apart and the rail road tracks ripped into I believe much of what I saw was literal. That at some point in the future the coast lines of this land and other countries of the world will be submersed in water. I believe it may happen so quickly that millions of people will be taken by surprise and not be able to move to safety. If the rail road tracks are symbolic in any way then they represent these things to be preset and fixed so that events that will come can not be changed by human effort.

If by the Prophet Joseph we may say that if a dream comes to us speaking of the same thing more than once, or three times in that case it is fixed and can’t be changed then once again we have reason to believe that what ever these dreams and visions, angels or aliens are speaking about will take place and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. We can only prepare for it and move to a safer place.

…Bryon

Posted by Mark on Monday, 12 January 1998, at 11:41 a.m.

I had another vision last night that I have to share with you all. Normally I don't come off like this saying "vision" and all that stuff. But, hey, let's call a spade a spade now...

What I saw:

I saw the earth shaking in the western U.S., and I saw people trying to leave those shaking areas very very quickly -- as in grab what you can and haul ass right now, this instant.

I saw masses of people all trying to find a preferred method of transportation -- buses, cars, trains, and airplanes, as expected. Because of road conditions, and some "source" telling the people that driving is extremely dangerous, many people opted for buses, trains, and airplanes, leaving their cars behind.

My perspective was like that of a 10,000 foot view from above, looking down on the earth. I saw planes landing at various airports. One airport in particular was somewhere with mountains very nearby (in the Midwest by the Rockies), and I saw literally thousands of distressed people all over that airport. It had become their new home temporarily since they had nowhere else to go. No motel/hotels; no apts; no vacant homes; no tents to buy; nada, zip, nothing. They had to stay at the airport for shelter, sleeping on the floors where ever they can find space on the floor.

I heard someone's mind saying, "look at them all coming here like good little sheep" and this person had a huge grim on their male face while overlooking the situation developing at the airport.

It got over-crowded really fast too. Suddenly people are walking and heading themselves in a certain direction in the airport, like they're headed towards something they need: shelter and food they think. They're taken to transport cars, like a mini-rail system, and taken below ground. I don't think the people really know they're headed underground, per se. When they get to where they're going, there are massive areas of open space, and plenty of that chain link fence stuff all around, creating holding areas.

The people are herded in to those holding areas. They are not free here, and never will be again I suspect. I pick up the incredibly distinct feeling of deception all around. Everyone's jaw is basically on the ground so-to-speak in disbelief.

They will not stay here in these initial holding areas. They will be moved again to other areas of the country, and this movement will also be underground on rail transports. Many many people never see the light of day again.

They're prisoners now, and apparently, this was the plan from square one. "They" (those who seek to control) knew this would happen. It was in fact planned this way.

They knew 100's of thousands of people would head to the airports, so that's one reason they built "bases" at airports: to collect these people very easily once they arrived.

From this vision, I have to say that were I any of you, and the shit hit the fan in regards to volcanoes and earthquakes, I would not venture towards an airport, and I would not under any circumstances allow myself to be "guided by the government" to what might be called "safe shelter". Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Take care of yourself up front. If you live in those areas likely to experience quakes, make plans for relocation now so when the time comes, you'll have a place to try and go to. I say try, because I see many people not making it to where they're going in the heights of the ensuing chaos.

In particular, this year, please stay away from Mammoth California at all costs. This was the warning I was given and felt compelled to share. Mammoth will shake very hard this year, destroying large areas in its wake. It starts a chain reaction of quakes. That's part of what I saw, and it wasn't pretty.

End of the vision -- I had this vision while driving on the freeway (duh!), and someone cut right in front of me right during the vision, and my attention was diverted back to the cause at hand: maneuvering my speeding vehicle.

Afterthought: May 98 marks the beginning of something huge. It has to do with the Illuminati, a very major anniversary to them. After this time, hell breaks loose. See my additional thoughts below that I posted on another Web message base.

Mark, also known as "three"

12-1-98 - MICHELE DREAM - I was with Michele on top of Mount Rainier. I was telling of prophecy and danger of how a huge earthquake would come and the dam that held the water back would break loose and rush down the flumes too fast for it to handle.

We were on one side of the flumes where the water would spill over and there was only one way to get to the other side...which was by a special bridge that my Father had made. She said that the bridge was made in a very strange place high up on the mountain. I told her that one day we would be glad it was there.

1-13-99 - DREAM - I was taken to a huge garage type area where certain people were being gathered to be witnesses or sacrificed people to both handle the devastation or stave off the suffering for the 7 volcanoes that are going to blow up all at the same time. See link: below:

Subj: DREAM OF SACRIFICE FOR HUMANITY
Date: 01/13/1999 8:13:05 AM Central Standard Time

This portent is for 7 mountains linked together to all blow up at the same time.

I was taken to a huge garage-like area where certain people were being gathered together to be witnesses and or sacrificial people to either handle the devastation or stave off the suffering for mankind when the seven volcanoes that were linked together that were going to blow up all at the same time.

There had been 14 scheduled to be linked to blow up all at once, but the Gods/spirits managed to get it down to seven so mankind didn't have to suffer quite as much.

Not all of the witnesses and sacrificial people who were going to clean up from the death and destruction had shown up yet.

The garage where the ceremonies were going to be held was a mess. Some construction was still going on in one area. These men who were building some kind of machinery were making a worse mess. One guy was cutting wood and the sawdust would have been pretty easy to clean up, but he was being careless and spilling varnish in the sawdust and when I swept the sawdust, it smeared the varnish across the floor with it.

I considered being a sacrifice so that one mountain wouldn't blow up and asked for a hammer and a nail. All I would have had to do was pound a nail somewhere through my ankle and it would have saved one mountain from destruction. But as I placed the nail against my flesh to pound the nail into my ankle, the pain was intense at every point I chose and I couldn't do it.

Even knowing that one swift blow of the hammer would be all it took and it would be over and mankind would be saved that much destruction, I couldn't do it. The thought of the pain I would suffer was too much to even think about. I handed the hammer and the nail back to the carpenter and went back to my meager sweeping job.

When I had done all I could, I went into a room where a round table was set up. This table had a rim around it to catch the white paint that was going to be put on some icons or something that were going to be used in a ceremony of some kind. I noticed there were about 10 or 12 bottles of this white fluid about the size of correction fluid bottles. A man named Michael (the archangel?) had been there and had spilled some. I noticed that not only one bottle spilled, all the bottles had been spilled and what was left in each bottle was so little and so watered down, it was useless to even try to do a ceremony with it.

At the door, I saw that there was many, many feet of snow and ice that had to be cleared away so that people could get around and spring could come and I was dreading having to get out there and shovel all that snow. There was already nowhere to go with it. But, fortunately, the sun came out while I was looking at the mess and it melted about half of it, so at least I was able to open the door to begin the immense task.

I then went to look for the other members who were supposed to be arriving for this ceremony. Not all of them had arrived yet and those who had, instead of quietly contemplating the event that was going to take place, had rented a car and went off sightseeing and partying. They invited me to go with them, but I didn't have the stomach for it, knowing what was coming.

It was no wonder that the world changes had to happen, no one was disciplined enough to do even the first sacrifice of or any of the work required to stave it off.

1-26-99 - DREAMS/VISIONS This is strictly for the West Coast. Others needn't worry, but should send light to the situation if you can. I would ask that everyone pass this along to anyone you know on the West Coast. Last night, I had 6 identical dreams In the dream, I was staring at a control panel of indicators, buttons, and charts about disasters, especially earthquakes. When the earthquake hit, even the indicator that said 'earthquake' shook violently.

The fact that I had the dream 6 times is VERY important. That means it's highly likely to happen.

After I woke up this morning, I had a series of at least a dozen visions. Each one was about the types of quake disaster that is going to occur.

In one, a tectonic plate dropped slightly. In the next, the plate dropped and quivered, and what looked like solid rock, turned to gravel and rolled around. In another one, the tectonic plates turned on edge like this: /////. In another one, I saw cars on top of roadways, raise up in the air 50 feet or more. In another, everything got all jumbled up like jackstraws.

I was told that there will not only be a lot of damage, but many deaths. When the earthquakes hit, there will also be tidal waves which will kill many more people along the coastline.

For some reason, there is also going to be heavy cross winds which will cause damage to anything airborne at the time.

Let me tell you this also. Many people have been getting warnings from spirit to leave, and you haven't listened. Those of you who have gotten the warnings know who you are. NOW is the time to heed the warnings while there is still time.

Not all types of quakes will hit the same place. These quakes will happen all along the west coast. A BIG shift is coming. Watch the little quakes now. That's where the indicators will show where the big ones are going to hit. We already know that Los Angeles will be one place. Little quakes are good. The are pressure relievers. It would be worse if there were none.

Also be aware that 7 volcanoes are going to go off all at once also. They will be devastating as well. These volcanoes are all linked underneath the surface of the earth. These also will be along the West Coast.

I already know that many people will hide their heads and not heed the warnings. I was shown that too, but those of you who have the awareness will know that this is the time to go. You have 6 weeks to make the move. Make it less if you can.

Here are the visions:

#1 - I saw a man in a beige trench coat take a big step to the left over a sinking sidewalk plate.

#2 - I saw the same man in a beige coat take a step forward and to the right over the same sinking sidewalk plate, which was now deeper and the concrete had turned to shifting sand and gravel.

#3 - VOICE - RICHARD...THE CLONE

#4 - VOICE - There is a developing situation which CNN and a large magazine media will break. I saw numerous pictures on two side by side pages. There were 7 of them. Each page I turned over was developing the pictures as I went. I flipped them all back to look at them again, and they continued to develop. (Perhaps there are two situations developing)

#5 - VOICE - ZUCKO - (ZUKO) I saw a huge land mass rise over 50 feet with a car balanced on top of it.

#6 - VISION - I saw a full drawer of kitchen utensils slamming shut and all the utensils were jammed every which way out of alignment at the front of the drawer.

#7 - VISION - I saw the same drawer pulled as far out as it could go with all the same kitchen utensils still jammed way to the front. The back of the drawer was empty. Then I saw a hand move a single large mixer beater to the left corner of the back of the drawer and a large mat on the right back corner which laid down on the empty space and draped over the top of the utensils. A voice said, "If everyone is dead, what good is it?"

#7 - VOICE - "This is it"... sue market (Sue Marquette) (SUE MAR KET) ( I don't know what this means, but a man called up on the phone the same evening and threatened to sue us for publishing a derogatory paper about him on the web) (We removed it)

NOTE: This might have something to do with Enron and the other companies that are being indicted for greed in the early 2000's years.

#8 - VOICE - "The gentlemen in the Senate is hiding something. It'll be the gentlemen from San Francisco. The information is about to be released. What is the strategy?"

#9 - VOICE - When the wind current meet each other, the antique flyers in multiples. "

#10 - I could hear rock and roll music playing. A voice said, "Take the music away from the yard." I saw a stick raise up a whole pile of plates in a sink. All were tilted ////.

#11 - VOICE - "It's time to leave." I saw a man scrambling to get out of bed and out of his house. The voice said, "It's the water level."

#12 - I saw three men bend over way down, hiding their heads. Then I saw three other men with dark hair and dark moustaches. A voice said, "If you don't want to! then "If you don't have to!" I assumed the sentences belonged to each type of men.

#13 - I saw like a pit forming in sand. It was circular. A voice said, "Can Arizona offer any darkening?" This was a 5 pointed star but with rounded ends.

#14 - VOICE - "The timing is off."

#15 - VOICE - "The Kings with the contracts will lose."

#16 - VISION - I saw a black hand held radio communicator with the antenna broken off. (I assumed that was the end of the communications and got up to write everything down.)

3-6-99 - DREAM - I was typing on an IM to a woman in New York who was at work. Her boss came over to her desk and yelled at her for not working. I could hear his deep male voice over the IM. He asked her who she was talking to. She said, "This is a teacher". He boomed, "This is no teacher!" I began to type, "I am a teacher, my name is Dee Finney". I began to hear and feel a deep rumbling in the earth that was ominous.

I looked out the windows. There were a few brick buildings along the street and a low range of mountains to the west of me. From the other side of the mountains began to come up a huge cloud of smoke and debris. Dark and ominous, it rose higher and higher into the air. I began to type, "Oh! My God! Oh! My God! This is it! This is it!" and I knew it was the day after the day I had predicted it. The black huge cloud on the other side of the mountains was rising hither into the sky, but right in front of my window, two girls were reading out of a notebook like my dream journal and giggling in unbelief. "It's just a joke!" while beyond them the clouds were getting ever larger.

Afterward I was sitting with Joe on the couch and he was reading my dream journal. In the middle of the floor were other numerous other journals I had written. He had laid the journal he was reading on a short pile of books by the couch. I was thinking to myself, I could put more journals on the pile so it would be easier and closer for him to read.

3-13-99 - DREAM - I went out to the lobby of a movie theatre. I told a friend to get a 'rain' ticket for the movie which he was going to do and I went with him 'outside' to where the office was. We stepped outside and my mouth dropped open. There was Mt. Rainier, colored like it is at sunset with glorious purple and pink with white snow on top. Then I noticed the sky was blue with studded little white clouds and the sky looked fake like a vaulted painted ceiling. Some fog covered the top of the mountain momentarily and when it dissipated, the top of the mountain was pink and was tilted over like it was melting like an ice cream cone in the heat of summer. The man retrieved his 'rain' ticket which was #444.

Tue, October 5, 2004

Volcano show thrills sightseers

MOUNT ST. HELENS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Washington -- Mount St. Helens blew off more steam yesterday, shooting a billowing white plume several hundred metres above the volcano and thrilling hundreds of visitors. "Wow. It was amazing," said nine-year-old Alex Turchiano, who watched from a nearby visitors centre. "I was hoping to see lava so I could see the trees fall down and the lava flow into the water. I wanted to see what it was going to do -- whether it would stop or keep going."

Scientists, who continued to warn that the volcano could blow at any moment, stopped short of calling the steam burst an actual eruption, saying no volcanic material apparently was emitted. The steam quickly dissipated.

Even if a larger eruption comes, officials say there was little or no chance of a repeat of the mountain's lethal 1980 explosion, or Hawaiian-style lava flows. The eruption 24 years ago blew 400 metres off the top of the peak, killed 57 people and coated much of the Pacific Northwest with ash.

Since Sept. 23, thousands of tiny earthquakes have shaken the mountain and several steam eruptions have occurred, the most seismic activity at the peak since the months following the 1980 blast. A burst of ash and steam Friday was followed Saturday by a smaller plume of steam and a volcanic tremour.

A smaller extended volcanic vibration was detected Sunday.

The latest burst came after scientists detected swelling in the 275-metre lava dome within the crater of the southwest Washington mountain. Steam rose to 3,000 metres, or 600 metres above the rim.

"Hopefully after this clears away our crews will get a view of the crater, and the crater will probably be enlarged a bit," said U.S. Geological Survey scientist Willie Scott, who described it as a "very passive event."

Scientists speculated the steam was due to hot rock coming into contact with ice and snow contained in the glacier.

"Now most of us are convinced there's fresh magma down there," hydrologist Carolyn Driedger said.

The action at Mount St. Helens has drawn thousands of visitors to the monument, including Patricia Cusic of Live Oak, Florida, who arrived Saturday with her daughter, and her three grandchildren.

Quakes still rumbling at Mount St. Helens

MOUNT ST. HELENS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Wash. Small earthquakes continue at Mount Saint Helens and scientists predict the volcano will continue to blow off steam.

They eventually expect to see a larger eruption as rising magma reaches the surface. The alert remains at Level Three, meaning an eruption is imminent.

But experts at the U-S Geological Survey don't expect an eruption as big as the 1980 blast that killed 57 people.

They say the biggest risk would be from a plume of ash that could rise miles into the air and drift into populated areas.

Yesterday's plume of steam reached an altitude of about 12-thousand feet.

Tuesday, October 05, 2004 -

Mount St. Helens shoots steam as lava dome swells up

By Hal Bernton and Nancy Bartley
Seattle Times staff reporters

JAMES BRANAMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Mount St. Helens sends steam and ash thousands of feet into the air yesterday morning.

Related stories

Volcano devotees keep watch

Other links
	VolcanoCam
	Mount St. Helens Seismicity Information
	Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
	Mount St. Helens remembered

COLDWATER RIDGE VISITOR CENTER — Mount St. Helens yesterday again threw up billowing, anvil-shaped clouds of steam and a little ash, the largest explosion yet since it stirred back to life late last month.

But the event didn't ease the pressure building up inside the volcano, and scientists cautioned that this was just an unsuccessful throat-clearing before what is expected to be a bigger eruption in the days or weeks ahead.

"We could have a much larger event, essentially at any moment," said Willie Scott, the chief scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey.

The first steam cloud yesterday went up for about 40 minutes, beginning at 9:42 a.m., and was several times larger than a steam-and-ash eruption Friday.

The steam itself was not alarming to scientists.

"What happened today wasn't a very big deal," said Jake Lowenstern, a USGS geologist in Vancouver, "though it was nice to look at."

But unlike last week's releases, yesterday's venting did not cause even a momentary pause in the earthquakes rocking the area beneath the crater.

Developments

Yesterday at Mount St. Helens:
Two steam and ash eruptions at 9:42 a.m. and 2:15 p.m.
A quarter-mile-long section of the 925-foot lava dome in the crater was uplifted, in some areas from 50 to more than 100 feet.
A portion of a glacier near the dome is deeply cracked.
A widening vent is poking through the glacier with a pool of water inside that is probably contributing to the steam clouds.

"We're not quite sure what to make of that," said Tom Pierson, a USGS scientist who briefed reporters yesterday.

The earthquakes yesterday came virtually nonstop, with small quakes marking time between larger tremors. The earthquakes are believed to be caused by explosive, gas-rich magma struggling to work its way to the surface. Scientists are trying to determine how much fresh magma may be rising so they can get a better handle on the potential size of a future eruption.

Scientists have repeatedly said they don't expect anything like the May 18, 1980, blast that ripped off the top of the mountain and unleashed a sideways explosion that killed 57 people.

But the new quakes, venting and tremors, which first grabbed scientists' attention Sept. 25, are unlike any of the weaker eruptions in the six-year period of activity that followed the 1980 blast.

Lava dome "deformed"

There is now impressive, visible evidence of the volcano's new power.

The southern portion of a 925-foot lava dome in the crater is now "radically deformed" by the upward pressure of the rising magma, Pierson said. And a portion of a nearby glacier is deeply cracked.

The deformed area is roughly a quarter-mile long and has been lifted in recent days. In some areas, the uplift ranges from 50 to more than 100 feet, Pierson said.

Scientists are unsure whether a larger area of the lava dome might also be involved in the so-called "uplift." They are hoping a recently installed Global Positioning System (GPS) device on top of the dome will help detect changes.

That would be important information to have, the scientists said. The bigger the uplift, the more explosive the magma that may be working its way up, Pierson said.

"The magma is providing a lot of pressure, and it's pushing real hard," he said.

Work continues on flanks

The 1980 blast ranked a 5 on the scale scientists use to rate volcano eruptions. In recent days, scientists have guessed that a new eruption could rate a 2 or 3. But they said yesterday they could re-evaluate their forecasts based on new measurements.

Though the airspace over Mount St. Helens is now closed to commercial flights, USGS teams continue to drop off crews to work on equipment on the mountain flanks, and to fly over the crater to measure gases.

Another steam cloud puffed up from the volcano around 2:15 p.m. yesterday, just as helicopter crews were peering into a widening vent that is poking through the glacier. They reported that a pool of water had formed inside the vent.

That water is probably what is boiling off to make the steam clouds, the scientists said. As more fresh, hot gas gets closer to the surface, bigger steam releases could occur in coming days.

Scientists remain somewhat puzzled about how fresh magma has reached so high in the volcano. They are hoping the addition of more sensitive equipment will give them some clues to its origins.

Ash-cloud warning

Meanwhile, yesterday, officials in counties immediately around the volcano were stepping up preparations for the possibility of ash clouds.

A cold front moving into the area today will mean that if ash is spewed into the atmosphere, it will drift southwest, toward communities such as Castle Rock, Kelso and possibly Portland. Still, scientists have downplayed the potential for ash clouds, saying inhabited areas would probably get a light dusting at most.

The ash, which would largely be dust but with about 4 percent silicate, has not been shown to pose long-term health effects, said Dr. Justin Denny, the public health officer for Clark and Skamania counties.

The biggest short-term risk is to people who suffer from asthma or chronic lung diseases; they should stay indoors and avoid exposure as much as possible, Denny said.

For those who need to go outside during a big ash fall, Denny recommended surgical masks that cover the mouth and nose, and possibly goggles to protect the eyes.

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com

Earthquake activity at Mount St. Helens dropped
2004-10-07

Government scientists said that volcanic activity on Washington state's Mount St. Helens had started to taper off and downgraded their safety warning on Wednesday, following nearly two weeks of seismic activity and steam eruptions.
"Evidently we've gone through a major change here," said Willie Scott, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey or USGS, "We no longer think that an eruption is imminent in minutes or hours."

Decreased earthquake activity, lower rockfall and mild steaming all led to the decision to lower the agency's warning level to the second highest level of "increased activity," Scott told reporters at task force headquarters in Vancouver, Washington.
Mount St. Helens, which erupted in 1980 and killed 57 people, woke from its slumber on Sept. 24 with a series of small earthquakes that intensified and accelerated daily.

Steam and ash eruptions began last Friday, peaking with a large emission on Tuesday morning that sent a column of ash up 15,000 feet that fell on some communities to the northeast of Mount St. Helens, informs Reuters.
Magma moving into the volcano lifted the lava dome in the crater by about 150 feet and heated rock has melted part of a glacier nestled next to the dome, creating a bubbling lake, geologists said.

According to WorldNow, things are starting to calm down at Mount St. Helens. Government scientists announced today that they've lowered the volcano's alert level because they no longer think an eruption is imminent.

They say earthquake activity at Mount St. Helens dropped off after yesterday's steam burst and has remained relatively low today.

Still they caution that one could be days, weeks or even months away.

Willie Scott, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist said, "We lowered the alert level to alert level 2 volcanic advisory, which in the aviation color code alert level is condition orange. We did this because the conditions for level red are no longer... Excuse me for the volcanic alert... Are no longer, we no longer think that an eruption is imminent in the sense of minutes or hours of an event that would endanger life and property."

On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey

(USGS) lowered the alert level for Mount St. Helens in Washington from a Level 3 Volcano Alert to a Level 2 Volcano Advisory, in response to lowered seismicity since Tuesday morning's steam-and-ash eruption. Geologist Willie Scott said the scientists no longer believe that an eruption is imminent.

A Volcano Advisory indicates that "processes are underway that have significant likelihood of culminating in hazardous volcanic activity" but the evidence does not indicate that a "life- or property-threatening event is imminent."

According to USGS, seismic activity Tuesday and Wednesday has been at "very low levels," with individual earthquakes being "rare." Scientists observed weakened steam emissions from the crater, and suggested that a lack of rockfall and earthquake signals indicate that deformation of the uplift area has slowed. The area had uplifted more than 100 feet since activity began last week, reports the Geotimes.

October 8, 2004

Chance Of Big Eruption Slim, But Still There

By GENE JOHNSON

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. - Part of the lava dome in Mount St. Helens' crater has risen 50 to 100 feet since Tuesday while earthquake activity remained low, signs that magma is moving upward without much resistance, scientists said Thursday.

Despite the swelling, scientists said there was no reason to raise the alert level around the 8,364-foot volcano in southwest Washington.

The south side of the dome has been rising for the past week - about 250 feet so far - and is now nearly as tall as the dome's 1,000-foot summit, said Tom Pierson, a U.S. Geological Survey geologist.

Larry Mastin, a USGS expert in the physics of volcano eruptions, said there was an outside chance an eruption could send a plume of ash 15 miles into the air, but there was no indication of an imminent eruption that could threaten lives or property.

There's no way to tell when the magma - molten rock - might reach the surface, USGS volcanologist Jake Lowenstern told a news conference at the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash.

Earthquake activity remained relatively low Thursday, with about one magnitude 1 quake per minute. The volcano occasionally vented steam as water trickled down and hit hot rocks, Lowenstern said.

Since Sept. 23, thousands of small earthquakes have shaken the peak in Washington's Cascade range. Each day from Friday through Tuesday, Mount St. Helens spewed clouds of steam mixed with small amounts of ash.

Seismic activity started to diminish Tuesday, and geologists said the most likely scenario for the volcano was weeks or months of occasional steam blasts and possibly some eruptions of fresh volcanic rock.

On Wednesday, USGS scientists downgraded a "volcano alert" to a "volcano advisory," indicating the probability of an eruption that could endanger lives and property had decreased significantly since Saturday, when thousands of people were evacuated from the mountain.

Still, scientists cautioned that the mountain remained restless.

"Escalation of unrest could occur suddenly and perhaps lead to an eruption with very little warning," a statement from the Mount St. Helens Joint Information Center said Thursday.

Geologists have said there is little chance of anything similar to the blast that blew 1,300 feet off the top of the peak, killed 57 people and paralyzed much of the inland Pacific Northwest with gritty volcanic ash on May 18, 1980.

(Mount St. Helens, Washington-NBC-AP) Oct. 8, 2004 - At Mount St Helens scientists suspect magma continues to push up to just a couple hundred feet from the crater floor. They also warn of bigger ash plumes to come, including some that could reach ten to 15 miles into the atmosphere.

Columns of steam now shoot continuously from the floor of the volcano's crater, and hot magma could start flowing into the crater within days.

Experts say Mount St Helens is building to an eruption, and while thousands of earthquakes have told that story, the geology of the mountain is changing, "The skids are greased. There is less frictional resistance to movement of the cold rock upwards"

And, despite the low level of earthquakes, the bulge in the south side of the crater, named "The Loaf," has grown another 50 to 100 feet, the strongest evidence yet that magma is making its way to the surface

Hydrologist Larry Mastin, who specializes in the physics of eruptions, says the VEI stands for the Volcano Explostivity Index.

Scientists say the eruption is not expected to be a repeat of the 1980 catastrophe that killed 57. On May 18th of that year the volcano blow out the sideways, creating a massive landslide, melting glaciers and flooding downstream communities under massive mud flows.

posted 9:38am by Chris Rees

New Lava Dome Growing on Mount St. Helens

-> By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI, Associated Press Writer

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. - Volcanic rock has flowed to the surface of Mount St. Helens' crater, creating a new lava dome after weeks of seismic activity, a geologist said Tuesday.

Scientists had known for days that magma or molten rock was nearing the surface, as a bulge grew on the south side of the existing 1,000-foot lava dome and the increasingly hot rock gave off steam as it met water and ice in the crater. The bulge is now considered a new lava dome, the scientists said.

"Now that we have new lava at the surface, we're comfortable saying" that dome-building has resumed at the volcano, U.S. Geological Survey geologist Tina Neal said.

The bulge had risen at least 330 feet since scientists noticed it Sept. 30.

Geologists said there is still a chance of explosive ash eruptions from the 8,364-foot mountain, and the immediate area around the volcano remained closed.

The mountain exploded on May 18, 1980, with a massive landslide as the top of the mountain collapsed. Any new ash eruption, scientists say, would likely be much smaller and would shoot vertically, instead of horizontally as in the devastating blast that left 57 people dead, leveled trees for miles around and covered much of the Pacific Northwest with ash.

The mountain in the Cascade Range rumbled back to life Sept. 23, beginning with thousands of tiny earthquakes. For five days earlier this month, it spewed clouds of steam mixed with small amounts of old volcanic ash.

Earlier Tuesday, more steam rose from the crater as geologists kept up their close watch on the volcano.

Magma Breaks Surface at Mount St. Helens

10-13-04

By PEGGY ANDERSEN, Associated Press Writer

SEATTLE - Magma that has been rising inside Mount St. Helens after weeks of earthquakes and steam eruptions finally pushed its way to the surface Tuesday, forming a new lava dome just behind the existing one in the volcano's crater.

The quakes subsided as the new lava emerged and cooled in the open air, suggesting molten rock from deep inside the Earth had found the path of least resistance by going around the old dome, said Jon Major, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash.

Unlike the dramatic rivers of red-hot lava from Hawaii's volcano, St. Helens' extrusion of new rock was subtle and difficult to see from outside the crater. A lazy plume of steam rose slowly from the mountain for much of Tuesday.

The last dome-building activity at St. Helens began in the months after its deadly May 1980 eruption and lasted six years. Layers of emerging rock gradually formed a rocky dome nearly 1,000 feet tall at the center of the crater floor. The top of the new dome is almost level with the old one just to the north.

The mountain had been shaking since Sept. 23, with periods of sharp jolts - up to magnitude 3.3 - occurring as often as four times a minute at the height of seismic activity. "The inference was that those were breaking a pathway" through rock, Major said.
Explosive eruptions are still possible and often follow lava extrusion, said John Pallister, a vulcanologist with the USGS
.
The 1980 eruption left 57 people dead, leveled trees for miles around and covered much of the Pacific Northwest with ash. It was "barely a five" on the eight-level Volcanic Explosive Index, Major said. At this point, scientists believe there is a 10 percent chance of a level four or larger eruption at the 8,364-foot mountain, he said. The area immediately around the mountain is closed.
Any explosive eruption would likely go straight up, Major said, blowing ash and steam tens of thousands of feet high. That could cause concern for aircraft and cars in the area, but nothing like 1980's lateral blast.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Some believe animals sensed St. Helens' mood

By M.L. LYKE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

COUGAR -- An hour before the snoozing mountain shook itself awake, Rita Tarrant's ears perked.

The sounds she heard that September morning were deer and elk crashing through the brush on her property. "They were heading in the opposite direction of the mountain," she said.

Then her animals -- two cats and a dog -- began a massive bunny chow-down. "Within a minute of each other, they all got baby rabbits." The rabbits, like the deer and elk, were on the run. "I kept thinking 'These animals know something.' "

Tarrant, who lives 15 miles from the dead center of Mount St. Helens' crater, relates the tale inside the Cougar Bar and Grill, where she works as a waitress.

It's a homey roadside stop in this little town of about 200, the closest town to the blistering, belching, burning mountain, which sprung back into action Sept. 23. Inside, mounts of a snarling bobcat and black bear hang from paneled walls. "Please do not rip away any parts of the animal," reads a hand-lettered sign tacked beneath the bear.

Regulars assure new carloads of strangers they are not nervous Nellies about the fickle fire mountain overhead. They say the media's got the whole thing blown out of proportion. They say there's nothing much to blow up anymore. Worst that can happen is ash -- and they got 9 inches last go-round.

"It scares people more in Portland and Vancouver than the people who live by the mountain," Tarrant said.

But even the most stoic two-legged residents ringing the mountain are happy to talk about hyper-sensitive four-legged mammals picking up telltale signals from the mountain, like walking Ouija boards of natural disasters.

Do animals have a sixth sense about quakes and eruptions? Historical records repeat the tales over centuries. In the year 373 B.C., ancients told of rats, snakes, weasels and other animals deserting the Greek city of Helice days before a quake turned it to ruins.

Such stories are often pooh-poohed as "anecdotes" and "old wives' tales" in American scientific circles. Despite documented cases of unusual animal behavior prior to seismic activity, no studies have determined reproducible connections between specific behaviors and seismic onset, says the U.S. Geological Survey.

Researchers in Japan, however, have paid closer attention to the erratic behavior of animals -- and even questioned whether the behaviors might be used to forecast quakes.

Certainly, around The Mountain -- which has turned its northern sister Rainier into A Mountain in recent weeks -- talk of animal oddities is on the rise.

Storm Johnston, director of the Humane Society of Cowlitz County, said a woman from Castle Rock brought in a dog that had allegedly bitten someone right after the mountain first vented steam. "I don't know if I can believe it though, because of his temperament when he came in here," Johnston said.

Carolyn Johnson, who lives on the Toutle River, 27 miles "as birds fly" from the crater, says the 20-odd deer that graze on her property seem super alert to the moods of the mountain. "They seem to disappear every time the mountain puts out a good-sized poof," said Johnson.

She has also seen cougar tracks in recent days on the property. "We think they're leaving up above and coming down below."

Stories that herds of elk and deer are moving down the mountain are legion, but unsubstantiated. State game agents cannot get into the restricted zones ringing the mountain to do surveys.

"It would make sense, if there were tremors, that they would move away. But below we're seeing the same numbers," said Fred Dobler, a wildlife manager for the Department of Fish and Wildlife's Southwest Washington region.

Dick Ford, director of Weyerhaeuser's Forest Learning Center 12 miles from the crater, said that while the elk herds grazing nearby are smaller, the problem isn't seismic sensitivities, but starvation. Trees planted since the 1980 eruption have grown tall enough that they are shading out light, and killing the grasses elk love to eat.

He agrees animals have instincts that may have been lost to humans, but points out the numbers:

In the '80 eruption, 1,500 elk, 5,000 black-tail deer, 300 black bears and 25 cougars died. "They may have been running in circles trying to figure out which way to run, which way to go," Ford said, "... but they weren't that good."

Still, everyone in the shadow of the shaking lady has an animal story.

Phil Overbye, who lives in Silver Lake, about 30 bird miles from the mountain, said his dogs Buddy and Gracie and horse Misty got kind of strange two days before the latest eruptions. "My wife was saying 'What's up with the dogs?' They were real clingy, wouldn't get out from underfoot ... and the horse kept rubbing her head on my shoulder, wanting attention.

"They were all real needy. They knew something was going on," said Overbye, exiting the Shell Mini-Mart in Toutle with a handful of candy bars and a fridge pack of Miller draft.

Overbye, who lives about 30 "bird" miles from the mountain, admits he is, for one, a nervous Nellie.

He stared into the face of the mushroom ash cloud in 1980 and knew he was a dead man. So he values his life.

Which is why, when he finally got up his nerve to drive up to the blocked-off end of state Route 504 -- the road that stops just eight miles from Mount St. Helens -- he took one look around at the busloads of tourists, school kids, volcano-philes camped out on hillsides and turned right back around from the volatile mountain that killed several of his friends.

He couldn't get away fast enough.

"I got the heck out of there because I was scared," Overbye said. "I know what that mountain can do. I thought, 'I have to get away from that mess.' "

He won't be going back.

"That would be insane," he said.

Call it animal sense.

P-I reporter M.L. Lyke can be reached at 206-448-8344 or m.l.lyke@seattlepi.com

Mount St. Helens' 'Fin' May Be Splitting

Sat Oct 16, 6:40 AM ET Science - AP

By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP, Associated Press Writer
SEATTLE -

The stone "fin" on the new lava lobe inside the crater at Mount St. Helens seems to be starting to split.

The fin, which is about 200 feet tall and 300 feet wide, is building on the new lava dome, which is about 1,600 feet in diameter and 400 feet high, U.S. Geological Survey geologist Tina Neal said Friday.

The exact dimensions of the new structures have not been determined because of steam and fumes. The fin's precise makeup also cannot be known until scientists can find a way to pick up a sample for analysis, said Carolyn Bell, a USGS spokeswoman.

Scientists are working on a way to safely get samples of the fin, which apparently was on the surface before the new lava flows, and also the new lava slowly extruding from the volcano, Bell said.

The mountain was shrouded in fog and clouds Friday, but brief views inside the crater from aircraft showed bright red lava glowing in spots on the gray lava dome.

Scientists continue to warn that the eruption could intensify at any time, but the USGS said earthquake activity remained low Friday, and levels of gas found above the crater, which could indicate a stronger eruption was in the works, were unchanged.

The latest dome-building began with tiny earthquakes Sept. 23, apparently from magma breaking through rock as it rose toward the surface. Several steam bursts followed, and geologists detected lava at the surface late Monday.

The last round of dome-building began in the months after St. Helens' devastating May 18, 1980, eruption, in which 57 people died, and lasted six years.

Gas-rich magma can cause explosive eruptions, but samples taken this week have detected little carbon dioxide or hydrogen sulfide at the surface, Neal said.

As the dome-building continues, it could produce small explosions with little warning, Neal said. A large explosion is still possible but is among the least likely scenarios, she added.

KIROTV.com

Magma Reaches Surface, Lava Dome Growing

POSTED: 5:59 AM PDT October 12, 2004

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. -- Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey said magma has reached the surface at Mount St. Helens, and a lava dome is growing in the crater of the volcano.


	IMAGES FROM THE MOUNTAIN Slideshow: Large Plume Drifting North-Northeast Slideshow: Steam Eruption On 10-4 Slideshow: User Submitted Mount St. Helens Images Slideshow: Steam Vent Forms After Eruption Images: Mount St. Helens Gets Steamed Slideshow: Steam Shoots From Crater Webcam: Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam Slideshow: Looking Back At 1980 Eruption Slideshow: Images From Mount St. Helens Crater

Thermal imaging showed part of a bulge on the south side of the dome-shaped rock formation had heated to 932 to 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit, scientists said. The surface of that part of the dome also appeared to be broken up.

"What's happened in the last day is the magma is not just pushing up but pushing out. We no longer have just isolated vents. Instead, the whole area is pushing up," U.S. Geological Survey geologist John Pallister said Monday.


	MOUNT ST. HELENS Complete Coverage Of Mount St. Helens

Although there's little chance of a large eruption like the May 18, 1980, blast that killed 57 people, scientists said the most likely scenario is a far less spectacular eruption that could spread a few inches of gritty volcanic ash up to 10 miles from the crater. That could happen in days, weeks or months -- or not at all, Pallister said.

Willie Scott, a USGS geologist, said the steam plume within the crater is a constant feature that will be there for days.

Seismic activity remained relatively low early Tuesday. However, along with rising temperatures, scientists have detected an increase in emissions of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, another sign that magma is rising.

Scientists planned to fly an unmanned drone over the steaming crater Tuesday to measure gasses. The drone, called the Silver Fox, is five feet long and weighs 22 pounds. It's powered by a model airplane engine.

The mountain in the Cascade Range rumbled back to life Sept. 23, beginning with thousands of tiny earthquakes. Thousands of people were evacuated from areas around the mountain Oct. 2, but the alert level was lowered four days later.

Mt. St. Helens lava dome a third the size of old one

08:22 PM PST on Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Associated Press

MT. ST. HELENS, Wash. -- A new lava dome growing in the crater of Mount St. Helens is about one-third the size of the old lava dome.

Steam billows from a new lava growth in the crater at Mount St Helens.

The U.S. Geological Survey says since fresh magma started pushing into the mountain in October, the new structure is about 1,600 feet long, 650 feet wide and 900 feet high.

In terms of volume, its 35 percent the size of the lava dome that grew in the period between 1980 and 1986.

The volcano is steaming with minor ash eruptions and small earthquakes.

This was a static image of Mount St. Helens, taken from the Johnston Ridge Observatory. The Observatory and VolcanoCam are located at an elevation of approximately 4,500 feet, about five miles from the volcano. You are looking approximately south-southeast across the North Fork Toutle River Valley. The VolcanoCam image automatically updates approximately every five minutes. Please make sure your web browser is not set to cache images or you may not see the updates when the web page automatically refreshes.

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/

Giant rock growing in Mount St. Helens' crater

Friday, May 5, 2006;

A USGS photo shows a helicopter near a rock growth in the crater of Mount St. Helens on April 28.

Gallery: Rising from the volcano

• Mount St. Helens 'VolcanoCam'

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- If the skies are clear as forecast, volcano watchers who turn out for the reopening of the Johnston Ridge Observatory on Friday will get a spectacular view of a hulking slab of rock that's rapidly growing in Mount St. Helens' crater.

It's jutting up from one of seven lobes of fresh volcanic rock that have been pushing their way through the surface of the crater since October 2004.

The fin-shaped mass is about 300 feet tall and growing 4 feet to 5 feet a day, said Dan Dzurisin, a geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey. (Gallery of the formation)

The rock in the crater began growing last November, steadily moving west and pushing rock and other debris out of its way as it goes.

Mount St. Helens, located in the Cascades of Washington, has been quietly erupting since a flurry of tiny earthquakes began in late September 2004. Scientists initially mistook the quakes as rainwater seeping into the hot interior of the older lava dome.

But it soon became clear that magma was on the move, confirmed by the emergence of fire-red lava between the old lava dome and the south crater rim a few weeks after the seismic activity began.

The volcano has continued pumping out lava ever since. Eventually, scientists expect the volcano will rebuild its conical peak that was obliterated in the May 18, 1980 eruption that left 57 people dead.

The current growth of the new lava dome has been accompanied by low seismicity rates, low emissions of steam and volcanic gases and minor production of ash, the USGS said.

"Given the way things are going now, there's no hint of any sort of catastrophic eruptions," USGS geologist Tom Pierson said. "At any time, however, things can change."

Scientists flew a helicopter into the crater late last week to adjust equipment and take photographs that will likely be used to determine just how much the new lava dome has grown the last several months.

The Johnston Ridge Observatory, which closes down every winter, is the closest observatory to the 8,364-foot peak. It is named after David A. Johnston, a volcanologist killed in the 1980 eruption. It sits about five miles north of the mountain and offers the closest views of the volcano's horseshoe-shaped crater.

Large Plume Billows From Mount St. Helens Steam and Ash Rose Thousands of Feet Into the Air Above Volcano

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. (March 8, 2006) - Mount St. Helens released a towering plume of ash Tuesday, its most significant emission in months but one that seismologists did not believe heralded any major eruption.

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.

Late afternoon television footage showed the plume billowing thousands of feet into the air, then drifting slowly to the northeast.

The ash 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 university seismologist

Steele said the ash burst may have been triggered by the 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.

On May 18, 1980, the volcano 100 miles south of Seattle blew its top, 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.

03/08/05 22:56 EST

Mount St. Helens Shoots Steam Into Air

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Mount St. Helens shot a steam and ash plume at least 16,000 feet into the air Monday after a large rockfall from the lava dome in the volcano's crater, scientists said.

Pilots reported the plume rose between 16,000 and 20,000 feet in the air, scientists at the Cascades Volcano Observatory said.

The rockfall coincided with a magnitude 3.1 earthquake shortly after 9 a.m. Monday at the mountain, scientists said. Such events are expected during growth of the lava dome, they said.

"There is no evidence of an explosion associated with this event," the observatory said in a statement.

Clouds obscured the crater at the time.

"We don't know how much steam and how much ash," Cynthia Gardner, scientist in charge at the observatory, told The Columbian. "These are very short-lived events."

Lava has continued to push into the crater _ most recently forming a sheer rock fin _ since the 8,364-foot mountain reawakened with a drumfire of low-level seismic activity in September 2004.

The crater was formed by the volcano's deadly May 18, 1980, eruption that killed 57 people and blasted about 1,300 feet off the then-9,677-foot peak.

On the Net:

Mount St. Helens: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/

Crater images: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/Images/MSH04/framework.html

VolcanoCam: http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/

A service of the Associated Press(AP

http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/StHelens.html

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/framework.html

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/img_st_helens.html

MAMMOTH LAKE SHAKES AND THE EARTH MOVES
... Three magnitude 6 quakes hit Mammoth Lakes in May 1980, the same time Mount
St. Helen's erupted in Washington state and killed 57 people. ...
www.greatdreams.com/mammoth.htm

DREAMS, PROPHECY AND NEWS OF VOLCANOES

... Ever since Mount St. Helens, far to the north near the Washington border, erupted on May 18, 1980, the general public has been sensitive to any rumblings in ...
www.greatdreams.com/volcano2.htm

POLAR AXIS SPIN - The Current Location Of The Spin Axis

... effect prediction. They cite quakes in 1979 near Livermore, California, and the 1980 Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption. But to conclude ...
www.greatdreams.com/spinaxis.htm

Earthquake and Volcano Cams and Eruption News - ... destroying a small lava dome which had formed in the crater since mid-November. EARTHCHANGES EARTHQUAKE PAGE. EARTHMOUNTAINVIEW.COM.
http://www.earthmountainview.com/volcanos.html

http://www.earthmountainview.com/yellowstone/yellowstone.htm

http://www.greatdreams.com/earth.htm

ORACLE FOR SUMMER - 2006

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