Mt. St. Helens

Eruption: May 18, 1980

At 8:32 a.m. Sunday morning, May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens erupted.

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43rd Anniversary

#MtStHelensDay


Shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, the north face of this tall symmetrical mountain collapsed in a massive rock debris avalanche. Nearly 230 square miles of forest was blown over or left dead and standing. At the same time a mushroom-shaped column of ash rose thousands of feet skyward and drifted downwind, turning day into night as dark, gray ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond.

The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments.

In 1982 the President and Congress created the 110,000-acre National Volcanic Monument for research, recreation, and education. Inside the Monument, the environment is left to respond naturally to the disturbance.

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The author of this website, Gavin Anderson, was 12 years old and living in Tacoma, WA, when Mt. St. Helens erupted. He was visiting Mt. St. Helens with his kids in 2013 when this photo was taken. He also took the banner image for this website at that time. He started “celebrating” Mt. St. Helens Day, as he called it, in his early 20’s when he was living in Chicago, as a means of remembering his home state, and that momentous event from his childhood.

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© May 3, 2023, Mathew Nichols Photography, used with kind permission


Where were you the day Mt. St. Helens erupted?

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