# Is Mount St Helens Erupting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 28, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588 "2005-07-28T14:42:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/1 "2005-07-28T14:42:26Z")
There appears to be a minor eruption or something at Mt St Helens visible on the [Volcanocam](http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/). There is what appears to be a vertical plume of gases visible from a small cone in the centre rear. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/2 "2005-07-28T14:52:44Z")
I don’t think so. I’ve been to the cam site now and then and it seems there’s usually a wisp like that. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/3 "2005-07-28T14:54:31Z")
We’re getting seizmo activity in that area. [LINK](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsUS/Quakes/uw07281223.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/4 "2005-07-28T14:57:56Z")
It’s just letting off a bit of steam. It was [more impressive](http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Jpg/MSH/MSH05/MSH05_st_helens_from_JRO_small_plume_07-27-05_med.jpg) a few days ago. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/5 "2005-07-28T15:08:45Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > We’re getting seizmo activity in that area. > > [LINK](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsUS/Quakes/uw07281223.htm) [Total earthquake energy](http://www.pnsn.org/HELENS/helensen_yr.html) is down, as is the [number of quakes](http://www.pnsn.org/HELENS/helenstd_yr.html). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/6 "2005-07-28T16:14:37Z")
The VCam archive page: [http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/archive/live-images/index.shtml](http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/archive/live-images/index.shtml) has an image of a moderate puff of steam peaking around 8:05am PDT. Sorry, can’t provide a hard link as the images are name shifted over time and then drop off the page. Nothing out of the ordinary. Rockslides off the new dome routinely cause modest puffs of steam and ash. (About 2 weeks ago there was a nice runoff of steaming water coming out of the crater for most of the day. There’s still an amazing amount of glacier ice still in the crater.) ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/7 "2005-07-28T19:28:41Z")
It’s probably a good thing for it to blow off a bit of steam now and then. Keeps it from building up another huge blast. Of couse, it also doesn’t have nearly so much to blow now. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/8 "2005-07-28T19:46:10Z")
It is erupting, but you have nothing to worry about, since the volcano is just slowly rebuilding itself. In the current shape of the volcano, there is no room for the magma to gather in order to make a proper eruption like the one that occured before. [cite](http://scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa004&articleID=000466E8-0276-12D8-BDFD83414B7F0000) ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/9 "2005-07-28T19:47:05Z")
I was just at the Johnston Observatory last week. I’ll post a photo or two I took of the crater. The volcano is definitely _active_. That is to say, it is steaming, smoking, belching, and rumbling. But it is not _erupting_. As you’ll see from some of my photos, that amount of steam coming from the lava dome (that hump in the middle of the concave depression of the crater) is far from unusual. That hump, incidentally, is nothing but a crust of cool rock. It is filled with magma, and it is constantly growing. So damn cool. Back with piccies in a sec. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/10 "2005-07-28T19:49:31Z")
OK, OK, so it is erupting. Just very slowly. Got it. Still coming back with photos, damn it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/11 "2005-07-28T20:10:56Z")
OK, here we go. [ul] [li][The crater and lava dome.](http://www.potliquor.net/images/activecone.jpg) You can see dense clouds of steam in the crater.[/li] [li]The following 3 photos are closeups of the lava dome. The first two show small to moderate burps of steam, but the third one shows much more activity. This happens on a minute-by-minute basis. [Pic 1](http://www.potliquor.net/images/conesteam1.jpg), [Pic 2](http://www.potliquor.net/images/conesteam2.jpg), [Pic 3](http://www.potliquor.net/images/conesteam3.jpg).[/li] [li]And just for the hell of it, [here’s](http://www.potliquor.net/images/indianpaintbrush.jpg) a hillside near the volcano covered in indian paintbrush, and [here’s](http://www.potliquor.net/images/anseltree.jpg) my attempted Ansel Adams-esque interpretation of one of the blasted-down trees near the Observatory.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/12 "2005-07-28T20:32:49Z")
Hey **Ogre** , your last pic looks just like “Sloth” from _The Goonies_. (Tilt your head to the right.) And since Astoria is just downstream from MStH… ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/13 "2005-07-29T12:35:15Z")
Great pics, **Ogre!** Thanks for sharing. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/14 "2005-07-29T14:40:50Z")
I _like_ the one of the blasted tree. Thats some tasty photography! ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mount-st-helens-erupting/314588/15 "2005-07-29T19:19:10Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Hey **Ogre** , your last pic looks just like “Sloth” from _The Goonies_. (Tilt your head to the right.) And since Astoria is just downstream from MStH… Great. Just great. I’ll never be able to see anything else in that pic now. Thanks a lot! 🙂 Thanks, Tranquilis. I like that one too.