The Day The Mountain Blew: Remembering Mount St. Helens Eruption

With the 45th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington coming up this Sunday, it was the topic of conversation with my brother and father this past weekend.

My brother was five, my dad was 30, and I wasn’t even a thought yet. But my dad will never forget the day when the volcano blew and blacked out the Washington sky for the better part of two days.

The topic came up as we were doing some landscaping and stumbled upon a lot of ash, which kicked off storytelling from my family.

Remembering The Day Mount St Helens Blew

My brother remembered hearing a loud thunderclap in the morning while he was playing with his toys and was startled. With the sound waking up the rest of my family, my dad was the first to realize that it was the mountain blowing.

It took a little more than an hour for the ash from the volcano to arrive in the Yakima Valley.

“It was actually kind of neat looking, you could see just a wall of darkness and clouds slowly coming our way, when the ash started falling in Naches, it felt nice, like a warm sprinkling of rain.”
– Jeff (my dad).

 

My brother chimed in:

“Yeah, it wasn’t till later that day when the news told us we shouldn’t be outside breathing it in!”
– Chris (my brother).

 

It was a Sunday, so no one had to go to work or school, so my family stayed inside and watched the ash come down and quickly pile up like snow.

“We had to go to ‘Slim’s’ (local Naches grocery store) for something for dinner, so I took your mom’s pantyhose and put them on the carburetor of the old Ford Pinto, so the ash wouldn’t kill the engine”
– Jeff

“Yeah, and we were fish-tailing the entire way there.”
– Chris

 

The Scary Reality Of The Eruption of Mount St Helens

I got the impression that at first it was fun, but as the ash fell, and the reality set in, it became a nightmare. People were worried about health issues, livestock dying, damage to buildings, and roofs caving in from the weight of all the ash.

READ MORE: 17 Of The Biggest Natural Disasters In Washington History

An estimated 520 million tons of ash was blown 15 miles into the sky and carried throughout the western U.S. as far as Minnesota and Oklahoma, and some reports of ash being blown around the world within 2 weeks (Thanks to USGS.com and Wikiepdia for the details my family didn't know or could remember).

When it was all said and done, 57 people died, thousands of animals were lost, and about a billion dollars in damages occurred from the eruption.

Will Mount St. Helens Blow Again?

Many of us weren’t there that day, and have a hard time imagining the devastation that occurred on May 18th, 1980. The scary part is that scientists believe that the mountain may blow again within our lifetime. Fingers crossed that if and when that happens, it won’t be as devastating.

Were you there on the day that the mountain blew? If so, Tap the App and tell us your story.

Get our free mobile app