May 18th 1980

[turnorburn]

With no immediate precursors, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake occurred at 8:32 a.m. on May 18, 1980 and was accompanied by a rapid series of events. At the same time as the earthquake, the volcano's northern bulge and summit slid away as a huge landslide—the largest debris avalanche on Earth in recorded history. A small, dark, ash-rich eruption plume rose directly from the base of the debris avalanche scarp, and another from the summit crater rose to about 200 m (650 ft) high. The debris avalanche swept around and up ridges to the north, but most of it turned westward as far as 23 km (14 mi) down the valley of the North Fork Toutle River and formed a hummocky deposit. The total avalanche volume is about 2.5 km3 (3.3 billion cubic yards), equivalent to 1 million Olympic swimming pools.

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/st_helens/st_helens_geo_hist_99.html

 

[turnorburn]

Where were you when she blew..

 

[Mike S]

Where were you when she blew..

Living in western New York State, working full time, raising a family, and working on an MBA degree.

 

[JohnDB]

I was in Idaho.
Boise to be exact... almost to Kuna.

We got no ash.

However.... Portland Oregon did.
It fell like snow and covered everything...but it doesn't melt. It creates a choking dust that clogs air filters. Some removed their air filters when their cars died and then got to buy new engines or cars because now their valves and valve seats were destroyed by the abrasive nature of the ash.

However....it makes a pretty blue when used as a pottery glaze.

 

[for_his_glory]

Living in San Antonio, Texas at the time and remember the ash on my car. That's a long ways from Mt. Saint Helen

 

[turnorburn]

We had 6"-8" scattered all about in a small village called Packwood.. All chaos broke out not only in the human community but the wildlife community as well.. orange lightning rolling thunder... Had never seen cows jump up and down on all fours before.. That's what i call a demonstration of Gods unlimited power..

 

[for_his_glory]

We had 6"-8" scattered all about in a small village called Packwood.. All chaos broke out not only in the human community but the wildlife community as well.. orange lightning rolling thunder... Had never seen cows jump up and down on all fours before.. That's what i call a demonstration of Gods unlimited power..

Things like this are just a foretastes of that which will come that will shake the whole world.

 

[Knotical]

I was in 1st grade, and can't really remember where I was when I heard news about this. I certainly know where I was when the space shuttle blew up a few years later. We watched coverage of that on TV in class.

 

[jasonc]

I was 7 at the time.I was in 7th grade for the challenger explosion

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Just remember it being a piece of news...big news, of course. Didn't know how significant the blast was until years later.
I was a senior in High School fightin' hard to make it to High School graduation. I hated school and forced myself to go every morning. I hung in there and gradeated by the skin of my teeth.

Interesting times, if I remember correctly, 3 Mile Island, Iran hostages, John Lennon, Falkland Islands, Bhopal.