FORD
10-01-2004, 04:02 PM
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St. Helens Releases Steam Plume
Mount St. Helens released a thick plume of white steam Friday at 12:02 p.m., more than a week after a flurry of earthquakes first warned an eruption was on the way.
"This is exactly the kind of event we've been predicting," said U.S. Geological Survey scientist Cynthia Gardner.
U.S. Geological Survey spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna added: "We do not believe this is a great danger."
The National Weather Service says the small ash plume from Mount Saint Helens is drifting to the south-southwest toward Vancouver, Portland and Beaverton. But John Major, at USGS says it's a small eruption and much of the ash will probably NOT make it to the area.
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus says air controllers have notified pilots of the ash plume from Mount Saint Helens. He says the cloud may have reached 16,000 feet. Pilots are aware of the plume and can fly around it as they would a thunderstorm. He says this is not having any effect on high-altitude aircraft and small craft have been advised to stay out of the way.
State seismologist Tony Qamar at the University of Washington in Seattle says the earthquakes have now just about stopped. He says the pressure in the volcano has been released and the eruption appears to be over.
TV coverage from the volcano just after noon showed billowing gasses with darker spouts of ash. The steam burst lasted about 20 minutes and died down with the ash cloud slowly dissipating.
Steam frequently rises from a lava dome in the crater of the volcano, which erupted with devastating force and killed 57 people on May 18, 1980, but it had not erupted in 18 years.
The steam cloud poured from the southern edge of a 1,000-foot-tall lava dome in the volcano's crater, where a large section of glacier had fractured and risen since Thursday afternoon.
For More Information:
St. Helens Info -- vulcan.wr.usgs.gov.
Live Web Camera Of Mt. St. Helens -- www.fs.fed.us
St. Helens Releases Steam Plume
Mount St. Helens released a thick plume of white steam Friday at 12:02 p.m., more than a week after a flurry of earthquakes first warned an eruption was on the way.
"This is exactly the kind of event we've been predicting," said U.S. Geological Survey scientist Cynthia Gardner.
U.S. Geological Survey spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna added: "We do not believe this is a great danger."
The National Weather Service says the small ash plume from Mount Saint Helens is drifting to the south-southwest toward Vancouver, Portland and Beaverton. But John Major, at USGS says it's a small eruption and much of the ash will probably NOT make it to the area.
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus says air controllers have notified pilots of the ash plume from Mount Saint Helens. He says the cloud may have reached 16,000 feet. Pilots are aware of the plume and can fly around it as they would a thunderstorm. He says this is not having any effect on high-altitude aircraft and small craft have been advised to stay out of the way.
State seismologist Tony Qamar at the University of Washington in Seattle says the earthquakes have now just about stopped. He says the pressure in the volcano has been released and the eruption appears to be over.
TV coverage from the volcano just after noon showed billowing gasses with darker spouts of ash. The steam burst lasted about 20 minutes and died down with the ash cloud slowly dissipating.
Steam frequently rises from a lava dome in the crater of the volcano, which erupted with devastating force and killed 57 people on May 18, 1980, but it had not erupted in 18 years.
The steam cloud poured from the southern edge of a 1,000-foot-tall lava dome in the volcano's crater, where a large section of glacier had fractured and risen since Thursday afternoon.
For More Information:
St. Helens Info -- vulcan.wr.usgs.gov.
Live Web Camera Of Mt. St. Helens -- www.fs.fed.us