Summer Reading 2025: Remembering Mount St. Helens: May 18, 1980

Mount St. Helens before eruption, US Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot National Forest historic photo

Mt St Helens and Spirit Lake from Mt Margaret, pre-eruption, Photo #350, US Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Mount St. Helens had a conical peak until the May 18 eruption left behind a horseshoe-shaped crater. Spring, 1980. Courtesy of Peggy Short-Nottage, via The Statesman Journal

Pre-eruption Spirit Lake, Mt St Helens, Photo #136, US Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Mount St. Helens one year prior to the May 18, 1980, catastrophic eruption, showing glaciers at the summit - USGS photo

Mount St. Helens prior to eruption, March 24, 1980, Photo #056 - US Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot National Forest

After Mount St. Helens started erupting in March, 1980, the Washington State patrol was tasked with putting up road blocks to restricted areas - US Forest Service photo

In April 1980 a crack opens up on Mt. Saint Helens sending up ash, Photo #25, US Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot National Forest

On March 20, 1980, after a quiet period of 123 years, earthquake activity once again began under Mount St. Helens volcano. Seven days later, on March 27, small phreatic (steam) explosions began, like the one shown here from April 10, 1980. USGS.

Steaming Mount St. Helens as seen from Interstate 5, at Chehelis, Washington. April 12, 1980. Photographer: Lyn Topinka. USGS

Volcano Ash sign from business in Cowlitz County, from April, 1980, when tourists flooded the area to get a look at Mount St. Helens - Gifford Pinchot National Forest historical photo

Steam-blast eruption from summit crater of Mount St. Helens. Aerial view, April 6, 1980, looking southwest, showing a roiling, gray-brown, ash-laden cloud that envelops and almost completely hides an initial fingerlike ash column. Photographer: James G. M

Measuring tilt in Timberline parking lot in early April 1980 during lightly falling snow. Photographer: Don Swanson, USGS.

Harry Truman - the curmudgeon who refused to leave his homestead when St. Helens was on the brink of eruption. Harry’s Ridge, a trail in the Mount St. Helens Volcanic Monument, is named for him. US Forest Service photo.

David Johnston at Coldwater II, 1900 hours, May 17, 1980. Dave did not survive the next day's eruption. Coldwater II would eventually be re-named "Johnston Ridge" in honor of Dave. Photographer: Harry Glicken. USGS.

After two months of earthquakes and small explosions, Mount St. Helens cataclysmically erupted on May 18, 1980. A high-speed blast leveled millions of trees and ripped soil from bedrock. The eruption fed a towering plume of ash for more than 9 hours. USGS

Ash plume close-up. For more than nine hours a vigorous plume of ash erupted, eventually reaching 20-25 km (12-15 mi) above sea level. By early May 19, the devastating eruption was over. Photographer: Don Swanson. USGS

The photographer, Carmen R. Andrews, was 14 years old when she took this photo as the eruption was taking place. She and her classmates from Garfield High School were on a biology field trip to see the diatomaceous earth outside of Vantage, Washington.

Ash from the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens blankets Yakima, more than 130 miles to the northeast of the mountain - Gifford PInchot National Forest historical photo

Mount St. Helens erupts; view from Portland, Oregon, May 18, 1980 Gifford Pinchot National Forest historic photo, USFS

May 19, 1980: front page of The Oregonian - Gifford Pinchot National Forest historical photo

Blowdown of trees from the shock-wave of the directed (lateral) blast from the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Elk Rock is the peak with a singed area on the left. Photographer: Lyn Topinka. USGS

The slopes of Smith Creek Valley, east of Mount St. Helens, show the direction of the blast, apparent in the alignment of the downed trees. Over 4 billion board feet of usable timber, enough to build 150,000 homes, was damaged or destroyed. 9/1980, USGS.

Search and rescue teams recover victims after the eruption on May 18, 1980 - Gifford Pinchot National Forest photo

USGS geologist Don Swanson (in red) and his colleague, Jim Moore, view a car filled with ash deposits from the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens. USGS.

Bear tracks found in an ash and pumice deposit, October, 1980. Many smaller animals, such as gophers, mice, frogs, fish, and insects were hibernating below ground or under water on May 18, 1980, and they survived the blast. Photographer: Lyn Topinka. USGS

Pumice blocks at the toe of a pyroclastic flow from the 1980 eruption sequence at Mount St. Helens. October 16, 1980. Photographer: Terry Leighley. USGS

For weeks volcanic ash covered the landscape around the volcano and for several hundred miles downwind to the east. Noticeable ash fell in eleven states. The total volume of ash (before its compaction by rainfall) was approximately 0.26 cubic mile (1.01 c

Ash from the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens covering the ground and road at a farm in Connell, Washington, approximately 300 km (180 mi) from the volcano. June 2, 1980. Photographer: Lyn Topinka. USGS.

Spirit Lake before the big May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helenes. View from the south. Mount Rainier, is in the distance. April 1980. Photographer: Peter Lipman. USGS

Spirit Lake was once surrounded by lush forest and is within the area devastated by the directed blast, covered by ash and tephra, then inundated by pyroclastic flows. Remnants of the forest float on the surface of the lake. Mt. Rainier in the distance.

Logs float in Spirit Lake near the Spirit Lake gaging station and outflow tunnel. View is to the south with Mount St. Helens in the background. November 27, 2012. Photographer: Adam Mosbrucker. USGS.

Nearly 135 miles (220 kilometers) of river channels surrounding the volcano were affected by the lahars of May 18, 1980. A mudline left behind on trees shows depths reached by the mud.USGS photo: Lyn Topinka.

Muddy River bridge destruction after the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens. September 23, 1980. Photographer: Lyn Topinka. USGS

The May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington, generated lahars that swept down river valleys. The St. Helens bridge on Highway 504 was carried over a quarter-mile (a half-kilometer) downstream and partially buried. R.L. Schuster, USGS

Mailboxes emerging from mud flows after the Mount St. Helens eruption on May 18, 1980 - Britannica ImageQuest

The landslide swept into the upper North Fork Toutle River valley & came to rest within about 22 km of the volcano. Water percolated to the top of the deposit, forming many lahars that merged & rushed down the valley, destroying roads, bridges & homes.

Early on the morning of May 18, 1980, the landslide swept into the upper North Fork Toutle River valley and came to rest within about 22 km of the volcano. The landslide deposit, however, was saturated with water, and contained snow and ice blocks from the volcano's former glaciers. As soon as the landslide stopped moving, water percolated to the top of the deposit and poured across its irregular surface, forming many lahars that merged as they rushed down the valley. The peak flow swept from the deposit about 5 hours after the landslide was emplaced!

The lahar flowed down the Toutle River throughout the afternoon and evening, reaching its peak at midnight about 60 km downstream from the volcano. The lahar destroyed roads, bridges, and homes.

The May 18, 1980 debris avalanche from Mount St. Helens covered over 24 square miles of the upper Toutle River valley and blocked tributaries of the North Fork Toutle River. New lakes such as Castle Lake (pictured here) & Coldwater Lake. USGS.

Aerial photo of Mount St. Helens (center), with Mount Hood (in the distance, far left), Spirit Lake (on left with floating log mat), and St. Helens Lake with a little ice cover (lower left). USGS image taken by K. Spicer on June 6, 2024.

Mount St. Helens (left) and Mount Rainier viewed toward the north. 2004. Photographer: John Pallister. USGS.

Sunset, as seen from Johnston Ridge Observatory (JRO) - November 4, 2004. USGS photo