St. Helens still at it

Mount Saint Helens is still rumbling and may possibly be getting ready for a decent-sized eruption. This morning around 10am a large plume of steam and some ash shot up above the crater rim of the volcano. View video (WMV, 910K) I was down in the Vancouver, WA area but didn't witness any of the excitement first hand. The clear weather that's allowing for beautiful webcam shots and press coverage is also due, in part, from a very calm atmosphere wherein the haze is pretty bad. I don't even think I could see St. Helens from any vantage point this weekend. Nonetheless, geologists believe today's mostly steam event isn't what they're expecting. The seismic activity under the mountain hasn't ceased and is only pointing to further activity and a larger event. We're not talkin' 1980 but it could certainly drop some ash on anyone down wind from the volcano.

Here are a couple links that might interest anyone who thinks natural disasters are actually pretty cool:

• VolcanoCam - live webcam shot of St. Helens
• Northwest Seismic Network - St. Helens news and data straight from the volcano's mouth
• Northwest Cable News - 24-hour coverage (free sign up to watch video)

Comments (3) | To Top

10/7/2004 @ 4:54pm

hey kevin,

i am sitting here watching discovery channel and it is showing a show entitled 'black sky - the race for space' i thought you may like to know about the show if you were not previously aware of it. as far as i've seen, it has showed the first test-flight that was dropped from another aircraft. VERY interesting! amazing how a group of individuals can generate an aircraft for such a small cost as compared to nasa. hope all is well.

-adam

p.s. what type of digital camera do you use? i remember seeing it on a blog a couple years back that you got a new one, but i'm lazy and don't feel like digging back that far right now (i'm on dial-up... dsl is WAY too expensive in the islands.) and yes... i have been following your site off and on for longer then you knew.

by Adam Gaston

10/7/2004 @ 7:52pm

Hey Adam. Was that about the SpaceShipOne launch down in Mojave in June? If so, I was there: http://www.kevinfreitas.net/journal/20040621/

I bought a Fuji FinePix S602Z a couple summers ago. It works really well, has great zoom (6x), and hasn't collapsed under the weight of all the photos I've taken... yet. I destroyed two previous Toshiba's and needed to try something new.

So, are you voting absentee from down there?

by KevinFreitas

10/8/2004 @ 6:01pm

the show was about ss1's complete journey. from start up to the final launch (i believe... my wife doesn't care too much for the documentary type shows unless if it's about the medical world). i watched most of the special until i was summoned upstairs for my birthday present. and i thought it would just be another day.

as for voting. i am not voting absentee from st croix. two years ago i had decided to become an official virgin island resident so that i could make my vote stretch further. the political scene is pure mayhem down here. very currupt. with only about 115,000 residents between all of the u.s. virgin islands, i figured my vote would count a lot more then if i were to stay a washington resident and vote via absentee.

the only downfall has been that i am no longer able to vote for the presidency. although we are a u.s. territory, we do not have any pull in determining who shall lead our country and the laws that we abide by (at least the laws that our territory is supposed to abide by). that issue is being brought up through our deligate to congress, but where it goes shall be determined. so the answer to your question is nope... sure don't. :)

glad to see things are well up in washington. my entire family is still in the vancouver area, so i get up there about once a year if i'm lucky. take care and i'll keep in touch.

by Adam Gaston