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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Oct. 5, 1983 Take hot volcanic material, put it in contact with water, and you've got the mix for a phreatic eruption. More than three years later, after such events had long since ceased in the North Fork Toutle River valley, scientists freely walked the floors of pits created by these eruptions.

A high-angle aerial photo looks down into a wide, flat-floored pit with pale tan ground streaked in orange. Steep gray and white walls rise around it, with dark rocky debris spilling down one slope. A few tiny people stand near the middle of the floor. October 5, 1983. Lyn Topinka, USGS.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Jehovah Almighty, give me the strength to deal with these people who confidently lack critical thinking skills.

Cropped screenshot of the end of a Facebook comment that reads "1980 ..." with "Send message" and a menu icon beneath it.

Screenshot of an Instagram comment. The comment reads "Wow...that's odd. The exact same thing happened in 1980 also," followed by four laughing emojis.

Facebook comment that reads 1980. Not 1990.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

May 1990 | The Toutle Ten years after the eruption, KGW went to a stretch of the Toutle River called Maple Flat. Nearly a dozen houses stood in the settlement on May 18, 1980. All of them washed away. Further downstream, homes were still threatened by riverbank erosion. Tim Storrs reports.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Oct. 1, 1980 | Clearcut Station Much like before the eruption, when scientists tracked the bulge pushed out by intruding magma on the north face, scientists here were watching for a large influx of magma pushing through the remaining edifice of the mountain. 📷 Terry Leighley

Two people in olive-green coveralls stand on ashy gray ground littered with fallen trees and stumps, facing Mount St. Helens. One holds a sheet of paper, and the other has hands on hips. Yellow tripods stand beside them, one topped with an orange instrument, and cases and bags sit on the ground nearby. A white plume rises from the broken top into a deep blue sky. October 1, 1980. Photo by Terry Leighley.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

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Washington Emergency Management Division @emd.wa.gov · 30/09/2026

Lots of folks felt that earthquake yesterday. Had it been stronger, there's a chance people might have fallen and gotten hurt. That's why we suggest people drop to the ground if possible -- an essential part of drop, cover and hold on.

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Washington Emergency Management Division @emd.wa.gov · 29/09/2026

We love these *Friendly* reminders that Washington is earthquake country. Especially when they arrive just a couple weeks before the Great ShakeOut earthquake drill coming up at 10:15 on 10/15! (We promise, we didn't plan this. ...We can't actually do that).

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Adam Bonin @adambonin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

RACHEL HAS GONE TO THE CONTAINER STORE FOR STORAGE BINS AND IS DOING USEFUL PURGING.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Seems like personal growth for Rachel, personally. A closer-to-home yet more dangerous Under the Tuscan Sun.

Facebook post from National Hurricane Center with a multi-day forecast cone of Tropical Storm Rachel.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Just lost a Places in Time draft. Welcome to the "fuck it, we're gonna just do a thread" portion of the week.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A highlight from my first day at the mountain back in July — seeing a friend while hiking the Hummocks Trail. Pretty neat moment.

A deer stands in a meadow of tall grass and yellow wildflowers, looking toward the camera with its ears perked up. Green shrubs and a pale, rocky slope are visible in the background. Hummocks Trail, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. July 23, 2026. Chris Katella/Mount St. Helens Archive.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Newspapers dot com has been very, very good to me — but even it has its limits. Bless you, microfilm. "A friend indeed."

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This morning's "Today's Document" from the National Archives was a 1946 aerial photograph of our good friend Loowit. Since they're not on here, here's an annotated version of the image with some...okay, a good number of landmarks noted on screen — many of which are still here.

A black-and-white aerial photo looks straight down on Mount St. Helens before it erupted. Rough, ridged slopes fan out in every direction from a bright white patch of snow and ice near the center, with narrow strips of snow filling the gullies. White labels mark landmarks. The Pre-1980 Summit sits at the center with Shoestring Glacier just above it, and The Boot is to its left with Dogs Head higher up. East Dome and the Plains of Abraham are near the top. Warm Flows and Monitor Ridge are on the right. Windy Pass, Sugar Bowl, and Goat Rocks run down the left edge, and Floating Island Lava Flow and Toutle Canyon are at the bottom left. September 28, 1946. National Archives, Records of the Defense Intelligence Agency, modified with added labels.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

1982 | Gophers and Plants Two years after Mount St. Helens erupted, researchers were surprised by what had survived. Pocket gophers had lived underground on stored roots and seeds. Weedy, root-sprouting plants were reclaiming blowdown. Peter Graves narrates this early look at the recovery.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

May 30, 1980 Well, that's one way to keep the mood light when looking for eruption victims.

Blurry video still close-up of Jack Jones, of the sheriff's department, wearing a trucker hat with a patch reading "Next to sex, my Jeep is best," looking off-camera with a somber expression. From a CBS News segment, May 31, 1980.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

May 29, 1980 "Welcome to Ash-land." The Daily World's headline over cars driving through a dusty downtown Aberdeen the day before. Almost a hundred miles northwest of Mount St. Helens, the second eruption on May 25 dropped a layer of ash just hundredths of an inch thick on Grays Harbor County.

A newspaper front page for The Daily World, serving Coastal Washington, under the headline "Welcome to Ash-land." Below it, a hazy black-and-white photo shows two cars driving through dust on a city street. A two-column caption runs beneath the photo. May 29, 1980. Daily World photo by Kathy Quigg.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

May 19, 1980 The day after Mount St. Helens erupted, six-year-old Mike Williams held up the fresh-off-the-press Seattle Times for the camera. Forty-six years later, he still remembers gray ash rising into the sky, close enough to see, far enough to stay safe. Thanks for sharing this photo, Mike!

Alt text:

A six-year-old boy in a cap smiles and holds up a folded newspaper in front of a stone fireplace. A few feet away, a woman in blue overalls sits in a leather recliner, holding a baby girl in a red outfit on her lap. Yellow flowers sit on a table in the foreground. May 19, 1980. Courtesy of Mike Williams.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

May 18, 1980 | Yakima By mid-morning, ash from Mount St. Helens had turned the skies dark as night. First responders pulled on whatever protective gear they had on hand. From face masks to goggles, anything to keep the gritty, chalklike material out. 📸 Sherry Bockwinkel / Yakima Herald-Republic

Four police and fire personnel stand close together in the dark, caught by camera flash. Each wears goggles and a white cloth mask over the nose and mouth. Three wear brimmed helmets, and one wears a close-fitting hood. Ash flecks their heavy coats and collars. May 19, 1980. Sherry Bockwinkel, Yakima Herald-Republic.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

May 27, 1980 Army pilot Frank Patton keeps three other helicopters in sight on a search flight from Salkum in Lewis County to the Elk Lake area northwest of Mount St. Helens. Searchers were looking for two loggers. Salkum was a search base for the Army's 3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry, from Fort Lewis.

Black-and-white halftone photo from inside a helicopter cockpit shows a pilot in a helmet with a boom mic, wearing a shoulder harness and controlling the aircraft. Through the curved window, another helicopter flies above terrain. The instrument panel appears in the lower left. May 27, 1980. Photo: Bob Ellis/The Oregonian.

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SickosFC @sickosfc.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Well this sucks 😔

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

May 1981 One year after the eruption, KIRO's Brooks Burford reports Coldwater Lake is rising faster than it drains. Left alone, the debris dam would have eroded quickly, causing a sudden flood. Instead, the Army Corps is cutting a channel. Now Spirit Lake, on the other hand...

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The version I see the most of this on my other accounts: Man Always Gets Little Rush Out Of Blaming Victims and Survivors For Being Near Mount St. Helens.

Screenshot of a Facebook comment tagging another user: "Survival story because there's no way they should have been doing anything around that mountain during that time. Laffy face response invalid."

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Meade Krosby @meadekrosby.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Mount Rainier’s subalpine meadows ablaze in fall colors.

Subalpine meadows ablaze in crimson and gold beneath a line of conifers and, above them, a looming Mount Rainier and clear blue sky.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

A one-week-to-go reminder. If you're interested in hearing what those search, rescue, and recovery efforts demanded — from the frantic first hours to the difficult weeks that followed — and you're near Vancouver, WA, be there. And, if you haven't picked up Capt. Cairns's book yet, make it so!

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Places in Time (L'édition petit) Watching one shot in the ad, I realized, "Oh, I was there." Back then, seedlings planted above Miners Creek after the eruption were still growing. Today, they're being harvested. 46 years on, you can still see standing dead across the valley and on Black Mountain.

Blurry video still of Black Mountain and ridge, green-planted conifers in the foreground below gray rocky outcrops. Burned-in caption reads "Black Mountain and ridge with planted trees, circa 1990, Weyerhaeuser."

Black Mountain and Miners Creek valley, with forested slopes, dead snags and exposed rock cliffs rising to a rocky summit knob seen from 2500 Road. A recently harvested clear-cut in the foreground. July 27, 2026. Chris Katella/Mount St. Helens Archive. Taken with permission on active Weyerhaeuser timberland. Not open to public access.

Dozens of bare, gray standing dead trees—killed by heat from the May 18, 1980 pyroclastic density current—rise above a dense green canopy of living conifers on a forested slope. July 27, 2026. Chris Katella/Mount St. Helens Archive. Taken with permission on active Weyerhaeuser timberland. Not open to public access.

Close view of Black Mountain's rocky cliff face and ridgeline against a clear blue sky, with scattered conifers and pale dead snags growing among the rock outcrops. July 27, 2026. Chris Katella/Mount St. Helens Archive. Taken with permission on active Weyerhaeuser timberland. Not open to public access.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

For Throwback Thursday, let's go back to May 18, 1990 — the tenth anniversary of the eruption — and to the commercial Weyerhaeuser produced to mark that milestone.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Here on Gilbert Ridge, ten miles from Mount St. Helens, two rusted posts rise above the wildflowers and grass. So, what is it? A key to the past, coming up later this week in the next installment of Places in Time.

A wildflower meadow with two rusted posts in the foreground, looking across the North Fork Toutle River valley toward Mount St. Helens' gray, breached edifice. Taken ten miles northwest of the mountain on July 27, 2026. Chris Katella, Mount St. Helens Archive.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Bluesky Bonus Since I know a fair number of the people who follow me are interested in environmental history, here is the segment that followed the 5/21/80 MSH update on World News Tonight. Carter declares a state of emergency at Love Canal; most remaining residents can move into temporary housing.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

May 21, 1980 Three days after the eruption, President Jimmy Carter flies off from Washington, D.C., to tour the devastation around Mount St. Helens, socked in today by springtime rains. In the Cowlitz Valley, the threat of flooding worries locals.

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

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Mount St. Helens Archive @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

A page-high advertisement for National Geographic's January 1981 issue, printed in the January 18, 1981 edition of The Sunday Oregonian. My first encounter with this magazine:

National Geographic's January 1981 Mount St. Helens issue, advertised full-page in The Sunday Oregonian.

Cover of National Geographic, Vol. 159, No. 1, January 1981. A yellow border frames a photo of dense, pouch-like ash clouds resembling mammatus formations, filling the upper two-thirds, with a flowering pink/red tree and part of a house visible at the bottom. White text lists the issue's contents, headlined 'Mount St. Helens' with three article titles — 'Mountain with a Death Wish,' 'In the Path of Destruction,' and 'The Day the Sky Fell' — followed by unrelated features on Nebraska fossils, airplane design, Poland, and cockroaches. Red text at the bottom promotes a PBS special.

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Dr. Erik Klemetti Gonzalez @eruptions.site · 08/09/2026

If you missed it yesterday, I wrote up a summary of the situation at Anak Krakatau with some context. Remember, Indonesia is a very volcanically active country and Anak Krakatau is a highly active volcano. eruptions.site/2026/09/07/s...

eruptions.site

September 2026 Eruption at Anak Krakatau

Location: Anak Krakatau, Indonesia Situation: Anak Krakatau, literally “child of Krakatau” has had some large explosive eruptions over the past week including ash plumes that reached ~5…

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