It was an otherwise clear day in SW Washington that Sunday morning. I lived in Vancouver, WA then and didn’t hear a thing since it was the north side that blew out and the sound waves of the eruption when overhead. People heard it 30-40 miles to the south of us.
The big eruption of Mt. St. Helens is one of those “where-were-you-at-the-time” events. I was at Fairchild AFB, near Spokane, WA (350 miles from the mountain) that morning at the Armed Forces Day open house. Heard a couple people mention news reports that Mt. St. Helens erupted; it’d been shooting steam and ash for months, so nothing sounded alarming. By 2 p.m., the western sky was a rapidly advancing solid-gray sheet. By 3:30, the sky over all of Eastern Washington was completely dark. We saw the first ashfall around 5. In Spokane, we had about 2-3 inches of ash on the ground. It looked like and had the consistency of concrete dust.
Very, very bizarre time.
He then wanted it renamed “The Magma Carter".
The other eruptions were Augustine (three times) Spur, and Pavlof. (8 times since 1980) It was interesting how little press these eruptions get. Mt. Shishaldin’s 95 eruption was very big, and spewed lava for 2 years. It buried a glacier with lava and the hot water still streams out from under it. It created a river of hot water that still flows today.
I heard it go... from 150 miles away. We got about 1/4” of ash ... missed the main plume by about 10 miles.
Still a little dark there this morning:http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/views/java-highdef.php
When I got to the base, I was walking through the hangers, looking at the different exhibits before I got to the aircraft. I came upon a guy who was setting up a mobile MARS base. He was talking to someone in Cougar, WA, not far from the mountain. I didn't hear the whole conversation, but when he was done, he wrote on a clipboard and posted it on a wall. It said “MT. ST. HELENS ERUPTS 8:30 THIS MORNING. TOP MILE OF MOUNTAIN IS GONE”. I thought that was interesting, but didn't think anything of it. After all, that mountain was 250 miles away...what could it POSSIBLY do to me?
The day went on, and I saw some neat aircraft, including an SR-71. About 2 hours later, the base announced that the flying portion of the show was being cancelled due to the eruption. Not long after that, they threw up a security cordon around the Blackbird and hooked up a tow unit, which then pulled the plane into a hangar. I asked an airman nearby what was going on and he told me they were getting the plane under cover to protect it from the ash.
Ash? What the heck is this ‘ash’ they were speaking of? To that very moment, the only effects of a volcanic eruption I was sure of was explosion and lava. I didn't know there WAS anything else.
I looked toward the southeast, and noted a thin, dark line on the horizon. There were no storms forecast that day, so I was a bit surprised. It was at that point the announcement came that they were closing the base, and to go home. I was in a pickle: the STA bus wasn't due to pick up until 3 hours later, I knew no one there, and I had no way to contact my dad to get me. I started asking around and found that the Air Force had a bus for those who took public transit that would take us to the Rec Center until the STA bus got there. By this time, the leading edge of the clouds had arrived. It seemed to be darker outside, so I looked up toward the Sun. As I live and breathe...it was blue. I had never seen THAT color from the Sun. I remember being chilled to my core with fear.
We got over to the Rec Center and waited. As I looked to the east, I could hear jets spooling up. Some of the planes that came from far away were trying to fly home, but I only saw 2 or 3 who did...the rest were stuck.
After a while, the STA bus got there and loaded aboard. We got in the LONG line to get out of there, and finally made it out of the base and onto Highway 2 into Spokane. The bus driver knew a less-crowded way into the city, so he took some side roads. As we traveled, I noticed that the sky was now mostly black, with a strip of bright orange along the eastern horizon. We got downtown and were told the buses were now supposed to go straight to the 'barn', leaving me stranded downtown. As I looked into the streetlights, I saw the first falling ash.
I managed to FINALLY get a hold of my dad and BEGGED him to come get me. He arrived a half-hour later, trailing a plume as he pulled up. We got in the car and decided, for whatever reason, to go eat at the Sambo's on North Division. On the way up there, we were following a couple cars when visibility went to absolute ZERO. We stopped the car until we saw the brake lights of the car ahead of us and proceeded slowly until we got to the restaurant. When we went inside, took my portable AM radio, which I'd left in the car a couple days earlier. I'm glad I did. As we waited for our food, I was listening to KSPO, which at the time was a local all-news station. As it would turn out, they would be the most popular station for the next two weeks. If the city, county or state wanted something put out to the public, they called KSPO.
After we finished our meal, the manager came around and said they were closing until it was safe to travel again. The ash had let up a little by then, so we went home slowly and finally got there. We went inside and didn't come out for three days.
I will never, EVER forget this as long as I live. I've visited the mountain three times since then and it still inspires awe every time I go. To realize just how powerful the forces of Earth are...