Mount St. Helens - Pictures During and after

      Mount St. Helens Eruption - May 18, 1980 8;32 am                                      

Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980 in Skamania County, Wash. It was the deadliest eruption in U.S. history, killing 57 people. (left) Jim Valance, Cascades Volcano Observatory, U.S. Geological Survey (right)

Mount Saint Helens erupts. USGS via Earth Science World Image Bank (above)

Mount St. Helens sends a plume of ash, smoke and debris skyward. The eruption blasted more than 1,300 feet off the mountain's peak. Jack Smith, AP

The Initial Blast  (right) The mushroom cloud of volcanic ash produced by the eruption, as seen from Toledo, Washington, 35 miles away. The cloud was roughly 40 miles wide and 15 miles high.

Ash cloud as seen from space (below)
from Weather Satellite GOES-3 at 1545 UTC

map of eruption depostits

Sequence of events on May 18

                                          

NASA Satellite Image Mount St. Helens 35 Years After Its Historic Eruption

This satellite image of Mount St. Helens comes courtesy of NASA’s Earth Observatory

Today is the 35th anniversary of the volcano’s eruption and subsequent landslide, which killed 57 people. Scientists still keep a close watch on the site from both the air and ground.

As NASA notes:

The volcano has been quiet since 2008, which marked the end of a four-year period of activity.