25 Years

It's been twenty-five years since Mt St Helens exploded on a peaceful and beautiful Sunday morning. I was in church at the time, and I don't recall how it happened, but my memory shifted from being in church to standing outside the church, with half the congregation, looking south. The sky was clear, not a cloud in sight... except to the south, where a strange cloud was bubbling up on the horizon, barely visible. I remember standing there, looking at the cloud, and wondering if it was the beginning of the end. After all, a teacher had told us in school that Mt Rainier is also a volcano and might explode. I don't remember anything else from that day.

Here's a NASA image of the mountain...

And you can also visit the Google Maps image, which might be more current and certainly looks a bit different, even if it isn't more current.

And lastly, the Wikipedia entry for Mount St Helens is pretty good. Worth a peek if you are at all interested in the mountain.