The Mount St. Helens Eruption Was the Volcanic Warning We Needed

An interesting parallel to today from the Mount St. Helens eruption is what happened in the city of Ritzville, Washington that was directly in the path of much of the ash. Many motorists coming back from Eastern Washington got stranded there because of poor visibility and up to six inches of ash on almost everything. They overwhelmed the city's facilities and were effectively quarantined within a school cafeteria. After two days a group of motorists tried to break the quarantine:

"So two days after the eruption, a large group of "rebel motorists" chose to ignore official warnings and try to make an escape from Ritzville. Most turned around within a few miles as they encountered nasty, gritty ground blizzards of ash. Some had to pull over when their clogged cars died. Police said didn't know how many cars made it out, but they said it wasn't more than 100."

Source: https://www.historylink.org/File/9398 (From History Link, a great free encyclopedia of Washington State history. Several states have projects like this online which are fun ways to learn about the history of small towns, how a particular region reacted to a large historical event, etc.)

This was one of the most memorable events from my early childhood. We lived a couple hundred kilometers east of the volcano, in the area where much of the ash plume landed. It was a Sunday morning in our tiny farming town and people were unaware the volcano erupted, it was people leaving church that first noticed that a pitch black curtain was being pulled over the sky from the west. It was unreal looking. When it passed over us, it was blacker than the blackest nights outside, you could not see your hand in front of your face. And then it started "snowing"...

It interfered with RF transmission where we lived, so the initial news that it was a volcanic eruption was learned via landline telephones to people outside the area. It looked pretty damn apocalyptic when it happened, particularly since radio and television stopped working.

A really unique experience. You still see remnants of the ash piles in that part of the Washington, 40 years later.

> It could have been worse. As the volcano’s activity ramped up in March, scientists had to continually persuade the authorities to restrict access to all but law enforcement, volcano monitoring teams and other essential staff. Some groups protested, in an echo of events now occurring during the coronavirus pandemic, pointing to the impact the no-go zones were having on the local economy. If it wasn’t for the vigilance and insistence of scientists such as Dr. Johnston, the death toll could have been in the thousands.

> Dr. Johnston, seeing the north face fall from Coldwater II, jumped on the radio. “Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!” he cried. Moments later, the blast engulfed the 30-year-old scientist. On another ridge two miles behind him, Gerry Martin, an amateur radio operator who was observing the volcano for the Washington Department of Emergency Services, saw the annihilation of Coldwater II. His last words were: “It’s going to get me, too.”

Haunting stuff.

My wife's cousin was a student on this school trip. He has some interesting memories and stories about the experience.

https://www.nwnewsnetwork.org/post/age-6-he-and-his-classmat...

Today’s xkcd: https://xkcd.com/2308

See the hover text ;)