40 years ago......

"pip bip - choose Corrour" (hhgttg69) 05/19/2020 at 07:18 • Filed to: cnn, mount st helens, Volcano, Historylopnik

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BOOM!

facw > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/19/2020 at 07:30

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SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/19/2020 at 07:41

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Really? Fuck...I'm old....

pip bip - choose Corrour > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 05/19/2020 at 07:41

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time flies.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > facw 05/19/2020 at 08:26

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Was going to post this...

ttyymmnn > facw 05/19/2020 at 09:04

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I see I’m not the only one who reads xkcd. 

ttyymmnn > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/19/2020 at 09:05

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My favorite anecdote about that event was about the residents who got sick of people flying down the street and stirring up all the ash. So they piled up the ash, wet it down, and made speed bumps.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/19/2020 at 09:08

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PNW Oppo took a trip there 2 years ago today. The area is still so alien looking

TheRealBicycleBuck > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/19/2020 at 09:42

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My great-uncle lives in Olympia. After the eruption, he sent vials of ash to all the kids in the family. Ironically, my vial was lost when my house burned down. Someday, some graduate student will be working on a soils study and they will find the anomalous inclusion of Mt. St. Helens ash in what was formerly known as “Oklahoma” thus changing ash dispersal models for the worse.

pip bip - choose Corrour > TheRealBicycleBuck 05/19/2020 at 09:50

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lol

user314 > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/19/2020 at 09:50

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functionoverfashion > facw 05/19/2020 at 09:55

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Reminds me of this graphic, which I came across after reading an (outdated) book about tall buildings with my son. I wanted to see what building held the “tallest in the world” record for longest .

source for larger image, wikipedia.  

Just Jeepin' > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/19/2020 at 11:32

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I really liked The NY Times article.

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.” 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/science/mt-st-helens-eruption.html?referringSource=articleShare

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/19/2020 at 12:24

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On May 18, 1980 I was 5 years old and bored. So my mom and I took a drive up the Blackfoot River (a river runs through it movie river) and went to play in the water. We took the 1955 Olds convertible . Looked something like this and smelled of decaying canvas top.

We were east of Missoula Montana about 20 miles and look up to see a cloud that was black and stretched across the horizon going from ground level to way up high in the sky (like 30,000 feet). 1980 was at the peak of the Cold War with Russia and our first thought was that Eastern Washington got nuked. Likely scenario as there was a nuclear fuel refinery and testing facility and Han ford. We rushed to the old beast fired her up and started driving back to Missoula. I turned on the AM radio and finally got a signal and the DJ was talking about the Mount St. Helens eruption. We were both relieved but still concerned.

Thus followed about 3 days where we couldn’t go outside because of the ash falling from the sky. I think in Missoula we accumulated about 2-3" of ash. The best thing to do was wait it out and let the city clean up the streets before going anywhere. The ash would destroy a car engine in a matter of minuteness if it got past the air filter.

fintail > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/19/2020 at 13:02

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Also the largest landslide in recorded history, IIRC. I am too young to have a memory of the day, but having spent much of my childhood where the ash fell, I definitely recall the aftermath, ash accumulation along the roadside for years, eventually kind of resembling snow. At its worst, it would clog the intake systems in cars, resulting in clever DIY filtration systems to keep people moving:

Spasoje > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/19/2020 at 14:24

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It looks so erie in person.

Pic is from last year. Bonus pics of the car that got me there