Where were you when Mt. St. Helens erupted? (Seattle, Kent: home, dorm)

[xboxmas]

Very random, but I thought I would ask. I am interested in stories. How long was the town shut down?

I wasn't alive yet, but my parents both lived in Eastern Washington, and school was canceled for the rest of the year. They almost thought it was the end of the world or something. They never thought about saving the ash because it was scary at the time and didn't really think of it at the time. Interested to hear your stories and where you were.

[cjg5]

I wouldn't be born for another 5 years. My dad was still a teen living at home and he saw the breaking news on TV with his brothers. Not sure where my mother was.

[509]

In bed with my girlfriend in Omak.

We heard the explosion and thought it was a funny noise. Got up and went hiking up on the National Forest and in late afternoon ran into a couple that told us Mt. St. Helens had blown. I was wondering where the haze came from that afternoon.

Trapped in Omak for four or five days before I could get back home in Coeur d'Alene. Went to shoveling ass off the roof. Then tried water and realized how heavy the ash was when wet. Thought I was going to lose my gutters.

Ruined the whole summer. Working in the woods was horrible. Ash hung to the trees for most of the summers. Roads were just horrible to drive because of the dust.

I was always jealous of people in Portland. They got to see the eruption and not live with any of the consequences!!

[rantiquity]

At work in Paris, France, Orly Airport. Heard about it on CNN later in the day.
When we got home to the Seattle area there was little or no evidence of ash, just a very light dusting on the cars. My in-laws who lived at the time in Yakima got the real blunt of the ash. They were at church when someone came in and told everyone to get home right away. They barely made it home before the lightning laced black ash clouds overtook them.
Had to hire someone to shovel the ash off their roof before it rained which would add to the weight and possibly collapse their roof.
I remember driving to Coeur d'Alene on I-90 and stopping at a rest stop around the Ritzville area and the tourist looking at the ash wondering what it was and when I told them it was Mt St Helena ash they would grab anything they could find and fill it up. It was kind of comical.
The ash was visible for many years along almost every roadside in Eastern Washington. In fact I think it still visible along I-90 around the Ritzville area.

We later drove up to the Mountain overview about six month after it happened and was amazed when we rounded the corner and came upon the total destruction of downed trees and burned out cars along the road. The ash was about two feet deep in some areas and was advised to wear a mask because of the blown ash if we got out of the car at the overview. We were there shortly after they allow people in the area and there weren't too many there yet and we had the overview mostly to ourselves and the weather was clear. Smoke was still coming from the volcano and the lava dome was in progress being built. The land scape from the overview to the mountain was total barren and Spirit Lake was not to be found.
Having flown over the mountain numerous times over the years it is still an awe inspiring sight on a clear day.

[aplcr0331]

At the Air Show on Fairchild AFB. They announced the eruption and base closure while we were on the B-52. So much traffic leaving the base that the ash cloud came up and overtook us. It was a different time. My Dad, me and my buddy stopped at A&W and had some Coney dogs while the ash fell around us. Got home and played around for while outside. Watched lots of ants walk in crazy circles through the ash. Mom finally got us some masks to wear. Interesting times.

[Caver Girl]

I was three months old, living in Lake Zurich, Illinois!

[mev]

20 years old and woke up to the news after having been to a party the night before. We lived on the Kent valley in Washington State at the time and got hit with the ash that made it all the way around the world in the jet stream days/week later. It coated my boyfriend's beloved black Camaro!

[Chilkoot]

I was a senior at WSU in Pullman. I had made an appointment with a girl I’d never met to cut my hair in her dorm room. As I left for the appointment I saw a wall of what look like storm clouds heading our direction from quite a distance. Didn’t really give it much thought other than it was an unusually straight line of black clouds coming towards Pullman. When I got back from the hair cut we turned on the news and heard what happened. Ash started falling, the street lights came on during the day as it darkened the sky so much. School closed and after several days they gave us the option of completing the school year, when it re-opened, or taking the grade we had at the time and leaving. It was hot in Pullman that week. We couldn’t open the windows or turn the air conditioner on and it was little uncomfortable. I bought an extra air filter for the car, got my grades and went home.

[TribalCat]

May 18, 1980. I was graduating from high school that day in a small town on the Oregon/Idaho border. She blew again 3 days later when we moved from Oregon back to California (not because of the eruption *LOL*) We actually saw ashes before we left.

[Lamplight]

In Tennessee. My dad said that later some ash actually fell in our town but I was too young to remember that.