The Big Blast

On a beautiful, bright Sunday morning in May, 1980, I left my home in Yakima, Washington to drive to my job just a few miles away. It was 7:45 a.m. and I needed to clock in at 8 a.m. It truly was a gorgeous morning, with bright blue skies, chirping birds and the temperatures were already promising a wonderfully warm day. I wished I could take the day off, and do anything but go to work.

At that point in my life, I was a junior at Central Washington University studying food science and nutrition. I spent my weekends working as a secretary in a clinical lab at a local hospital; a perfect job for a university student working towards a science degree. The weekend shift, which included a total of 32 work hours crammed into just three days, allowed me extra time for studying, plus, the lab technicians were knowledgeable in the sciences, and were very happy to help me with my homework.

I arrived at the lab and got right to work logging in the most recent specimens from patients in the hospital wings above, and from the emergency unit down the hall. Within a few minutes, lab results were available for a patient in the ER. The clinical lab was located in the middle of the hospital, with no windows to the outside. As I walked to the ER with the results, I glanced out the doors and did a double take; it was completely dark outside. What?!? I hurried to the nurse’s station looking alarmed, someone told me “it’s the big one this time”.

At that point in time, Mount Saint Helens, an active volcano in the Cascade Range had blown numerous times, but nothing like what happened on May 18, 1980 at 8:32 am. Yakima is 189 miles (304 km) from the mountain, however, the winds were not in our favor that day as they carried mountains of ash in our direction. The eruption was said to be much more powerful than an atomic bomb. It completely wiped away the north face of the mountain, creating the largest landslide in US history.

The devastation was tremendous; mudslides, ecological damage, plants and animals were killed, including 57 humans. The ash column shot 80,000 feet into the atmosphere and spread ash over 6 states. It destroyed 150,000 acres of forest, 200 homes, 185 miles of roads, 15 miles of railway and 27 bridges. 1,300 feet of the mountain summit was completely blown off. It is considered the most disastrous volcanic explosion in the history of the US.

As I walked to my car after work that day, I felt as though I was walking through a snow storm; it was completely dark and several inches ash swirled around my feet and more showered down on me as I walked. Unbelievable.

During the next months the fine, abrasive ash seeped into houses, cars, machinery and disrupted air traffic. It short-circuited electrical power grids and distribution lines and seeped into the water supply. It irritated our eyes, lungs and caused health problems, so wearing face masks became a daily routine for us. Air filters on cars had to be changed weekly. It truly was a nightmare.

There are 20 active volcanos in the Cascade Range beginning in British Columbia, Canada with multiple volcanos including Mount Garibaldi. The range continues through Washington State with Mount Rainier and Mount Saint Helens, through Oregon with Mount Hood, Three Sisters and into northern California with Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak which blew in 1915. As I mentioned in a previous post, Mount Mazama, once part of this range, blew thousands of years ago. The result is now a massive lake – Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.

Here are my photos of some of these volcanos. You may remember these from past blog posts, so I apologize for the repetition.

We visited Mount Saint Helens last week. Due to a landslide in 2023, much of the road is closed, so we weren’t able to get very close. But I managed to get a few photos and theTravelsketcher did a quick sketch.

We crossed Hoffstadt Creek on our way to the visitor’s center. The bridge was built in 1991 to replace a section of highway that was destroyed in the big blast. The bridge is located at the edge of the blast zone.

Volcanic activity in the Cascade Range is monitored by the David A. Johnson Cascades Volcano Observatory operated by the US Geological Survey. David Johnson was a volcanologist who was killed in the May, 1980 blast. The observatory is located in Vancouver, WA and was established in the summer of 1980 after the big blast.

The observatory issues weekly updates regarding the current seismic activity. Thankfully, the current activity is normal; hopefully, it will remain that way for many years to come.

Living through a volcanic eruption was a once in a lifetime experience; at least I certainly hope so!

As always, I would love to hear from you.

All the best,

Tricia