Tag Archives: Volcanic eruption

Sometimes there just are no words to describe the beauty of a place. There are not enough words in the English (or any) language to describe how it felt to be standing in front of Mount St. Helens, finally face to face with a volcano I’d longed to see in person since childhood. Feeling the raw power of the volcano still present, and acknowledging the changed landscape around me from the 1980 (and subsequent) eruptions was moving.

So I leave you with today’s Thursday Thoughts. I am not offering commentary in the video – I want you to observe the blast zone from where I stood and form your own observations. The first part of the video is taken from Johnston Ridge just above the observatory. You can see down into the Pumice Plain. The second portion is from Devil’s Elbow, nearly 3 miles to the east down the Boundary Trail. You’ll spot Spirit Lake (with downed logs still floating) and are right in the heart of the ash and pyroclastic deposits from the 1980 eruption.

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Happy Thursday my friends! Another week has blazed by in the blink of an eye! I wanted to backtrack a little today and go back to a video I took at Mount St. Helens’ Loowit Viewpoint. This view is facing north, with the volcano at my back. You can clearly see the distinct lack of forest and rocks scraped bare of foliage from the 1980 eruption. All of the trees you see now have grown in the years since the blast.

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2018 marked the largest volcanic eruption Kilauea volcano has seen this century.  Two lava lakes suddenly drained, explosions rocked the summit crater, earthquakes rattled Hawaii island, and a massive fissure eruption took place in Puna.  Rivers of lava flooded the landscape and poured into the ocean in a 2 mile wide ocean entry. The fissure eruption finally ended in August, closing out a 35 year eruption on Kilauea volcano.

On the one year anniversary of the fissure eruptions, I thought it would be interesting to sit down with Kilauea volcano herself and get her perspective on life as a volcano, the eruption, and what she has up her sleeve next.

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Happy International Day of Volcanoes!  

So, if we’re getting “technical,” April 10 is the UNOFFICIAL International Day of Volcanoes.  But that’s not stopping thousands of people around the world from celebrating the wild and wonderful volcanoes that rock our world.

What’s the big deal about volcanoes anyway?

Volcanoes are freaking awesome!  And for more reasons than one:  

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