Footage of the 1980 Mount St. Helens Eruption 

My grandma, (We live in WA) when she heard the boom of the eruption, said, as a joke, "Mount Saint Helens probably finally blew up." And it had.

Note to self: Never buy property anywhere near a volcano

A guy gave his life to get sequential photos as the mountain side collapsed. His camera was dug out of the ash along with his body and they are sensational photos that, pieced together, give an incredible view of the mountain side sliding away. And you Smithsonian, didn't use them. Well done.

200 miles away from our home in Seattle, classmates and I on a field trip were trapped for three days in a small town gymnasium. The National Guard rescued us, but not before a local woman walked through the ash storm to bring us food. We called her Volcano Mary, RIP

The kid in the back of the class with the modded vape

My dad was the Sgt. In charge with the Washington State Patrol and personally closed the park on May 17. He spoke to 39 of the 57 people who lost their lives, trying to get them away from the volcano but they were outside of the mandatory evacuation zone. My Dad's Lt. told him to have breakfast with the family and then report for duty. We had waffles and a huge breakfast because we hadn't eaten or spent much time with him due to the volcanic activity. If he had gone into work at his normal time he would have been on the volcano when it erupted. My Dad is and forever will be, my hero.

My late wife was growing up in 1980 in Montana and she told me a lot about MSH and the eruption. As she put it, "it was dark for days" as a result of the ash floating in the air. I personally had heard about the eruption down here in Florida, and before she died, she told me to watch all the videos about MSH here in her memory. I'm happy I did. Thank you, Sarah. I love you always.

Title: Footage of famous Mt. St. Helens Eruption Video: three and a half minutes of computer models and ten seconds of cropped video footage

Scientists: it will likely erupt in a vertical eruption Mt. St. Helens: *you fools, you fell for one of the classic blunders*

My mom was born in Washington in the 70s. She said that she remembers her dad having to shovel ash off of the roof all day to stop their house from collapsing

seven year old me: Mom, look there's a white broccoli in the sky

Over 40 years after the event and much of the devastation area still has no trees growing.

(Yellowstone) *Hold my beer*

For how deadly and large the eruption actually is, 57 deaths isn’t bad. Edit: I’m not saying 57 deaths isn’t bad but it could’ve been much more.

I live in a prairie Canadian city 2900 miles away from the blast. I was absolutely amazed as a kid when ash from Mt. St. Hellen’s landed on my street at night. I asked my dad if it was snowing and he told me it was from the valcano that we were watching on the news.

nobody: 2020: "Wanna see me do it again?"

Damn mother nature, you scary.

How can nature be so fearsome and majestically beautiful at the same time?

I was three years old when this happened. One of my early childhood memories. We lived near Portland, Oregon at the time and I remember sitting in my families back yard, watching the eruption column going into the sky, and casually eating cereal. I think it was golden grahams. 😊

“Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!” RIP David Johnston

We all know that earth just popped a pimple.

I distinctly remember all the ash that fell on my car in Kansas City, incredible

You forgot to mention David Johnston, for whom Johnston Ridge Observatory was named. That was exactly where he stood on that fateful morning, recording his observations. What a sight that must have been to behold. In his last call to Vancouver to announce the eruption, you can hear the excitement in his voice, even as he is overcome by the pyroclastic flow. He died doing what he loved.

I visited Mount St. Helens a few weeks ago. Me and my dad hiked across the wasteland below the north face. It was amazing finally experiencing something I'd only heard about or seen in videos. We also saw smoke coming from the mountain, which proves its still volcanically active. If it erupts again, it will likely form a second smaller cone inside the first, similar to mountains like Vesuvius.

Pretty amazing only 57 people died from _that._

Me: *lives literally so close to Yellowstone National Park: “WERE GONNA DIE”* Parents: cool

I lived in Ohio when this happened, but originally had gone there from Washington. Professionally, at this time, I reported to a college provost who was a professional Ph.D. geologist, in fact, a vulcanologist. I recall going to the parking lot with him a few days after the eruption, armed with scotch tape, and picking up some of the exceedingly fine, but visible, ash from the eruption that had made it to Ohio. Seeing it highly magnified under polarizing light was beautiful and striking. These tiny particles were gnarly, rough, jagged, looked like they went through a war. Which they did. Very impressive.

Yellowstone reading this: “hehe y’all want a bigger one I see”

The scary part When Yellowstone goes if full eruption, it's going to make Mount Saint Helens event look like a firecracker And this eruption destroyed a side of a mountain

I was 1 year old that year. I remember it like it was 39 years ago lol.

Scientist: “Yeah it’s gonna go straight up” Earthquake: blows the side of the mountain off Scientist: “Yeah it’s gonna go straight to the side

I lived north of Spokane WA about 30 miles. I will always remember that day. It sounded like a sonic boom, and shook the house. We were over 200 miles away. By afternoon the blackest dark cloud came over and dropped more the a inch of ash on us . It was every where, in everything! It was very crazy. I will never forget may 18 1980.

So why are people complaining about people who call this video clickbait when i cant find anyone?

Mt. Saint Helens is 'bout to blow up and its gonna be a fine, swell day

I can imagine bill Wurtz playing jazz as the lava slowly destroys the city

My dad was 10 years old when it erupted. He's a historian born and raised in Vancouver, WA... He had been in the blast zone the day before with his family. Despite evacuations, access restrictions, and road closures, my unorthodox, reckless grandparents took their kids anyway. Whilst up there, my dad actually asked if it would ever erupt. My grandmother chuckled and said "Not in this century." It erupted the next day. They were actually on their way back to the same spot early in the morning when it erupted (day trips, didn't camp). My grandparents never believed Mt. St Helens would have a massive eruption; all tremors and signs of an eruption were false alarms for minor activity. Yes, they didn't care they were endangering their own lives and their children's lives, because they didn't believe there was anything dangerous, despite the warnings and restrictions. It shouldn't be a surprise my dad to this day still struggles with my grandparents about childhood trauma. This is a repost of the same story with additional clarification I didn't originally include clarification, because it didn't dawn upon me that some people would accuse me of fabricating this interesting story of my dad's childhood, probably because of my grandparents... If you want more of an idea of what kind of people my grandparents were, mostly my grandpa, he'd drag his kids along whilst he fished all day in the woods... They'd be there close to midnight, and they'd have to build a fire and huddle together for warmth, also hungry and thirsty because my grandpa wouldn't pack anything for them. Sometimes my grandma would come and occasionally pack hotdogs, but only bring her thermo with coffee and nothing to drink... Lol my dad says they had good Christmases, but they hardly got baths, because my grandpa has a weird thing about saving water. Kids would avoid my dad when he was a kid because apparently he smelled.

I visited years after the eruption.The sight of all the leveled trees,the fallen timber still covering a good part of Spirit Lake's surface,the sight of the crater...it's chilling.

One of the most memorable events of my life. I was traveling down I-5 about two months after this happened. You couldn't really tell much from the west so I decided to take a drive to the mountain, went past all the roadblocks and warnings (hey, I was in my teens), came out on the other side and was absolutely blown away (no pun intended). Coming in from the west it was nice and green, but on the other side it was literally miles and miles of rock and mud (a swath of grey). Glad I got to see it but knowing 57 people died made this a solemn moment.

My late uncle went to Mt. St. Helens to retrieve ash from the event after the area was re-opened, bringing back several baby-food jars of ash for family members. I still have that jar after all these years. Many of the lives it claimed were of those who were nearby residents who had refused to evacuate when it was "suggested" to them; perhaps the most notable was an old codger named "Harry Truman" who lived on the mountain (yes, that was his name).

It says “Footage” but what we got was 15 written paragraphs of what and how happened.

Too bad they don't show what it looked like right after and what it looks like now. I remember going there on a field trip as a kid and its pretty amazing that that mountain basically exploded minus one mount wall side. Now there is a baby volcano slowly building up again in the middle of a giant hole where the mountain used to be.

My youngest son was born the day before this happened.

Crazy to think that earth was once covered in constantly erupting volcanos and how violent it must've been

When you eat chipotle and taco bell back-to-back

I'll never forget this day. I remember going up the mountain to innertibe down the north slope at the turnaround. Seeing it now is like being in a different place. Those forests were so pristine, unspoiled, and the clearest waters you'll ever swim in. Now it's an ashen wasteland that is a far cry of what it once was. It's pretty hard for me to go up there now with my favorite places gone, and knowing that many people lost up there are just now part of the landscape. My Aunt knew two people that were killed in the eruption, Terry Crawl and Karen Varner were her classmates, and she hasn't been back since before it erupted. I also still carry some scars.....39 years later.

Mt Helens: I am a deadly volcanic explosion. Krakatoa: ameature Yellowstone: allow me to introduce myself

My grandpa in boulder CO had ash on his porch from this eruption. It blows my mind how intense this eruption was. I feel like it’s exactly how Vesuvius was back in ancient Pompeii. I’m obsessed with these types of volcanos

Watching 40 years later during corona virus pandemic.

I keep hearing “icy milk water”

Came here after watching the newest La Palma volcano update. So many where comparing it’s latest activity to Mt St Helens.

I'll never forget the first time I visited Mount St. Helens back in 1995. I was born nine years after the eruption; my family took us to Washington to visit some relatives that live in Seattle. During our trip we went to see the volcano, and let me tell you, it was astonishing. All around us we could see nothing but barren land, it showed us just how powerful mother nature could be. I'm 32 years old now, and this video got me thinking of that wonderful trip I had all those years ago. I looked at some current photos, and made me happy to see the greenery starting to come back. To this day I often wished I could've seen Mount St. Helens before the eruption. I remember my mother told me that she and her family once took a trip there back in the early 70's; they went swimming where the old lake once sat. She told me it was one of the most beautiful places she had ever been to.

0:20 That’s a massive landslide!

Imagine being able to use all that energy

I remember Mount St. Helens well. I lived about 400 miles away, in Montana, and within a few days we had about 4 inches of light gray volcanic ash covering everything. I wouldn't wash away with water, since it just floated on top and wouldn't mix in. The whole summer was cold that year because of all the ash in the air. It's the first time in my life that I had to wear a coat all summer long when the temperature was normally in the 90's during the summer.. I guess that's a taste of a nuclear winter.

My mom had told me stories about how there was a huge boom and so much ash suddenly on the bus and in the air when she was going to school, and traffic was in panic. Seems crazy.

Events like this are the reason we have folktales and mythology.

Everything is worse on the 18th. 1. SF earthquake - April 18, 1906 2. St Helen Eruption - May 18, 1980 3. Granville Rail Disaster - January 18th, 1977 4. Japan 5.9 - 6.1 Earthquake - June 18, 2018 5. Mt. Everest Avalanche - April 18, 2014 6. Albert Einstein's Death - April 18, 1955

I'm from Washington but I was born long after the eruption, and for years I didn't know much about it until the Pacific Science Center visited my elementary school, they showed the video of the eruption and I was so fascinated that I just watched it over and over, probably annoying all the other kids that wanted to see other cool stuff on the screen

I lived in Portland at the time of the eruption, which occurred about 75 miles away from the city. The ash came down like a snow storm. We kids were upset because our mom wouldn't let us go out and play in it. She said she was worried that the ash might contain dangerous chemicals, but the real reason was that she didn't want her clean curtains and bed clothes dirtied 😁.

I remember when this happened. It effected weather patterns in the northern hemisphere for over a decade. Volcanic activity has more effect on climate than anything else on the planet.

This happened a couple years before I was even born, but my elem school teachers used to talk about it like we had any frame of reference other than some passing mention or footage on TV from time to time. Thank goodness for technological advances that all me to see this whenever I want finally.

It's incredible on how powerful volcano's/mother nature is when it takes its course, Mind-blowing!

I'm not from anywhere near the US but I have a large collection of National Geographics. The May 1980 edition is one of the oldest I own, and it is a really good, if profound, portrait of the events of that day.

I wish people would have had iPhones then, think of all the badass videos we’d have.

I was close to there, that fateful day,stationed aboard the U.S.S.Enterprise, in Bremerton, Wa., what a great spectacle! Would not have missed it for the world!

no mention of Harry Randall Truman the man who lived at spirit lake and refused to leave his home even when they tried to get him to evacuate. mans a legend.

I will never forget this. I was 11, and in Sunday school and a church in Yakima. There was so much ash, my dad couldn’t drive in it and it took us hours to get home

I lived through that. I was a child living in Yakima at the time. Getting ready to go to church and the skies got really dark. The next thing I knew everything was covered in at least a half of an inch of ash....everywhere! It was intense.

This is NOT clickbait, you can see the thumbnail, there is footage from the eruption and you even get an explenation

I was in the 9th aviation battalion at ft Lewis then , we when out for recovery and rescue it was awful to say the least, remember president Carter was there. What an experience.

I was nine, we lived in bellingham washington and I remember feeling the eruption if very slightly . I remember driving through the area a week later and seeing a layer of ash covering the land, my dad has a container of it still.

I was 40 miles west of this eruption on the day it happened and had a perfect view of it. It was surreal!!

Washington State: the last century has been good. St. Helens: HAHA! YOU HAVE NOT SEEN MY FINAL FORM!

I can't help but hear Dr. Evil's "Hot Magmuh" everytime.

I visited during the 2004 dome building eruptive period on MSH and seeing the trees still just blown over for miles in every direction you look and then looking at a steam plume just makes you realize just how powerful that mountain truly is.

When you drink a milkshake and your lactose intolerant 😳😣✊

Thank you so much! This really helped me on my research project. Definitely the most helpful resource I have found.

What graphics card was used to render this? This was really impressive!😊

It was a strange sensation to go outside that morning and feel the ash 'raining' on you, like someone was sprinkling fine sand. Fortunately lived southwest of the eruption, and we only got a small amount, the main plume blew east.

1:06 They should have had their answer when the helicopter filmed the Mountain looking like a sadistic skull peeking its head out of the Earth surface.

Signs you might be from Seattle: if it's not covered in snow or has recently erupted...regardless of height, it's a hill, not a mountain. We moved to Seattle from San Diego, a month after this. We still have the coffee can full of ash.

I was 100 miles downwind under the plume of Mt St Helens. At 10am, a pleasant Sunday morning turned to night in a couple of minutes. Incredible.

I was living in Richland Washington at that time and at only 8yrs old, it was scary dark and the cars were covered with ash...we still have the collected ash in a jar for souvenir

Darn RU-vid Recommendation System, *you win again*

There was a great song that came out about the eruption. I was 8 years old when she blew up living in Hillsboro, Oregon. We bought several 45’s but I have no idea where they went. We contacted Steve Noganuma about 5 years ago at the radio station he was at and he remembered there was a song but did not remember who it was by. Steve was a very popular radio host back then. I finally found it about a year ago on iTunes. It is called Harry Truman your spirit lives on. It is by Ron Allen, Steve Asplund, and Aesculap Company. It’s on the album Vienna Meets Portland. So if anyone wants a trip down memory lane like I did, look up the song. I loved it when I was 8 and still love it now at 49 years old.

I remember watching news reports about this in 1980, was only 8 then , but it always stuck with me, as it was so terrifying.

Who's here after the La Palma Canary Island eruption?

The good ole days- back then people didn't blame politicians for natural disasters.

Our weather in Nebraska was really strange for a couple weeks after the eruption. Everything was hazy, ash dust everywhere, the sun was orangish during the day and the moon deep red at night. Was an eerie feeling til things finally cleared up. Even tho I was 8 at the time, I thought it was pretty awesome to experience a volcano living that far away from it.

I had just moved to WA from the east coast a few months earlier, 13 yrs old. Had never seen mountains before and was in awe of them, yet in denial that some were volcanos. Far north of St.Helens, our house faced Mt.Baker, couldn't even see St.Helen's. Eating cereal in the living room watching tv with my brother and sister we felt the vibration and heard the rumble. Immediately I thought a jet had crashed at the nearby naval base. The event played out on tv for months. We had no ash due to weather patterns.

I live in Vancouver, Canada and I'll never forget that Sunday morning in May 1980 as the house shook.

Mount Vesuvius: I burned people into castings when I erupted. Mount St. Helens: Hold my magma

When someone drops their mixtape

I was 4 years old when it erupted. I'd absolutely love to have seen it with my adult eyes. For some reason I've been fascinated with Mount St. Helens my whole life.

god i remember my grandma having a couple pictures of the eruption where she took from her house, that large plume of smoke in the background. actually watching footage of it feels so fascinating but scary & that it only took 57 lives is incredible bc it could've taken so many more

It was pretty amazing to see...I’ll never forget feeling the ground shake and the cloud of smoke I saw. Crazy to not be to far from it still to this day.

How is this clickbait?

I was stationed at Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls, Montana. Ash was everywhere, even in our closed up BOQ rooms. Inside drawers, even. You couldn't escape it.

My mom had memories of this, remembering putting cardboard in front of the car so it wouldn't ruin it, she was shoveling ash, she lived in Ephrata Washington, she knew 1 of those 57 people who died may those lives rest in peace

Hard to believe it’s been almost 40 years since this happened, I remember watching this...so sad and scary