WA's volcanic landscape 45 years after Mount St. Helens erupted
Tracking volcanic activity in Washington
It's been 45 years since Mount St. Helens erupted, which is why the month of May is recognized as Volcano awareness month in Washington.
SEATTLE - This Sunday marks 45 years since Mount Saint Helens erupted in Washington. The destructive and deadly eruption brought even more attention to monitoring volcanic activity across the state.
Scientists have recently been looking even more closely at sites like Mt. Adams, adding more devices amid increasing seismic activity in late 2024. This year, state officials began updating the volcano eruption response plan.
Today, our Meteorologist Abby Acone sat down with Dr. Harold Tobin with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. He tells us about the landscape of volcanic activity, monitoring, and eruption threats in Washington.
Dr. Tobin says the 1980 eruption at Mt. St. Helens that killed 57 people was a "real watershed event in terms of monitoring the Cascade volcanoes." One survivor talked with FOX 13 about remembering his escape from Mount St. Helens.
What's next:
We asked Dr. Tobin how much of a heads-up we could expect in present day for an eruption of one of Washington's volcanoes.
"I can tell you that if the volcano started to become active, we would certainly see some signs of unrest. Now, I can't tell you if it would be two months like it was in 1980, or two weeks…or even just hours to days. But we would certainly see some advanced activity."
How are Washington volcanoes monitored in 2025?
Monitoring technology has greatly improved in the more than four decades since the most destructive recorded volcanic eruption in the United States at Mt. St. Helens.
Today, scientists are able to monitor invisible gasses emitted from volcanoes, assess satellite imagery from space, and deploy more remote monitoring stations on the volcanoes themselves to detect magma movement.
Dr. Tobin says we now have seismic monitors on every volcano in the state, ranging from one or two, up to a dozen stations at each site.
Are we completely adequate? No. I'd like to see Mount Baker. Mount Adams and Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, all of them monitored at an even higher level than we are today, so we can really understand what's happening kind of down in the guts of the volcano," said Dr. Tobin.
Which WA volcano is most likely to erupt next?
Scientists like Dr. Tobin believe it will be Mt. St. Helens itself to erupt next in Washington. It has remained seismically active, and even had smaller eruptive activity in 2004 and 2007. He continued, saying there has actually been increased activity in the past decade or two, but that does not mean it's about to erupt or something to be scared of right now.
In 1980, a major volcanic eruption occurred at Mount St. Helens, a volcano located in state of Washington, in the United States.. (Photo by: Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) ( )
Dig deeper:
A more dangerous outcome would be an eruption at Mount Rainier. A recent study by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that more than 90,000 people live in the lahar hazard zones of the volcano. The mudflows caused by heated icecaps melting and flowing down below would cause massive damage to infrastructure, potentially impacting millions of people in the area, according to USGS.
In a no-notice lahar scenario, scientists with USGS say tens of thousands of residents would have just a 10-minute warning to evacuate. In response to this threat, and in the wake of the Mt. St. Helens eruption, multiple agencies across Washington created a lahar warning system for both the Carbon River Valley and Puyallup River Valley. It has been operational since 1998.
The Source: Information in this story came from the United States Geological Survey, Dr. Harold Tobin, and original FOX 13 interviews.
MORE NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE
Viral TikTok warns women of convicted rapist released in Seattle
Over 100 Rite Aid and Bartell Drugs stores to close, including 8 in WA
Seattle Seahawks 2025 schedule released, here are all 17 matchups
Marymoor Park announces 2025 summer concert series lineup in Redmond, WA
Viral TikTok captures truck break-in after Seattle Mariners game, despite police presence
Bryan Kohberger back in court for pretrial hearing in Idaho students murder case
'Scared of accountability': Crowd calls out West Seattle leaders at public safety meeting
FBI nabs Thurston County, WA fugitive hundreds of miles from crime scene
To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter.
Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.