May 18, 1980 Washington state’s Mount St. Helens volcano explodes in a cataclysm that pulverizes its top 1,300 feet, deforests nearby valleys, sends ash 12 miles into the air and kills 57 people. The picture-perfect snow-capped peak becomes the center of a bleak, gray mudscape. The volcano, about 55 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon, had lain dormant since 1857. In 1980 the catastrophic eruption changed the shape of the mountain quickly. A magnitude 5.1 earthquake preceded the largest landslide in recorded history when the entire northern side of the mountain slid away. This collapse depressurized a giant, building bubble of magma that exploded up and out, killing everything in its path.
After further volcanic activity started in 2004 it is believed that the mountain is rebuilding itself. Today the eruption is seeping instead of exploding, but it could change the contours of the mountain over time, as the lava slowly squeezes out to form the new dome.
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