Mount St. Helens looked like it might be erupting again.
Commercial pilots flying in the area Tuesday reported clouds of fine volcanic ash rising into the air above the collapsed dome of the Cascades’ youngest and most active volcano.
The plume, reminiscent of the stratovolcano’s catastrophic eruption in 1980, was captured by the Johnston Ridge Observatory webcam.
But it was no explosion, luckily.
Strong easterly-southeasterly winds picked up loose volcanic ash that was deposited during the 1980 eruption, the U.S. Geological Survey said, resuspending it over the once decimated landscape. The phenomenon is the result of high winds and dry snow-free conditions.
The federal agency assured that there was no volcanic activity and that alert levels remained normal.
Mount St. Helens erupted 45 years ago at 8:32 a.m. on May 18, 1980, blowing off the top of the mountain and causing the largest landslide in recorded history. It flattened 230 square miles of forest, destroyed 200 homes and killed 57 people.
The volcano erupted again in September 2004 in a less dramatic eruption that lasted until January 2008. Over that time, it ejected 124 million cubic yards of lava, which formed a new dome inside the crater left from the explosion decades prior.
USGS said resuspended volcanic ash could be damaging to aircraft and health. But the agency said overall, there have been “no significant changes in hazards” at the site of the volcano.
