Mount St. Helens first erupted on May 18,1980. At first an earthquake triggered a huge avalanche of smoke. The avalanche just completely blew down the whole mountain including the trees and animals. The smoke was moving at speeds of 200 MPH. It carried large rock smoke and ash.
Then for about nine hours ash was just raining out of the top and just floating to the ground. Then a huge burst of magma came flying out of the top. It quickly made its way down the mountain. The lava eventually ended up in Spirit Lake the water just stopped all lava motion. The temperature of the lava was measured out to be 2,000 degrees. The ash was measured to be 1,000 degrees.
During Mount St. Helens it killed 57 people and injured 251 people. The reason it was so deadly was that it was thought to be asleep but it obviously wasn’t. It is located in Washington sate. It is thought to be still active today so there is a shortage of people living there. Spirit Lake one of the prettiest lakes in the country is located right under it and when the volcano hit the lake was nearly destroyed.
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