[Guest]

I may be the only one here interested in this kind of thing........but if you want to see what my favorite neighborhood volcano looks like during eruption, I include the website address, below. The photo updates every 10 minutes or so.
Assuming it's not cloudy...............you'll notice the complete lack of trees in the foreground. That's in the blast zone from the 1980 explosion when Mt. St. Helens lost 1300 feet off the top and a big chunk of the north side. The ground was essentially sterilized from the heat - i.e. not much will grow there yet. Also, you'll notice there is very little snow. We are having the warmest/driest winter here in like 75 years or something.
The little hill in the middle of the crater is the new lava dome. This is a reeeaaaallll slow eruption. Been going on since last October.
Once you get into the page (they are changing servers and it may take a few extra clicks), if you want the latest info hit - Special Conditions report then latest USGS volcano advisories then Latest Update.

so - and you may have to manually type this in, but take a look:

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/

 

[Guest]

You guys MUST check this out. It's just too cool.

Reminds me of a site I visit occasionally at the San Diego Zoo = the cam lets you "watch the cheetah" lol..but it's [email protected]!

Thanks, sc. I love this!

 

[Revelation_old]

Cool stuff.

 

[g-funk]

It's just like a static tv screen for me - why can't I see it? I really want to see it!

 

[dreamcatcher]

same here g-funk.....red and black static

 

[danny]

could be because its 4 in the morning there so its dark, not too sure

 

[Guest]

Yes, you were looking at a night shot. The camera runs 24 hours a day. On the other hand, had it been less cloudy last night you would have seen the glow from the lava dome.
Try it again during daylight hours Pacific Mountain Time. Even during the day, the quality of the pic changes, depending on sky conditions, whether or not there happens to be a steam/ash plume, etc.
It's beautiful as I type this - sunrise over the volcano...........

 

[sebastian]

But...the video isn't streaming...they should have a live feed with various carny acts in the foreground, to keep it interesting for people with short attention spans like me.

It's like the whole thing is happening in slow motion. Are people being evacuated on the backs of turtles or something? They should film the thing with a super fast shutter speed and then play it with a time delay...then they can condense the excitement into a few minutes. Anyway, i think it's cool to know that technology has arrived at a point where we can do things like this fairly effortlessly.

s.

 

[sebastian]

Oh my God! I just saw a UFO fly by!

 

[dreamcatcher]

tried again and ive seen it.....SMOKING

 

[Guest]

sorry you are disappointed Sebastian, but it's the only one of the many volcanoes around here that is erupting currently.
Somewhere on that site there are videos of past explosions, etc. The live cams kept being destroyed so they gave up and went with the cheaper still shots.
Mt. St. Helens is andesitic - meaning very, very thick magma is oozing up. What that means in practical terms is, things either happen very slowly, as they are now - or the vent gets plugged up and there is a huge explosion at some point to clear the pipes as it were. She is in a quiet phase right now, slowly extruding lava (at the rate of approximately one typical basketball arena full per day). Every few days, although there is no real pattern, a pretty plume of steam and ash will be visible. On lesser intervals, there will be a more significant explosion which will fry all the equipment located on and around the mountain. Earthquakes continue at the rate of 10-50 per day.
This is easily the most monitored eruption in the world right now. And.............she is well on her way to getting back to the shape she was in before the big blast - a perfect cone. Added over 800 vertical feet already.
As a side note, had it been the south side that collapsed back in 1980 rather than the north - most of Portland (a very large city) would have been incinerated.
She is considered the younger sister of Mt. Hood, and a very holy, revered force to several Indian tribes here.
But like I say, this probably interests me more than most.........

 

[Guest]

I see smoke too. Looked this morning, different sky. I see a little sun now.
Will take some looks later to see how the sky looks as well (love the sky!).
Very impressive Sc.

 

[Guest]

bump.
She has a nice plume this morning (8:20 a.m. Pacific time), and we even had a bit of snow for change.....

 

[Guest]

I saw it Sc, I watched it for half an hour, its beautiful with the snow on the mountain. Made me wanna ski down 8)

 

[Guest]

she's sporting a very beautiful little plume today..........

 

[Guest]

Oh my God! I just saw a UFO fly by!

A flying saucer followed by Godzilla and Jet Jaguar?

 

[Guest]

not trying to be a pest........but she's beautiful this morning (11:38 PST)