Re: Where is Geology 401?
Greg Billock (billgr@cco.caltech.edu)
Thu, 30 Apr 1998 08:42:08 -0700 (PDT)Dario,
> Living about 70 miles NW of St. Helens and May 18th coming up brings back
> some memories of 1980. I was watching a special on that mountain a couple
> of days ago and during the narration it was said that none other active
> volcano had been watched and monitored as much as this one.
>
> Yet when it blew up, nobody had the slightest idea the mountain was going
> to do that. Evenmore, the mountain had become 'stable' and quiet and many
> observers had gone home thinking the worst was over.
Really? Although I don't live there, this isn't the story I heard. I
thought they had been evacuating everyone, and restricting access to the
surrounding areas. (The story I heard was that some old guy up on the
mountain just wouldn't evacuate, and said he'd rather be buried by lava than
leave, which I guess he was.) I'd be surprised, though, if they knew
to the day when it was going to erupt, but I don't know that I'd qualify
that as not having the 'slightest idea.'
-Greg