We have officials all over the world on this forum...
but how many here can remember what they were doing 24 years ago today?

May 18th, 1980

(Possibly the officials in the Northwest have a better recollection.);)

On that date, CYA meant "Cover Your Ash".

I don't think anyone would've thought of my existance 24 years ago :)

Interesting.
I hadta be watching TV.
I love seeing the Big Play!

Tell ya the truth kid we were all waiting for you!

We just thought you would be a better speller...

On May 18 1980 my one and only goal in life was to pass differential equations. That mountain didn't explode nearly close enough so the final wasn't cancelled.

BTW, Randy Johnson just pitched a perfect game at Atlanta. Cool!

Is this one of those Watergate inquiries? :)

I was 5. I was probably out in the yard playing, completely unaware of what was happening outside of that area.

No, think "Mt. St. Helens".

I'm with you, Nevada, except I had just turned 6 and was concentrating on my kindergarted finals.

I was in Indiana, watching TV and sweating it out, since my just acquired husband was in the northwest, and I couldn't get ahold of him on the phone.

When I got home three weeks later, we went to visit some relatives southwest of Portland and the scenery was almost unbelievable. In Portland, most of the stuff had been dealt with. But in the rural areas, the ash was about 6 inches to 2 feet thick on the ground, and the car churned up a constant cloud (think of the Peanuts character Pigpen) which ruined the paint job. We were living at the coast, and quite a bit south and didnt get much ash there, although there was some.

21 and 3 months old, sucking down the worlds suppy of beer!

Cool???? COOL???? Looks like I need to slip a little somethin-somethin into one of the Big Unit's drinks now too...

Not to worry. Even as we speak, Squiggy is out scouting the next "Randy Johnson" for ya.
http://craphound.com/images/squiggyfootball.jpg

I was at a pulp mill on the Oregon coast doing some consulting work that day.

Portland actually escaped the effects of the first eruption - we first got it a week or so later. The prevailing winds were from the W at the time and areas NE & E of the mountain took the brunt of the effects - I remember pictures of ash 6+ inches deep in the streets of Yakima & tri-cities.

It was pretty awesome - 3+ cubic miles of the mountain essentially evaporated in a matter of a few seconds. As you drive along I5 between Portland & Seattle you can still see some of the huge mounds of ash that were dredged from the Columbia River to reopen the shipping channel.

I can see Mt. St. Helens from my office (on a clear day). All I do is stand up, turn 180 degrees from my chair and there she is. It's amazing seeing a mountain with its top blown off.

At the time of the erruption, I would have been in 7th grade in Mt. Juliet, TN....a little out of it's range.



[Edited by Camron Rust on May 19th, 2004 at 12:56 PM]