MOUNT ST. HELENS Mount St. Helens belched a thick plume of white steam and ash Friday, more than a week after a flurry of earthquakes first warned an eruption was on the way.
This is exactly the kind of event weve been predicting, said U.S. Geological Survey scientist Cynthia Gardner.
Steam frequently rises from a lava dome in the crater of the volcano, which erupted with devastating force and killed 57 people on May 18, 1980. But there had been no eruptions in 18 years.
A few minutes after noon, the steam cloud poured from the southern edge of a nearly 1,000-foot-tall lava dome in the volcanos crater, where a large section of glacier had fractured and risen since Thursday afternoon. After about 20 minutes, the mountain calmed and the plume began to dissipate, heading south-southwest.
The National Weather Service said it had notified the Federal Aviation Administration, in case planes needed to be rerouted.
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