[Geysers] Mount St. Helens Notice of Volcanic Unrest (Frangos)

[Pat Snyder]

Hello All from the Shadow of Mt. St. Helens (I live in Portland, OR)
Latest word on our backyard volcano is that the quakes are rather 
shallow and primarily isolated in and around the lava dome. One theory 
about the activity targets water seepage (we had an extremely wet 
August and September) into the hot magma, causing small steam quakes 
and possibly leading to a steam explosion in the near future (this has 
happened before). If it happens, we'll get a nice view of the steam 
cloud here in Portland! The news also said it could be another "dome 
building eruption" as well.

I would be really surprised if there was a connection between this 
quake activity and changes in Yellowstone's activity, but who knows? 
Does anyone know if there were changes in the park's thermal activity 
in 1980 when St, Helens was erupting? I don't recall anything about it 
noted in Scott's book.

Oh, and there's a Volcano Cam, for those interested in keeping an eye 
on St. Helens (daylight hours only):
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/

Pat Snyder