Mount St. Helens is Done Erupting (For Now)

Mt. St. Helens courtesy of Seattlest Flickr Photographer LaFemmeMonkita

After three and a half years of eruptions, Mt. St. Helens has had five months of silence and the St. Helens eruption of 2004-2008 has officially been declared over. The U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory has removed an elevated warning of eruption from their classification of the volcano, downgrading its status from advisory ("elevated unrest") to normal.

Despite being considered a minor eruption, the USGS says that, during the 40 months of volcanic activity, "about 125 million cubic yards of lava erupted onto the crater floor to form a new dome—enough to pave seven highway lanes three feet thick from New York City to Portland, Oregon." Despite that impressive visual, the newly spewed lava has only filled 7% of the crater that was created with Mt. St. Helen's massive 1980 eruption.