Where were you? | TheaterFire

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--Van--@reddit

185th & Cornell. Essentially the Hillsboro/Beaverton Oregon Boundary. Watching it in real time.

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chrispdx@reddit

You are remembering later eruptions that summer, which were visible from the Portland area. It was overcast on May 18th in the PDX area that year.

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--Van--@reddit

Thanks for telling me what I was doing and seeing.

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chrispdx@reddit

No problem! 45 years is a long time to muddle a memory.

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JenninMiami@reddit

I don’t even know what’s going on here! 😆😑

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

Where have you been all your life?

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JenninMiami@reddit

My life didn’t start until 78, and it was spent in Miami, Florida. 😆😆

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FatherVic@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/75ah23k4xm1f1.jpeg?width=5184&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2aa7c6d3f64f804af2c0192b8b3aaf8ad194ac07 Mattawa, WA

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blacfd@reddit

I could see it well from my bedroom window in Portland. Impressive

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hikeitaway123@reddit

In the tri cities Washington as a kid. Thought was snowing!

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hikeitaway123@reddit

We moved when I was 12. I was in Pasco.. haha My uncle who was a crop duster in walla walla flew us into the crater once. It was pretty amazing!

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wophi@reddit

I was so confused. In my mind all volcanos had lava flows. Why did this mountain blow up?

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Kennewick WA. I was only five but one of my earliest memories is my dad walking along guiding the car holding a flashlight just off the ground. I have no memory of really having a clue about what was going on.

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

I went to junior and high school in Richland.

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doughnuts_not_donuts@reddit

In my mom's tummy

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TransCapybara@reddit

In Ellensburg, where my parents were preventing me from going out and playing with the ash.

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Dry_Abbreviations798@reddit

Yakima here. Seemed like the end of the world or something

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Ok_Phase4960@reddit

My mom's from Yakima and her mom and sister still lived there and other side of the family have a cabin up past Whistlin' Jack.. We went up (from California) and visited about a month or two later. Ash was still several inches deep all over the place.

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TehKarmah@reddit

Also eastern WA here. I was so confused why it was snowing when it was warm out.

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chrispdx@reddit

Yeah, Yakima got hit HARD.

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FormerCollegeDJ@reddit

There were presumably some screaming trees nearby after the eruption, though even more Screaming Trees were heard in Ellensburg a few years later. 😉

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TransCapybara@reddit

I’ll ask Mark Pickerel next time I see him.

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FormerCollegeDJ@reddit

The fact you know Mark Pickerel gives you many brownie points in my book.

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TransCapybara@reddit

I made the first website for Truly. He ran the local record store and I offered to do that around 1994.

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HockeyTMGS@reddit

No way! We were in Cle Elum!

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OkThatWasMyFace@reddit

Ok. This is crazy. I was born in 1978, but I remember Mt. St Helen's eruption. How is this possible. Was I watching old news and misinterpreting as current?

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aogamerdude@reddit

It was actually a national headline, like not as big as 9-11 so as with most headlines it stuck around a while.

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-Sarkastik-Menace-@reddit

I dont believe so. I think it stuck with you because of the significant role it played in your life at the time. There’re things that stick out from when I was 4. I have slight memories of being in a California garden with my sister when I was 2ish and she was 3-4. She remembers it more vividly than I do.

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

Maybe your parents were glued to the TV and its buried in your subconscious?

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dancin-weasel@reddit

In Victoria, B.C. hears a loud series of bangs and could see the ash cloud in the distance. Next day it was snowing ash.

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LostBetsRed@reddit

I always wanted to move to Helena and open a quaint little shop selling handbaskets.

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

I remember a shopping area called Glitter Gultch, they had a stream flowing through it and my brother and I would put little wood boats in it and chase them. Handbaskets would probably have sold well there. Also, my mom's favorite saying: Going to hell in a handbasket!

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Illustrious-Fox4063@reddit

Was in West Texas so not much of an effect other than the news. Now Pinatubo in '91. For that I was about 60 miles away and peanut to acorn sized rocks started falling out of the sky. I remember no water, no electricity, and MRE's for months. Running security patrols all night and then filling sandbags with the never ending supply of ash to keep the barracks from flooding. https://preview.redd.it/81nmzm6h2n1f1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d4775849a0132c5088780f2b29f3607bd1d91f0

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aogamerdude@reddit

Over 1000 miles away, in the midwest.

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SuetStocker@reddit

Yelm, WA. Was pretty scary watching from our front porch.

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Temporary_Pie2733@reddit

East coast, 1st grade. I’m not entirely sure I even knew it happened right away. But, I had a classmate who (iirc) was visiting a grandparent in the area at the time, and was driving away as it erupted. (No, I’m not going to place a lot of credibility on my 45-year-old memories of a 6-year-old’s show-and-tell presentation.) But we all got little baggies of volcanic ash out of it.

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damutecebu@reddit

I was in the Midwest, but it ruined a summer roadtrip to the northwest for me as a kid.

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1singhnee@reddit

2.5 hours away, thinking a bandana would protect me against ash and smoke, and happy I would miss some days of school.

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ChitownAnarchist@reddit

* 5th grade. Living just North of Seattle, in Sultan Wa. About 120 miles (as the ash flies) away. I still have some of the ash we collected that day.

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ChitownAnarchist@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/3amthwbgzm1f1.jpeg?width=2992&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f8fd3185695c0ba38f7e758afee71f409c0df6b3

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

Cool!

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stonermomak@reddit

We were camping in Thermopolis WY. Montana State cops told us we had to turn around.

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MissFitz76@reddit

Little town called Clatskanie, Oregon. There's a corner on Hwy 30 you have a perfect view of Mt St. Helens. Pretty sure the family still has pictures from it.

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

Would love to see them!

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drdit92@reddit

We were in the process of moving from the Yakima valley (Grandview) to Spokane and happened to be in Spokane that weekend. Ironically Spokane got way more ashfall than Yakima. I was 10, missed a week of school, and remember my dad shoveling the driveway wearing a mask. I live in the Midwest now and am an attending pediatric subspecialist in an academic medical center. Some years ago I told my residents at the time that I'd survived a major natural disaster on this date. They were all silent until one of them suddenly burst out: eruption of Mt. Vesuvius!! Le sigh. Just this year I had an elementary aged kid and their mom in clinic. Kid's birthday is today. I noticed and at the end of visit I told her that May 18th is very important to me because in 1980 I'd survived a major disaster. They both looked at me blankly, so I added "the eruption of Mt. St Helens? I'm from Washington state." More blank stares. "It was a volcano that erupted..." Then the mom turns to the daughter and metaphorically stabs me in the heart. "1980? Why that's the year before your grandmother was born!" With blood dripping from my mouth, I whispered "I was ten years old."

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

LOL! I felt that!

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drdit92@reddit

It was rough. I'm continuously reminded how freaking old I am since I work with a bunch of younguns but it still hurts.

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bananasoupson@reddit

A suburb WAY outside Portland. We went to an overlook and watched the spread of the ash cloud. We did get ash over the next week. Seeing the mountain from that same overlook after everything settled was frightening. How could something so constant just be blown apart? The news was hard to watch. Hearing about those who didn’t make it off was heartbreaking.

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HorrorImaginary6528@reddit

I remember going to Yakima right after it happened and making sand castles with the ash. It was so deep

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chops_potatoes@reddit

Australia. Had no idea this ever happened until I was in my 40s.

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TemperatureTop246@reddit

I was in Dallas, but one of my relatives is named Helen, so I always associated the two. She didn't even live near it. Funnily enough, it was her who drove me to see the volcano a few years ago 🤣

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GenX-ModTeam@reddit

Repost, Duplicate or Similar Posts - Posts may be removed if they are a recent repost (within three months), duplicates, or similar to existing posts.

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Swashbuckling_Sailor@reddit

Early grade school…1st or 2nd grade

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spider3407@reddit

Gresham Oregon. The ash was like snow on the ground. We couldn't drive and had to wear masks.

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omibus@reddit

Southern Idaho. I was only 5 vaguely remember seeing ash.

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johntwilker@reddit

I don’t remember the event, but remember going on some kind of trip to a neighborhood that was 6’ under ash. My grandparents had jars and jugs and whatever else they could ash into in one of their spare rooms.

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Objective_Problem_90@reddit

I was a little toddler, no memory but since we lived about 4 hours away, parents were aware and could hear the rumble and ash in the air, even at that distance. Growing up, I got to learn more about it and that legend Harry Truman (not the president,but an older gentleman who lived in the area and refused to evacuate. )When the mountain blew, he was never heard from again. Went out as he wanted.

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Forever_Forgotten@reddit

Portland, OR. I was 3. I don’t remember much & we moved to Southern Oregon shortly afterward.

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the_drum_doctor@reddit

I was nine, and my family had been invited to a BBQ at Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland, WA, where my dad was a professor. We could see the ash cloud moving east, and then we all crowded into a student's apartment to watch the news. My grandparents lived in Spokane, WA, and they had about 8 inches of ash. We only had a light dusting at our house.

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brlikethecar@reddit

At church in Bend, Oregon. We watched news on the tv in the church basement. My best friend in college lived in Spokane and wasn’t allowed to leave the house for a number of days.

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doctorcrabapple@reddit

Portland Oregon. I woke up early that Sunday morning and was the first in my family to know it happened. We went out and drove to where we had a clear view and saw the ash plume. The following days we got tons of ash all over. I had been up on the mountain the month before cutting wood with my uncle when the second largest eruption happened. It was amazing to see all of this in person but never felt at risk.

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Demonae@reddit

Portland, OR. We lived behind the Union Gospel Mission. The ash was so bad that my dad would spend an hour cleaning the car and engine carefully every day for like a week. He walked to the auto store and bought like 4 spare air filters as soon as he heard the news. He'd drive to work, swap out the air filter, then go blow out the old one with the air compressor at the auto shop next door. He'd do that every time he drove the air for like a month. We had a little crab apple tree in our backyard that made these tiny little bitter apples every year. After the eruption, for the next 2 years, the apples were huge, like they went from the size of a golf ball to a grapefruit. I guess the ash was a super good fertilizer. Everyone we knew had gardens going crazy for a couple of years. I remember some buildings caved in from the weight of the ash on the roofs. A lot of people thought it was light like snow, not powered stone weighing everything down.

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shrapmetal@reddit

Flordia. We had ash fall, too.

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66Lightning650@reddit

I remember the ash in NYC

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gyrekat@reddit

Woah!

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cuttybangs@reddit

Me, too! Ocoee Elementary School.

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julieannsky@reddit

Me three! Cherry Park Elementary

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

Really? I had no idea it went that far.

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surgerygeek@reddit

I was a kid in eastern VA when the ash blew over, I was playing outside and my nose was caked with black boogers by the end of the day

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shrapmetal@reddit

Yeah, not a lot, but dusted my parents cars. We thought it was snowing.

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FAx32@reddit

4th grader in suburban Portland. It erupted away from Portland so we didn't hear it. Friends in Seattle and as far north as Vancouver BC said the blast concussion sounded like a huge sheet of plywood smacking their houses. Was fascinated with volcanoes at the time (Dad was a geology nerd even before this went down), so it was great fun. I still have 2 full peanut butter jars full of ash and another small mayo jar with about an inch in it from 2 different eruptions prior to May 18th when the wind was blowing our way. Mom sent us to school with my brother's cloth diapers tied over our faces as a mask (thankfully well cleaned and not stained). LOL.

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Redsmoker37@reddit

2nd grader in Portland when it happened. Finished out the school year wearing those masks for laying insulation to school.

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kpetrie77@reddit

In California but this is this wasn’t a childhood memory for me.

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stigbugly@reddit

Standing on my sister’s roof about 80 miles from the blast. We got a better view over the treeline from the roof.

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

Nice!

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stigbugly@reddit

Pretty crazy watching the ash cloud rising from the horizon. Fortunately I was more north and the ash only fell lightly on our area. My brother lived in ellensburg and was able to scoop up several mason jars full of the ash. He still has a lot of it stored in his garage after all these years.

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

I remember visiting relatives in Spokane that summer and the ash was shoveled in piles at the end of the cul-de-sac.

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stigbugly@reddit

Yeah, quite the mess to clean up for real.

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Inner-Confidence99@reddit

In the south at granny’s house. I was 5. I remember the sky stayed hazy for days and ash was on cars. Taught my daughter and now grandson about Mt. St. Helen’s. First major disaster that I remember from childhood. Also, taught me to respect Mother Nature. Lost a lot of good people that day.

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BobRobBobbieRobbie@reddit

Elementary school in Virginia. Probably about to eat lunch. I remember the news casts about it later that night.

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Tracyhmcd@reddit

I was a self involved teen in western Canada. We saw ash in our city.

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Dpgillam08@reddit

Riding my bike in northern Indiana, when my grandpa called me in to see the news. One of many events that got me so interested in science.

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jjmenace@reddit

It snowed ash in New Hampshire during recess, I was in 3rd grade.

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Swear_to_Swear_More@reddit

Moscow Idaho….ready to be caught in complete darkness once the ash cloud hit

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Flat_Pattern9498@reddit

Southern California but I still to this day have a bag of Mt St Helens ash

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smnytx@reddit

Teenager in so Cal. The pictures were terrifying.

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SparkyCollects1650@reddit

In my parents Family Room downstairs just outsideTacoma Washington. The house shook North to South for a few seconds and my mom screams my name from upstairs. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN THERE?!?!?!" See, I had a bit of an adventurous streak with the James Bond Cookbook and had a history of making little "booms" so naturally my mother thought it was me being stupid. Minutes later, we were outside looking South to see the ash plume rising in the sky and I said "That was NOT me!"

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miragemonk@reddit

Eugene, Oregon…we got ash but not a ton. Dominated the news for weeks tho!

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chrispdx@reddit

Eugene got ash from the subsequent eruptions that summer.

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sherriechs87@reddit

I was in fourth grade and had just moved to Florida from Indiana. I had an aunt Helene in Florida and my first thought was that it was weird that there was a mountain with the same name as her. I had family in Arizona, and eventually they brought us a container of ash from the eruption.

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Huskerdu4u@reddit

In the same town I currently live. Indiana is a long way from Washington but when your only cousins call you to tell you they’re ok, it makes the world smaller. They were 40ish miles away and sent me a coffee can full of ashes. The pictures they shared when the family came back to Indiana for the summer!

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Thin-Quiet-2283@reddit

We were camping on the other side of the mountain, cars arrived to the campground covered in ash. The wind was blowing the opposite direction so we didn’t get anything on our side. I wish I could remember exactly where we were but I was not driving so I was directly challenged at that age. When we got home to Tacoma, ash would stir up when we walked in the back yard.

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Dominimensch@reddit

NYC. First Grade. Sr. Helen was our assistant principal.

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FadingOptimist-25@reddit

10 years old in Minnesota but I don’t remember any ash.

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FadingOptimist-25@reddit

[USGS ash map](https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/msh/ash.html) Doesn’t seem like the ash would’ve made it to the east coast. But maybe?

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Fire_Trashley@reddit

Fell into a Mount St. Helen’s rabbit hole a while back. The scope and scale of this event is incredibly hard to fathom. Had it blown in another direction it could have taken out entire cites. It’s an absolute miracle more people didn’t die.

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ChrisJBeaty@reddit

⬆️ was 11 years old & prolly at school when it happened; but watched it more on ABC News later that evening.

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phoenixlives65@reddit

I remember it "snowing" ash in Michigan more than a week later. Surreal.

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hickorynut60@reddit

At my first duty station in Utah.

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kategoad@reddit

Watching it on TV with my mom from the safety of Kansas, but our family had moved from Eastern Washington a couple of years before.

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AllReihledUp@reddit

At school, 2nd or 3rd grade, and anxious as all get out because my aunt, uncle, and two cousins lived in a very small town just north of Portland and the eruption was visible from their house. I was imagining flowing rivers of lava engulfing them alive. Luckily it was just a shit ton of ash.

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shit_ass_mcfucknuts@reddit

I was in 4th grade at the time and I was at my friends house when we heard the news. I remember seeing the pictures after the fact and the photographer who died is etched upon my mind. The brave sob took pictures until the bitter end and then protected his camera with his body so we could see what he saw.

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Davmilasav@reddit

I was 11 years old and lived in western PA. My uncle and his family lived in Olympia and my grandmother was was really worried until she learned he was upwind of the volcano.

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Dogrel@reddit

Just finishing g up my first year of preschool. I was 3

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mheyting@reddit

Hoquiam, WA… grade school

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Taira_Mai@reddit

In New Mexico - Dad called grandma (who lived in WA) to make sure she was safe. We got a vial of ash from her.

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Extension-Rock-4263@reddit

I was like 4 and living in NJ so obviously I have no actual memory of the eruption or news around it but what I do remember is the TV movie they made in the early 80s which I saw at way too young an age and it scared the absolute crap out of me. In fact it’s probably my earliest memory of being terrified by a movie and not being able to understand if it was real or not. I’m sure if I watched it now it would seem like a cheesy tv movie but I still think of it as disturbing 😂

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cityjax@reddit

I was 6. Minot ND; sky way icky grey for days.

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bizzybaker2@reddit

In Canada (province of Alberta). I was 9. Don't remember the news on tv, but do remember seeing articles about it and the cover of National Geographic

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VetandCCInstructor@reddit

Small town Colorado in my adolesence. Yes, we were dusted by the "Big Ash-hole in Washington"....it was a weird reality of how we are affected by something far away.

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DJ_Earl_Grey@reddit

I was in a Cessna with my dad and his friend, flying nearby. We got within 5 miles of the eruption. My dad sold reprints of the pictures he took that day to friends and coworkers.

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ellcoolj@reddit

I was in second grade and they told us all about it!

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chrispdx@reddit

About 65 miles from Ground Zero. While it was cloudy on May 18th, 1980 in the Portland area, and we couldn't directly see the eruption, we were close enough that it was very scary. That summer, the volcano erupted several more times that we were able to see outside our back door (living on Jantzan Beach on the Oregon/Washington border)

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ChaosTheoryGirl@reddit

I was in a Portland suburb rocking my finest Holly Hobbie outfit. The neighborhood kids were all outside playing until it started raining ash and our parents made us come inside. We wore a mask for exactly one day but there was visible ash around for weeks.

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saltydancemom@reddit

At my grandparents in Northern Idaho doing yard work for my step-aunts upcoming wedding in June. Best part was that have to go back to school - summer came early!

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Teaching_Moments@reddit

Whidbey Island, Washington

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RonPossible@reddit

Germany

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ChitownAnarchist@reddit

5th grade. Living just North of Seattle, in Sultan Wa. About 120 miles (as the ash flies) away.

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NerdyComfort-78@reddit

Chicago Illinois. Watched it on the news and was fascinated. I was 7.

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G33Kman2014@reddit

Not born for another 7 months.

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LastEconPoet@reddit

About 300 miles south

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Got_Bent@reddit

Freshman in high school. Found out when the news came on.

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mpete76@reddit

Elementary school, but I still have a jar of ash my mother got from somewhere god knows. We lived in Alabama.

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sumdude51@reddit

I remember the awesome movie with art carney

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Dogs_are_da-best@reddit

NE Portland, OR

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German001236@reddit

At school, we saw the dark clouds in the sky

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glasshalfbeer@reddit

I was five days old

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EaterOfFood@reddit

Phoenix. I don’t remember any ash there, but it sure dominated the news for a while

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Sneezy_weezel@reddit

I don’t remember where I was, probably in Wisconsin somewhere

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Icy_Pay3775@reddit

Not where I am now.

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

Cryptic.

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Imisssizzler@reddit

In a camper with my Grandpa near Hoquiam, Washington.

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Physical-Incident553@reddit

In the Midwest where I grew up. I was about 10. Had a relative who lived in the ash fall area who sent my family a small jar of ash in the mail. It sat in a kitchen cupboard for years.

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n8rnrd@reddit

Far western Ohio. I remember drawing in a thin layer of ash on the car a few days after it happened. I still have the Nat Geo magazine featuring the eruption.

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UnicornFarts1111@reddit

Central Ohio here. I was certainly old enough, but I have no recollection of the event itself. I guess I wasn't paying attention to world events at that age.

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nevadapirate@reddit

Sitting in the living room on the Oregon coast. I was 10. To this day the loudest sound I have ever heard. It shook our house 300 miles from the volcano.

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ThisNameIsTakenTwo@reddit

I was told I was on a plane to (maybe from?) Texas. I was not very old.

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whats1more7@reddit

I lived in Canada but I had a penpal (remember those?!?) who lived in/near Helena. I believe she had to evacuate. She sent me a tiny bag of ash in one of her letters. I had absolutely no concept of what a volcano was or what had happened to her.

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

I don't remember anything about evacuation, as far as I knew that morning, I was the only one who was aware something odd happened.

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whats1more7@reddit

Well I was 7 so it’s possible she left for other reasons? That’s the only fact I remember. We didn’t have cable tv so other than hearing about it on the news (radio), she was my only frame of reference.

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Illustrious-Cat4670@reddit

Jersey lol

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spottymax@reddit

East coast and my oldest brother's 20th birthday. We found out about it at church. I remember being excited that it finally erupted. I was in the 4th grade and Mt St Helens dominated the "current event" part of our curriculum in the months leading up.

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Inside_Category_4727@reddit

Wenatchee, working in an apple orchard. The manager put down tarps, hoping to catch a little volcanic ash as a curiosity. The next day we were trenching irrigation through inches of ash.

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

LOL!

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justinchina@reddit

Eastern Wa…my cat had kittens in our closet when the ash appeared

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ImAMeanBear@reddit

I was 2, so I guess I was hanging out with my mom? I don't have the slightest clue

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hanoverfist34@reddit

Montana. 6th grade. We missed a week of school because it rained ash. And apparently glass that I breathed and would kill me eventually. Pushing sixty now so my clock is ticking.

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

Did anyone ever do a study of people exposed to the ash?

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mredcurleyz@reddit

Eastern Oregon. It was crazy because we had family in Battle Ground. Lots of phone calls that day.

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LovelessDerivation@reddit

I was waiting for John Lennon to be shot in front of the Ansonia on Dec 8. to put a point into how bright and shiny 1980 was.

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Diligent_Squash_7521@reddit

He was shot in front of the Dakota.

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silkywhitemarble@reddit

4th, maybe 5th grade on Los Angeles. I remember the ash, and really dark and orange sunsets.

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Impressive_Fish6819@reddit

Just outside Vancouver BC We definitely experienced the after effects. I felt the blast.

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kd8qdz@reddit

I was... 3 1/2. I have no idea.

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FormerCollegeDJ@reddit

I was probably either at church or had recently gotten home from church with my parents/father. Though I don’t remember any ash falling in eastern Pennsylvania, I definitely remember hearing about the eruption on the TV news.

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RoganIsMyDawg@reddit

In utero

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-Sarkastik-Menace-@reddit

I was born 3 months later.

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Goldie1976@reddit

MN. I remember my mom pointed out the dust on our car and telling us it was from the Mt St. Helen eruption.

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Add_8_Years@reddit

I was 6 years old, living in Northern Indiana. It was a Sunday, so I was probably at church. I don’t remember that day, but I remember people getting little bottles of ash to commemorate the eruption.

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-wanderings-@reddit

In Australia. I remember seeing it in the news but that's about all.

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darkmaninperth@reddit

In Sydney, Australia

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Low_Test_5246@reddit

I was 5 in San Diego. Sitting on the floor watching the tv seeing it on the news. And just being in awe over what I was seeing. I’ve had a fascination with volcanoes since.

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HockeyTMGS@reddit

Outside a tent in my parent’s backyard about 40 miles away watching the sky blacken rapidly. Apocalyptic!

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

That must have been an amazing sight!

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Organic-Bicycle7023@reddit

Vancouver Island! We got ash also! Coincidentally there was a beer strike that summer and the two events are married in my head!

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

Beer strike? Why was beer on strike?

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Organic-Bicycle7023@reddit

I can’t recall details, but I think the local breweries were on strike. It was the summer I was 16, all the details tow together.

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4Jaxon@reddit

Tacoma, Wa. on our way to church. The ash didn’t affect us much, but we were ready with surgical masks just the same. A small film covered our cars and we were told not to wash it off, but instead use a cloth to wipe it off. And “Volcano” by Jimmy Buffet played at least once an hour on the radio.

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M23707@reddit

Glued to the TV on that new channel - CNN!

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NotAtAllExciting@reddit

My husband grew up in Edmonton Alberta. He remembers ash on his Mom’s car.

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theePedestrian@reddit

I was fishing with my grandpa and brother on a lake in Northwest Washington. We were hundreds of miles from Mt St Helens and when it blew it sounded like pops in the distance. My brother thought someone was shooting on the shore but my grandpa almost immediately said no, it’s the mountain. To this day, I have no idea how he knew.

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starsblink@reddit (OP)

Amazing how grandpa's know stuff.

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_WillCAD_@reddit

Middle school. Baltimore.

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smithe68@reddit

I am pretty sure it was a Sunday, I was 12 so living just outside of Washington DC, knowing me I was either traipsing around various museums or I was playing D&D.

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RealSidDithers@reddit

Grade 3 in Alberta. My teacher said he had ash on his car. 800 miles away.

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Firm-Investigator-89@reddit

Vancouver, Wa. I don’t remember it though, as I was 2

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Top_Shoe_9562@reddit

Ilwaco at our cabin.

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semicoloradonative@reddit

Watching from about 100 miles (North West) away.

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stonebridge0@reddit

At school. Same as when Challenger exploded. So traumatic.

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semicoloradonative@reddit

On Sunday?

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failed_orgasm@reddit

Getting ready to come out of my mom. I was born in May of 80.

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gravitydefiant@reddit

On the east coast and also too young to remember. I now live where I can see the mountain on a clear day, and I'd prefer if it doesn't do that again.

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MikaJade856@reddit

I was in 7th grade and we lived in a suburb of KC. My dad had a bright yellow Celica GT and there were a couple of mornings I noticed a fine coating of ash on his car. The National Geographic issue with the Mt St Helens eruption in it was amazing and I wore that magazine out.

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