Dana Hunter and the Big Blast

Are you aware of Dana Hunter's current project? The author of En Tequila es Verdad, the blog that always makes me want to take a shot, is writing detailed essays that track events connected to the 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens. She's writing them as part of her blogging over at Scientific American, but she just posted an update on Freethoughtblogs that serves as an index to all of the stories so far, so you should click here to get oriented and then click through to the stories.

Even though we know how the story turns out, Dana's posts make for an edge of your seat thriller. Also, you probably don't really know or remember exactly how it turns out because it was a while ago. The main thing I remember about it was hearing news from my sister who lived pretty close and got pretty heavily dumped on, and my other sister who lived a little farther away but mostly upwind, but who's travel plans got messed up for a long time.

I hope Dana turns her story into something people visiting the region can carry along and learn stuff. There is a lot of interest these days in the Yellowstone Caldera and related magma movements and earthquake. This story, about Mt. Saint Helens is in many ways more interesting and more immediate.

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I remember it quite well Greg - but then at the time I was living in Vancouver BC which was not all that far away. Fortunately for us the wind was mostly not blowing in our direction so we avoided most of the ash fall.

By Doug Alder (not verified) on 23 Jun 2012 #permalink