Mt. Fitzherbert

Potential ash hazards: Wind forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coupled with eruption models, show that any ash clouds that rise above the crater rim today would drift south-southeastward early in the day and southeastward later.

Recent observations: Many people in the eastern part of the Portland metropolitan area awoke this morning to slightly grimy windshields. We collected samples of the grime and found that it contains some fine ash. Seismic instruments show no evidence of an explosion occurring and there is no evidence of significant new ash on snow in the crater. We think that the large convective storms that built up over the Cascades (including Mount St. Helens) yesterday afternoon and evening and moved southward were the culprits. The storms entrained ash generated by the frequent hot rockfalls from the growing lava dome and kept it in suspension. Some of the ash we see in eastern Clark County appears to have fallen in raindrops. A crew is on the way to the volcano to get a close look at the dome and crater and to collect some ash samples on the volcano's flank.