Mt. Fitzherbert

Potential ash hazards: Wind forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coupled with eruption models, show that any ash clouds rising above the crater rim today would drift to the south and southwest.

Recent observations: The steaming, new lava dome in the crater of Mount St. Helens is visible this morning under clear skies. Crews had a successful day in the field yesterday installing and repairing instruments used to monitor the continuing eruption. At 3:38 PM PDT (22:38 UTC) field crews observed a sizeable rockfall from the actively growing portion of the new lava dome. A magnitude 3.2 earthquake corresponded with this event. Dust generated by the rockfall appeared to drift no higher than the crater rim. No other sizeable rockfalls have been detected over the past 24 hours and background seismicity remains at low levels.