Is Mount St. Helens likely to erupt again soon?

Question

I remember when it blew when I was a kid in 1980. I actually felt it, living in suburban Vancouver, Canada.

Answer 1

It is status orange now, below is the link to the volcano observatory status page for Mt St Helens

The volcanos in the range with Mt St Helens tend to be pretty wicked when they 'go off', but current thought is that Mt. St. Helens has done its big break out, and future eruptions may have large volume in the form of lahars (mud flows), but will not be as explosive, because they are not as contained, and do not have to blow up a whole mountain to get out.

There is little solid science behind this opinion, because the volcano system is not fully understood, and has a huge reservoir... but it does make common sense.

Answer 2

It depends what you consider "soon" to be. Geologically speaking, 26 years ago is such a short time geologically it is considered "now". Given this view, yes, Mount St. Helens is likely to erupt again soon. Given human years as a time scale it is possible, I think I read or heard that another dome was building up in Mount St. Helens, which may or may not lead to another eruption "soon". You know you are a geologist when you consider 100,000 years ago as to have "just happened".

Answer 3

if it does, it probably won't be anywhere close to the size of the 1980 eruption.

it also depends on what you mean by "soon"