MT. St. Helens continues to spew ash, while it is forming a lava dome in the crater and still having minor tremors. Here, in this sunrise shot, she appears to be blowing smoke rings.What forms the rings is the air flowing over the mountain getting pushed up higher as it goes up and over the top. The moisture content and initial temperature are just right so that the moisture condenses from a vapor to small particles at the higher altitude. When the moving air moves past the peak and comes down again, the particles evaporate back to an invisible vapor. The two "pancakes" describe that there are two layers of air for which this is happening, thus making this awesome picture possible.

Too (two) COOL!
Thanks for the photo.

Sweet picture.

This is beautiful. That being said, if I lived anywhere near this thing, i'd move.

Jet,
That's a lovely photo. One of my most intriguing memories of that mountain is the day I realized how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things in regards to time and planet Earth.

For those that have never been there, it's like stepping onto the moon. After a 2 hour drive up the winding, lonely, secluded, and beautiful road that leads to it, through old growth forest with trees 7 feet in diameter, you round the curve 10 miles away and realize that the trees are gone and all that is left is a few stumps and nothing but bare rock for miles and miles. It's breathtaking.

Once in '97, I stood on a ledge about 5 miles away in nothing but ash and pumice stone and looked between my feet and saw a small wildflower about 2 inches tall. I looked around for about 15 minutes, and it was the only one I could see. It took 17 years but life was starting again. I went back in 2004, and climbed that same ledge. It was covered with wildflowers and a few shrubs.

It has taken 24 years for a few small shrubs to be there, but they are there and in Earth time, that was simply a nanosecond. In a few more of these nanoseconds those mountains will be covered once again with 7 foot diameter trees that are hundreds of years old.

I realized then, that no matter what we do to this planet, or whatever it does to us, it will eventually go back to what it was........with or without us.

I don't know if any human will even be around to see the old growth forests that are destined to cover that mountain once again, but I know they will be there.

We are so insignificant and we don't even realize it.

MACS(SW) -- how close is anywhere near? I live about 250 miles from it and it doesn't worry me any.

nice shot.

Well thom, I guess that would depend on how far the ash/fallout would spew, were it to revert back to it's erupting ways.

How far away did folks feel the effects from the last eruption?

Just a tad further...

WOW! X

I would think that at 250 miles away the only thing you'd have to worry about is the mild case of pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis 🙂

Lenticular clouds (as in lens.)

Indicates rising air, or danger to us pilots.

Never seen a double before.

Very True, Sketcha ... Good Eye ... What Do You Fly? And, Lunkin ... Too Funny ! ! !

I'm about 70 west of St. Helens. When she let go the first time, it coated our town and vehicles with ash.

I live about 210 miles east of the mountain and we got a small dusting of ash all the way over here. Yakima, which is about 1130 miles east of the mountain got hit pretty hard. It is not a question of proximity as much as it is a question of which way is the wind blowing.

Que

One day....and yes, it will happen one day, when Rainier blows her top, the major portions of Seattle (at least anyone down the valley) is expected to be lost in the landslides. That's an awful lot of melted snow and mud coming at you 200 mph.

I heard Mt. Shasta is in that mix, also.

Awsome Picture! Thanks

Purp