Strong winds atop Mt. St. Helens blow ash leftover from historic 1980 blast, stoking eruption fears
Scott Sistek 1 min read
Wind blows ash atop Mt. St. Helens on Sept 16, 2025. (USGS Images)
Mt. St. Helens was not erupting during the sunny and hot day on Sept. 18, but sure looked like it as strong east winds blew around all the leftover ash from the historic 1980 eruption 
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.Gusts reached 40-45 mph up around the summit. Such strong winds are unusual in the late summer, but we had a strong thermal trough combine with very high pressure over southwestern Canada to juice the pressure gradient.
And it had been such a dry summer that St. Helens was quite dusty/ashy and made it easier for the gusts to blow stuff around.
The USGS stressed that the volcano was not exhibiting any unusual activity and all alert levels were green.
That was not the case on May 18, 1980 when the volcano finally erupted after weeks of increasing unrest, killing 57 people and destroying much of the surrounding landscape.