1 in 3 chance Northwest US can have major quake.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

It's always steaming... usually you have to get right up on it to see, though. And you don't want to sit by the steam vents or you'll die of carbon monoxide poisoning!

[Suu]

...I like the East Coast.

Sure, it's a bug infested swamp full of very angry people with threats of severe hurricanes and baby earthquakes, but damnit, I don't know if I can do the volcano thing. I still say the day I'm actually in the PNW to finally check it out, the fault will accidentally the whole Cascades.

But then again, if I gotta go...being burning alive in boiling hot magma from like 7 volcanoes at once is one of the coolest ways.

[Suu]

I've come to the conclusion that it is impossible to predict earthquakes and anyone who says differently is trying to sell you something.

This.

There's subtle hints on major volcanic fault lines, but at New Madrid or in the Northeast, there's NO WAY to tell. And you never know if it's going to be a 3.0 or 8.0 either. There's just no way, because by the time you get enough information, the damage is already done.

You can get out of the way of a hurricane, and you can tell if a storm is going to spawn tornadoes, but anything seismic is 99% unpredictable.

[East Coast Hustle]

There's no smoke coming off Mt. Hood unless it's a campfire, but St. Helens is still quite active.

The one that would cause a real problem in the area if it blew is Mt. Rainier, which IIRC is considered "active".

This, of course, presumes that one would consider the sudden immolation of Tacoma, Lakewood, and Puyallup and every living thing in them a "problem". many Washingtonians would not.

[Suu]

Yeah, but Rainier isn't small. I would assume damage to Seattle would be imminent as well. Then again, Mt. St. Helens blew practically around the corner from Portland, and nobody heard a thing.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Yeah, but Rainier isn't small. I would assume damage to Seattle would be imminent as well. Then again, Mt. St. Helens blew practically around the corner from Portland, and nobody heard a thing.

... other than the earthquakes, the massive explosion, the freeway closure, and the ashfall that darkened the region for a week or so. Oh, and how fucked up our crops were for years.

Mt. Hood will definitely erupt again eventually, but it probably won't have that much more of an effect on Portland than St. Helens did. Mt. Adams is kind of a wild card in terms of potential disruption of the Columbia River, though.

[Suu]

I was under the impression that Portland was in the "Dead Zone" during the eruption. Or more or less, considering it's proximity got off really fucking lucky.

I mean, crap, we got ashfall on Long Island...

[Jasper]

http://www.pnsn.org/NEWS/PRESS_RELEASES/MSH_09_2004.html

First time I've seen pictures of the Mt. St Helens crater top.  It looks pretty disgusting, tbh.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I was under the impression that Portland was in the "Dead Zone" during the eruption. Or more or less, considering it's proximity got off really fucking lucky.

I mean, crap, we got ashfall on Long Island...

The sun was obscured by the ash cloud for a week or so, and we got some pretty significant ashfall. It could have been a lot worse. I think I understand your confusion about Portland being unaffected; we didn't HEAR the blast here, even though it was audible much farther away. We did get darkness and ash.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

http://www.pnsn.org/NEWS/PRESS_RELEASES/MSH_09_2004.html

First time I've seen pictures of the Mt. St Helens crater top.  It looks pretty disgusting, tbh.

You should go up there sometime; it's really amazing. The fallen trees all lined up by the blast, for miles and miles and miles, are frightening and beautiful.

[Suu]

I was under the impression that Portland was in the "Dead Zone" during the eruption. Or more or less, considering it's proximity got off really fucking lucky.

I mean, crap, we got ashfall on Long Island...

The sun was obscured by the ash cloud for a week or so, and we got some pretty significant ashfall. It could have been a lot worse. I think I understand your confusion about Portland being unaffected; we didn't HEAR the blast here, even though it was audible much farther away. We did get darkness and ash.

Yeah that's what I meant, sorry for being unclear. It's pretty weird that you guys didn't hear anything and Seattle did.

[East Coast Hustle]

Yeah, but Rainier isn't small. I would assume damage to Seattle would be imminent as well. Then again, Mt. St. Helens blew practically around the corner from Portland, and nobody heard a thing.

Well, most projections show the mudflows being contained on the north by the Duwamish river, thus sparing Seattle proper from major damage, but those same projections show that 700,000+ people (and this was years ago, it's probably alot more now) would have less than an hour to evacuate.

The one I'd be worried about (especially if I had an apartment in PDX that was only 10 blocks away, which I do) is Mt. Tabor, which is the only active volcano inside the city limits of a major American city.

[BabylonHoruv]

When Mount Saint Helens went off in 1980 I thought it was the end of the world.  I thought we had been nuked.  (My parents did too)

[AFK]

That is really interesting. 

I wonder if we would be able to tell if a fissure was opening up in a plate.  Would we know? 

Naw, I think it's more likely a martin or a mink. 

[East Coast Hustle]