Unreal. I was eight years old when it erupted in 1980. I remember watching the column of ash, that was once that mountain top, mushrooming into the e sky from our home in southwest Portland. It was a truly scary experience.

We wore N95 style masks for weeks afterwards when we outdoors, as a several inches thick layer of fine powdery volcanic ash had settled and covered everything in sight. And that was some 80 miles from the mountain