Mt. St. Helens in Washington State May 18, 1980 eruption Remember the beautiful picture on page 1 of Mt. St. Helens?   Mt. St. Helens is really a volcano, a very famous volcano, it erupted on May 18, 1980. Here are 4 pictures that the USGS has on their website showing this destructive event.  To see more go to: http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/teach-pack/volcanoes/poster/poster.html In the first picture you can see some steam coming from the sunken top of the mountain. Then the ash and gas cloud in the second picture.  Since the cloud is very hot the snow is melting.  Another big bulge starts an ash and gas cloud.   This volcano is a strato-volcano type.  It did not have much lava flow but the blast laid the forests flat.  There were huge floods and nothing looked the same as before.   Page 3 will tell you more about strato volcanoes!