Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Could Mt. Hood Be The First Volcano To Erupt On The West Coast?

http://endoftheamericandream.com/could-mt-hood-be-the-first-volcano-to-erupt-on-the-west-coast/

March 3, 2021

It is just a matter of time before one of the big volcanoes on the west coast erupts again. For years, I have been warning about Mt. Rainier, and I will continue to sound the alarm about it. When it finally goes, the death and destruction it causes could be off the charts. Of course there are other volcanoes along the west coast that we need to be watching as well. Although it doesn’t receive as much attention as Mt. Rainier, some experts are becoming concerned that Mt. Hood could soon erupt. On Monday, dozens of earthquakes shook the volcano for 45 minutes, and the USGS is trying to calm the frayed nerves of nearby residents…

A 45-minute “earthquake swarm” reported this week near Oregon’s Mount Hood has the U.S. Geological Survey offering explanations — and reassurance the volcano is not becoming more active.

Dozens of earthquakes, most not felt on the surface, came in succession around 12:13 p.m. Monday, centered about a half mile southwest of the volcano, geologists say.

Hopefully the USGS is correct in this instance.

But if Mt. Hood was going to erupt, we would expect to see a rise in unusual seismic activity at the volcano, and that is precisely what we are witnessing.

It is true that there hasn’t been a major eruption of Mt. Hood in a very long time, but scientists tell us that one back during the 1780s was extremely destructive…

In the 1780s, the volcano rumbled to life with such force that it sent high-speed avalanches of hot rock, gas and ash down its slopes. Those flows quickly melted the snow and ice and mixed with the meltwater to create violent slurries as thick as concrete that traveled huge distances. They destroyed everything in their path.

Today, the volcano, a prominent backdrop against Portland, Ore., is eerily silent. But it won’t stay that way.

If a similar eruption happened today, resorts and little towns in the vicinity of Mt. Hood “would be obliterated”…

Kiss your ski season goodbye: Resorts and little towns like Zigzag would be obliterated by avalanches and pyroclastic flows (currents of hot gas and rock that can move at 50 mph and reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit). Deadly debris flows would reach Gresham and the Columbia River in about three hours.

Not "first" but "next".

Oh please take out Portland!

Correct. The OP must be too young to remember the one where the whole side of the mountain blew off - what was the name of it? Mt. St. Helen's, maybe?

If it blows, how long will it take before the damocraps file suit against Trump? Surely he should have done something during his 4 years to prevent it!

Wait, now you sound like the guy that said "come one San Andreas" on the thread about the NZ quakes.

Depending on the wind that day, it might get dicey in Potlandia.

Maybe even where you live?

Seems there's a whole slew of them over to your east.

We're f'd here if Shasta or Lassen decides to go.

I'll take earthquakes any day, but then again I've lived through dozens of them!

Yep. May 18, 1980.....I remember that Sunday morning well.

I can just see what would happen on I's 84, 205, and 5 if they need an evac near Portland. You'd better be towing an RV to sleep and pee in while you're waiting because you won't be going anywhere soon.
My sister lives near Puyallup, WA, way too close to Rainier. I also have 2 sons in the general area. They have volcano evacuation signs all over the place showing the recommended routes if people need to get out of town in a hurry. What a joke. They can't get people to work and back. An evac would be a disaster.

If people would only wear their masks this could be avoided.

They say that if Rainier ever goes, or when Rainier goes, the melted snow and mud will bury Seattle many feet deep.

I wonder if wiping out the left coast would actually be a disaster

The last time it blew was (we calculate) four years before Lewis and Clark pushed toward the Pacific.In fact it tore a path of fire lava and destruction that Clark had a hard time crossing the confluence with the "Sandy" River (once known as the Salmon River by the first people who called it home). The sand bar is still there and a hazard if you stray off channel in low water!

What a dipschidt web site that was, great source of chicken little discourse. Mt. St. Helens was a major event and was carefully studied and is used as a forecasting model worldwide. The massive release of materials and the resulting ash and clouds of gas and debris while dramatic and locally devastating had no long term effect outside of an area adjacent to the volcano. The release caused the theory of Nuclear Winter to be disproved.

Folks who choose to live in the shadow of an active volcano are special. Portland and Seattle will be sorely missed


mike r

andesitic strato volcanoes are mean mfkers, got that big solid ‘cum plug’ that lets pressure build and build, then it lets loose like a retard on prom night

200 years isn't a 'very long time'. In volcanic terms, it's just yesterday. 1000 years is getting more towards 'very long time'. The whole Cascade range is where the Juan De Fuca plate is crawling under the NA plate. Any of them could liven up again.

Memories, from 60 miles, I saw St Helens erupt, May 1980.
Our son skied Mt Hood on the 4th of July, in the early 90s.

Lots of eruptions are just drops in a bucket perhaps taking out a few cities and towns. Krakatoa (1883 I think) was a pretty serious deal with the initial shock waves making 7 or 8 passes around the globe. Seems recording barometers were the vogue thing among the wealthy in Europe at that time, and they recorded the pressure spikes as they repeatedly circled the earth.

Still, for those in the immediate area, even the small ones are significant. I got to venture into the Spirit Lake area a couple months after St Helens blew. The surgical nature of the pyroclastic flows was amazing. Old growth timber, blasted free of bark, all down, and oriented in the same direction was hard to understand when a stand 5 yards to the right appeared untouched, erect, and healthy. There were places where the forest and its underlying soils were heaved over the horizon. As we approached the mountain from the east, there were several view points where I would have confidently placed myself to watch the eruption. Had one indeed been there, no sign of him would have ever been found.

Indeed, Mother Nature can be a bitch, and it seems it's always the government's fault when she unwinds.

If I elect to occupy a flood plain, coastal sand dune, or a volcanic slope, it was my own undoing.

I've wondered it Harry Truman made it to his cave and survived the initial blast. If he did, he would have starved to death when it was covered up by the blast. I would rather go out in an inferno of glory than die slowly in a cave.

More than a few people probably wouldn't miss FL if it was blown into the Caribbean after a hurricane or two.

Hopefully it will hold off until after springer season.