Where Were You When Mt. St. Helens Blew?

It's been 32 years today since Mt. St. Helens erupted, setting off a chain of tragic events for people living nearby and coating the state with volcanic ash.

The US Geological survey says 57 people died in the eruption and following landslide, and over the course of the 9-hour eruption, "prevailing winds blew 520 million tons of ash eastward across the United States and caused complete darkness in Spokane, Washington, 250 miles from the volcano." Temperatures around the blast reached 660 degrees Farenheit and 4 billion board feet of timber was blown down. In about two weeks time, the ash cloud circled the earth.

Though this is not, perhaps, a "major" anniversary, for me it's one of those events that, whenever I hear about it, sparks that memory of where I was and what I was doing when--like for other people, where they were when man first landed on the moon, or where they were when JFK was shot, looms large as a formative memory.

I was 8 years old, and visiting the Armed Forces Day at Fairchild Air Force Base outside of Spokane with my family. I remember seeing the black cloud headed toward the base from the West, the miles-long lineup of cars on state Route 2 as thousands of us became aware and headed for home, in darkness in the middle of the afternoon.

I remember rooting for Harry Truman to evacuate as we watched the destruction on TV. He didn't.

Then there was the funny hospital smell of the surgical masks we wore for weeks after, and the feel of the gritty ash in my fingers once we decided we could touch it. I remember my 8-year-old self writing a poem about it, though it's long lost now.

See what the volcano looks like today on the Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam, located at Johnston Ridge Observatory about 5 miles from the mountain.

Was it one of those big life memories for you? Share your story in the comments.