SEATTLE (AP) - Government seismologists raised the alert level for Mount St. Helens on Saturday after its second steam eruption in two days was followed by a powerful tremor. They said the next blast could threaten life and property in the remote area near the volcano.
The hundreds of visitors at the Johnston Ridge Observatory just five miles from Mount St. Helens were asked to leave. They went quickly to their cars and drove from the scene.
"We're in an eruptive period where there's a potential hazard," said Bill Steele at the University of Washington's seismic laboratory in Seattle.
The concern was not Saturday's small steam release, "but the nature of the volcanic tremor signal that followed," he said. "It was far stronger after today's steam eruption" than the tremor that followed Friday's blast.
"We were picking it up throughout western Washington and into central Oregon. Yesterday we had a very weak tremor signal."
Also, earthquakes continued Saturday during the tremor.
Tremors indicate movement of gases or fluid within the volcano," Steele said, while earthquakes indicate "a pounding and breaking of rock."
Mount St. Helens activity getting worse
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Mount St. Helens activity getting worse
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