Signs Indicate Movement Under Volcano

MT. ST. HELENS NATIONAL VOLCANIC MONUMENT, Wash. -- A second long tremor early Sunday and an increase in volcanic gases strongly suggest that magma is moving inside Mt. St. Helens, researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Crowds gathered along the park’s roadways about 8 1/2 miles away to see what happens next. The mountain’s alert was raised to Level 3, the highest on the scale, after a volcanic tremor was detected Saturday for the first time since the mountain’s 1980 eruption, which killed 57 people.

“I don’t think anyone now thinks this will stop with steam explosions,” geologist Willie Scott said Sunday at the Geological Survey’s Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., about 50 miles south.

But Scott said scientists discussed lowering the alert from Level 3’s “volcano advisory,” indicating that eruption was imminent, to Level 2’s “volcanic unrest,” which indicated that an eruption was possible. They needed more data before making a change, he said.

“What we haven’t gotten back today yet is a lot of field measurements,” Scott said Sunday. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. That will occur overnight and tomorrow morning.”

The mountain released a plume of steam and ash Friday. A second steam eruption occurred Saturday.

Some experts said Saturday that another eruption probably would occur within 24 hours. As the hours passed, others cautioned that the timing was difficult to predict.

“No one is predicting it as a sure thing,” said Bill Steele at the University of Washington’s seismology lab in Seattle.

“This could be going on for weeks.”