Canadians recall blast, fine ash from 1980 volcanic eruption at Mount St. Helens

Sandy Santori vividly remembers the dark cloud that covered Trail, B.C., beginning on May 18, 1980. It filled the sky with a colourless gloom, as fine ash fell to the ground, creating an eerie atmosphere. Santori, who was 26 years old at the time, first learned of the situation when his mother called him out of the house. He stepped outside to find his neighbours, mostly Italian Canadians, hurriedly covering their freshly planted gardens, unsure of where the mysterious ash was coming from.

“At that time, there was just no sunshine. It was just gloomy, grey, black. It was scary,” Santori recalled. Initially, many in the community thought there was a malfunction at Teck Cominco, a local smelter, emitting an unknown substance. However, word soon spread that the ash was actually coming from Mount St. Helens, a volcano that had erupted more than 450 kilometers away in Washington state.

The eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, is considered the worst volcanic disaster in U.S. history, claiming nearly 60 lives and altering landscapes in Washington state. In Canada, the effects were less lethal but still significant, particularly in southern B.C. The blast wave from the eruption bounced off the upper atmosphere and struck Metro Vancouver and southern Vancouver Island, creating a loud bang that puzzled many residents.

Ian Thomson, a 27-year-old geologist at the time, was at his parents’ home in West Vancouver when he heard the blast. Initially mistaking it for a train collision, he soon learned of the eruption and realized the magnitude of the tragedy unfolding in Washington. The fallout from the eruption included falling ash, which took hours and even days to reach communities in southern B.C. such as Trail, Kamloops, and other areas.

Britta Jensen, a geologist and associate professor at the University of Alberta, has been researching the dispersion of Mount St. Helens ash in Canada. Her team surveyed around 400 people who remembered the ash, with reports coming from as far away as Edmonton and Yellowknife. Jensen noted that the ash, which darkened the landscape and covered surfaces like a fine dust, was relatively thin in most places, with accumulation rates equivalent to a thickness of one to two millimetres.

Despite the disruptive nature of the ashfall, most communities in southern B.C. quickly returned to normalcy as the ash dissipated. Jensen emphasized the historical context of Mount St. Helens, highlighting its history of frequent eruptions over the past 4,000 years. While another eruption is expected in the future, Jensen believes it may not occur for another 200 years.

Reflecting on the events of 1980, Sandy Santori and others who experienced the aftermath of the Mount St. Helens eruption in Canada continue to share their stories, highlighting the impact of natural disasters on local communities and the importance of understanding volcanic activity for future preparedness.