Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington state in 1980, killing 57 people and raining ash throughout the state.
KIRO 7 viewers shared memories on our Facebook page of where they were when it happened.
>>Mount St. Helens erupts 40 years ago, killing 57
Memories:
Layne Anthony: It was my dad’s birthday. We felt it in Port Moody, British Columbia. I was seven. About a month later we drove to California and scooped up ice cream buckets full of ash from beside the road. We still have it in the garage.
MJ Proffitt: I was at church, I worked in the nursery, which had a window facing the eruption, my parents and my daughter were there camping, I was a nervous wreck, I didn’t have any contact with them until late in the evening. I still have a container with ash. And I have Christmas decorations made from the ash.
Theresa Flamand: I was in my house just over an hour away from the mountain when my house shook and sounds of elephants running across my roof. I still have a little jar of ash... i usually share this day and videos with my students.... but that will only happen this year through remote teaching. Not the same effect.
Ray Cassidy: Army Reserve weekend. At Fort Lewis for annual firing. Saw the cloud go up and drift away to the East. Thought, this is what a nuclear explosion would look like. Our XO worked for FEMA and the MPs came and told him before we actually saw the cloud.
Vicky Radke Duran: I was 12 and brushing my hair in the bathroom (in Bremerton) when I heard a creak and the glass sliding door on the tub rattled. I thought we had an earthquake. Shortly after my visiting grandparents left to return home to Vancouver, WA, we headed out to a new school building site to help in its construction. It was there we heard about Mt. St. Helen’s. Of course no cellphone back then so we couldn’t call my grandparents and have them turn around. We waited (I don’t remember, 14?) hours before we finally got word that they made it home safe. Not unscathed but safe.
Karen Petersen: I was at Lake Wenatchee, Washington at work and just noticed very gray sky. DIdn’t know what happened until a customer came in and told us about the eruption.
Brooke Fleming: Flying home to Washington from California. Our pilot flew as close as he could get. Took pictures out the window.
>>PHOTOS: Mount St. Helens over the years
Michele Williams: I was 11 at home in Olympia and was taking pictures of it for a school project when it blew caught it in all different stages.
Susan Trunk: I was on I-5 going to Longview to give my friend material for her bridesmaids dress. Three police cars had I-5 blocked and a forth car was up on the ramp to Longview directing traffic.
Michael Kohl: I lived in Hobart Washington and was on top of a 125 ft tree watching the billowing clouds was an awesome spectacle to see from there ash didn’t show up for a week there.
Dianne Szarvas: At home in Fairwood. I was 8 years old and we took tape to the deck in the backyard to collect the ash.
Miranda May: I was seven and living in Issaquah! My dad was coming back for camping fishing in Oregon and they got stuck in the traffic on 5.
Margie Newby: Eastern Washington..working heard the blast.by noon it was so heavy with ash the sky was black.when it finally got light again we had almost a inch of ash that covered everything.
Do you remember where you were on May 18, 1980? Share your memories with us on our Facebook page.