05/18/2026
Where were you when Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980? 🌋
I remember it was a Sunday morning. I was 10 years old and thought it was cool! 😳
If you remember it as well, congratulations you are old too!
Some people were at home watching the news…
Some were outside wondering why the sky suddenly looked like nighttime at noon…
And dads everywhere were standing in the driveway saying:
“Probably nothing.” 😂
Meanwhile Mount St. Helens was out here launching ash across multiple states like:
“Y’ALL GONNA REMEMBER ME TODAY.” 💥
If you lived in the Northwest, you probably remember cars covered in ash, everyone wearing masks before it was trendy, and at least one neighbor saving volcanic ash in a coffee can for absolutely no reason.
And somehow every school kid still hoped:
“Maybe the ash means school gets canceled tomorrow.” 🤞
Here are 6 facts about the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens:
1. The May 18, 1980, eruption triggered the largest landslide ever recorded on Earth (see photo).
2. The eruption’s sideways blast flattened forests and traveled at hundreds of miles per hour (see photo).
3. The eruption killed 57 people and caused over $1 billion in damage.
4. Ash spread across multiple states, turning daytime skies dark in some places.
5. The explosion was estimated to be 1,600 times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
6. The eruption reshaped the mountain and eventually created the world’s youngest glacier inside the crater.
Drop where you were when it happened… or a vivid memory of that day or a story you were told. 👇
Fun fact: Mortgage rates in May of 1980 were averaging about 13% 😳🏡
So, when people today complain about rates in the 5’s and 6’s… somewhere a Boomer is laughing while making coffee in a house they bought for $60,000 that year (average price in Washington in 1980). 😂
If you're thinking about buying or are just curious what it would take to buy in today's market. Call a guy who knows a guy. AKA me!
John Hunter,
SVP of Mortgage Lending at Rate
NMLS 76887
(206) 856-4685
[email protected]
