41 years ago today, Mount St. Helens suffered a massive eruption after a series of earthquakes shook southwestern Washington. The eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, was the largest volcanic event ever in the United States.
This eruption considerably changed the landscape and took the lives of 57 people and thousands of animals. Autopsies showed that most people who died likely passed from asphyxiation after inhaling hot ash, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
