Attn: Warning Issued For The North West Coast Of The United States Of
America along with the Interior Areas Of Montana and Idaho thru to the
Dakotas as well as the The South Western Canadian Provinces Of British
Columbia with cities such as Vancouver, Victoria and KamLoops thru the
South Central Alberta City Of Calgary and the City Of Regina in The
Saskatchewan Province potentially Being Affected!

Take Heed To The *Seriousness* Of This Situation, Furthermore; prepare
for Severe Earthquakes, and Tidal Waves Off The Northwest Pacific
Coast over to the South Asian Coast being affected also due to the
"Potentially Cataclysmic" release of force from this highly probable
eruption that will send vast amounts of smoke, ash, and molten lava
around the Cities Of Spokane, Seattle and The Olympia Washington
areas. Be Alert!!!

Mount St. Helens' Lava Dome Growing
Scientists See Evidence of a Possible Eruption
By PEGGY ANDERSEN, AP

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. (Sept. 29) - The lava dome in Mount St.
Helens' crater apparently is growing, possibly a new sign of an
impending eruption.



AP
Steam rises from the main crater of Mount St. Helens on Tuesday.


''There seems to be some movement in the lava dome,'' said Jeff Wynn,
chief scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascade Volcano
Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., about 50 miles south of the mountain.

The pressure could come either from a buildup of gases within the
8,364-foot volcano, which erupted with devastating force in 1980, or
from molten rock moving into the dome, Wynn said. The volcano began
stirring again last week.

Seth Moran, a seismologist at the observatory, estimated the initial
movement at 4 centimeters, about an inch and a half.

Wynn said the movement ''sort of suggests that we're getting closer''
to an eruption that could hurl rocks and ash a few thousand feet into
the air.


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He emphasized that the estimates were highly preliminary and inexact
because there is only one measuring device on the dome, estimating
scientists will need about 48 hours to interpret the data more
clearly.

Scientists were keeping a close eye on the 925-foot-tall dome of
hardened lava that has grown inside the crater since the May 18, 1980,
eruption that blew the top off the mountain.

Swarms of tiny earthquakes - more than 1,000 since the mountain began
stirring last Thursday - have gradually increased, cranking up to a
level not seen since 1986, when the volcano's last dome-building
eruption occurred.

But neither the earthquake activity nor the apparent growth in the
dome indicated a major eruption was likely, Wynn said. He predicted a
relatively small explosion of rocks, ash and steam within a few days.



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On Tuesday, the quakes were occurring at a rate of two or three a
minute. The volcano was releasing three to four times the energy it
was releasing Monday, Wynn said.

Scientists are trying to determine if the quakes are caused by steam
from water seeping into the dome or by magma moving beneath the
crater.

Early tests of gas samples collected above the volcano by helicopter
Monday did not show unusually high levels of carbon dioxide or sulfur,
which could indicate the movement of magma.

Seismologist George Thomas at the University of Washington said that
on a scale of zero to 10, with 10 being the explosion at the mountain
in 1980, the current activity would rate a one. Thomas said any rocks,
ash or steam coming out of the volcano would most likely be contained
within the crater itself.

''The alerts we're sending out are just to protect hikers and
scientists doing research within the crater,'' he said.

The USGS issued a notice of volcanic unrest on Sunday. U.S. Forest
Service officials closed hiking trails above the tree line at 4,800
feet. The visitors center and most other trails at the Mount St.
Helens National Monument have remained open.

The volcano's 1980 blast killed 57 people, spawned mud flows that
choked the Columbia River, leveled hundreds of square miles of forests
and showered distant communities with volcanic ash.