Seven hundred earthquakes shook Mount Saint Helens on September 24, 2004. That set a new record and ushered in a new era for the Washington state volcano.

The day three years ago would be overshadowed by a series of steam emissions and eruptions in the weeks that followed, but the quakes marked the start of a new lava dome growth in the volcano’s crater. 

KGW

Mount St. Helens erupted Sept. 24, 2004 with a billowing cloud of ash and steam.

Three years later, the still-growing crater is taller than New York’s Empire State Building and contains enough volume to fill 163 Rose Garden Arenas.

“The new dome is big,” said United States Geological Survey geologist Seth Moran, “There’s a mountain that’s being built behind there.”

Moran said the dome built in the last three years has exceeded the dome built in the six years following the historic 1980 eruption.

USGS Mount Saint Helens Recent Activity Website

“It’s a very fast geological process much faster than humans are used to seeing,” said Moran.

Most of the visitors at the Johnston Ridge Observatory did not know of Monday’s anniversary, but they could not ignore the steaming center of the mountain’s crater five miles away.

“It’s humbling, it’s an amazing thing,” said Kevin Lathrop, a visitor from Mt. Shasta California.

Karen Dillis, a Californian mother, brought her two home-schooled daughters on a field trip to see the mountain on what was a clear fall day.

“We’re doing science today,” said Dillis, “We’re also hoping to take a Christmas card photo.”