Great turnout tonight at Burke-Gilman Brewing to hear PNSN director Harold Tobin and Dr. Eric Wagner speak about the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

May 18, 1980 | SAR No central command. No shared radio frequency. No plan. The Washington National Guard, Air Force Reserve 304th, Coast Guard, Army, Civil Air Patrol, Columbia Helicopters, and Washington State Patrol flew anyway. 137 survivors, eight dogs, and one boa constrictor were saved.

If you don't already follow @mountsthelens1980.bsky.social, check it out and explore the wealth of archival footage and other material telling the story of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 and beyond.

OTD 46 years ago: May 18, 1980 the bulging north flank of Mount St. Helens slid away in a massive landslide. The uncorked volcano exploded & blasted rocks horizontally. 9 hours of explosive volcanic activity ensued, killing 57 people & forever altering the landscape and what we know about volcanoes

“Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!” Forty-six years after USGS volcanologist David A. Johnston sent his final transmission during the first moments of the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, we remember all the lives lost and changed that day and honor his legacy of public service.

Happy #FieldworkFriday! Maintaining 700+ seismic stations across two states means our field crews spend a lot of time on the road—but we often get to take the scenic route. Check out these views from the drive to stations BRAN and WALLO in Wallowa County, Oregon.

It’s Volcano Awareness Month in WA and OR! Come to Burke-Gilman Brewing in Seattle on Monday to mark the anniversary of the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption and hear PNSN director Harold Tobin explain how we monitor seismic activity from the Cascade volcanoes.

We ❤️ volcano scientists! Look at them all! And they are answering your questions on Reddit now for Volcano Awareness Month! www.reddit.com/r/AMA/s/CrBh...

Happy #FieldworkFriday! Spring weather means flowers and fungi in bloom. Here are just a few of the things we’ve spotted growing near our seismic stations lately: lupine at YPT, beargrass at WATCH, a field of canola blossoms by DAVN, and some tasty morel mushrooms near SLF.

⚒️ Nominations for the Bolt Medal and Joyner Lecturer open on 1 June. Do you know a colleague who should be nominated? #earthquake #engineering ⭐ Bolt Medal: buff.ly/S4qhccD ⭐ Joyner Lecturer: buff.ly/ziy3mgv

Did you know our state has five active volcanoes? Congrats. You are now part of volcano awareness month. There’s lots of events this month, both in-person and online hosted by USGS, us, Pierce County, State Parks & others. Find details in the link: mil.wa.gov/news/volcano...

Happy Birthday…to Earthquake Early Warning in the Pacific Northwest! ShakeAlert launched in WA on May 4, 2021, and since then we’ve installed hundreds of new seismic stations and successfully activated EEW for a M4.5 earthquake.

Happy #FieldworkFriday! Sometimes visits to the field aren't just maintenance—they can also be outreach. Last weekend PNSN hosted film crews at the SeismoLab & station CTR in Seattle to explain how seismic monitoring and Earthquake Early Warning work. Stay tuned for the programs!

It's the 61st anniversary of another significant earthquake in our region—one that led to the establishment of the PNSN a few years later! Here’s some fascinating footage from the KING 5 archives showing how the M6.7 Puget Sound quake on April 29, 1965 affected WA:

Kudos to the thousands of students and faculty who are taking part in the world’s largest Lahar drill today. Here’s some from Puyallup High School. Learn more at laharexercise.com

Happy #FieldWorkFriday! Station WPEQ out near Goat Rocks, WA can be hard to reach in the snowy season. So when it needed some repair our staff had to pop on some skis, hop on a chair lift, and get to digging.

Happy #FieldworkFriday! Check out all the gear it takes to install a new strong motion site. Tools, equipment, computers, etc. It sure is a lot of stuff! This new strong motion site went into Komachin Middle School in Lacey, WA during spring break. KWOLF is now up and running.

77 years ago—on April 13, 1949—a deep M6.7 earthquake shook up western Washington. Photographs from the Washington State Archives show some of the damage to Olympia. Similar earthquakes struck again in 1965 & 2001, and we are likely to see another in the next few decades: pnsn.org/education/pn...

Since around midnight PDT today (April 12, 2026) there's been quite an active swarm of earthquakes at the Juan de Fuca Ridge, about 250mi offshore WA. With 18 detected so far, up to M4.2, the USGS locations show that these are NOT anywhere near the Cascadia Subduction Zone. (1/2)

Happy #Fieldwork Friday! Over UW's spring break, the Cascadia Culture and geoScience Exchange team visited Neah Bay High School to teach a week-long course on geohazards & preparedness. Read below to see how this program highlights the cross section between STEM & Makah culture!

Happy #FieldworkFriday! PNSN staff joined colleagues from @waDNR & @waEMD for a canoe trip in the Willapa Bay estuary to view evidence of past Cascadia Subduction Zone tsunamis. We saw sand deposits in the tidal flats, cedar stumps, and tree ring samples—and got very muddy.

Happy #FieldworkFriday! Station visits in the San Juan Islands are always a treat. This week's visit was made even better by a surprise welcome committee: a friendly ferry terminal café cat on Orcas Island. Coffee, pastry, and a purr-fect start to a long day in the field.

Happy #FieldworkFriday! On the coast we just so happened to post up right next to an interpretive display at Pacific Beach State Park to fill out site visit documentation on the same day we visited a site near this Tsunami Vertical Evacuate Structure in Tokeland WA.

The Oregon Hazards Lab at UO is hiring a Communications Manager! Seeking a skilled communicator and organizer to join the OHAZ multi-hazards environmental monitoring team that works with PNSN on ShakeAlert earthquake early warning outreach and more: careers.uoregon.edu/en-us/job/53...

Happy #FieldworkFriday! The mountains around here are finally getting some snow! So when a critical relay station for Mt. St. Helens needed work, we had to bring out the big toys. It took a UTV with snow tracks (and a little bit of snow shoeing) to get to REDMT.

PRELIM Earthquake: M3.1, 26.7 km NNE from Olympia, WA at 2026/03/11 03:49 PDT http://www.pnsn.org/event/62232776 Did You Feel It?: https://zpr.io/YYYThx2ZCQMi

PRELIM Earthquake: M3.3, 52.7 km W from Lakeview, OR at 2026/03/09 22:52 PDT http://www.pnsn.org/event/62232326 Did You Feel It?: https://zpr.io/b3SCBNZ9Zvpc

Happy #FieldworkFriday! Site DREAM is, well... exactly that, a dream. Stehekin although hard to get to, only accessible by ferry, is beautiful no matter the season. With less than a day to work we went into the dark of night & made a final check in the morning after a fresh snow.

A year ago, Washington got its first ShakeAlert warning for a M4.5 beneath Orcas Island. Thousands of people received an earthquake early warning alert—and over ten thousand reported feeling shaking! The alert system is working and ready for the next one: www.washington.edu/research-mak...

The 25th Anniversary Special on the Nisqually Earthquake aired this weekend on @KING5Seattle, featuring an interview with PNSN Director Harold Tobin. Revisit the 2001 quake and look ahead at how experts and community leaders are preparing for the next major quake. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FIS...

25 years ago this weekend, western Washington was shaken up by the Nisqually earthquake. Experts from PNSN and UW explain what we’ve learned since—and what we need to do to get ready for the next one: www.fox13seattle.com/video/fmc-jg...

Today is Nisqually Earthquake Awareness Day! “Prepare, don’t despair”—that’s our message on the 25th anniversary of the 2001 M6.8 earthquake. Learn more in this clip: www.king5.com/article/news...

“If Washington has the will, we certainly have the means to make our state safer and better before the next time an earthquake strikes.” Read this op-ed from PNSN director @[email protected] in today’s Seattle Times about how we can #FixtheBricks: www.seattletimes.com/opinion/befo...

Happy throwback #FieldworkFriday! Fieldwork isn't just maintaining our stations - sometimes we must record the effects that earthquakes have on landscapes and built environments. Here are some images collected by PNSN and fellow researchers after the Nisqually EQ 25 years ago.

PRELIM Earthquake: M3.2, 9.4 km S from Snohomish, WA at 2026/02/24 05:42 PST http://www.pnsn.org/event/62228281 Did You Feel It?: https://zpr.io/DNxqHsCqx2kg

25 years ago this week, the Nisqually earthquake shook up the Pacific Northwest—including the UW Engineering Library! Join us tomorrow evening for a panel and Q&A with earthquake experts about what we’ve learned since 2001, and how to prepare for the next big one: www.eventbrite.com/e/25-years-s...

PNSN will be participating in the Pacific Science Center’s Engineering Day tomorrow afternoon—come check out our interactive Make-A-Quake seismometer demo, real seismic instruments, and live earthquake displays showing ground motion as it happens! pacificsciencecenter.org/events/engin...

25 years ago, PNSN seismologists rolled into action to respond to the M6.8 Nisqually earthquake. Join us on Feb 24, 6:30-8 PM for a discussion and Q&A with earthquake experts on what we’ve learned since—and what we need to do to get ready for the next one: www.eventbrite.com/e/25-years-s...

Happy #FieldworkFriday! Frogs, deer, and geese, oh my! PNSN field staff found many animals this week at site HILL, where they replaced the solar charge controller. The frogs at the station are still seismologists-in-training, but we're "hopping" they can help next week, too!

It's been 25 years since the Nisqually earthquake—are we ready for the next one? Join us at UW next week (Tuesday, Feb 24) for a conversation and Q&A with local experts about earthquake science, policy, & preparedness in the PNW. Register here to attend: www.eventbrite.com/e/25-years-s...

Happy #FieldworkFriday! Our station GORGE is now powered up! After upgrading from 2 to 4 solar panels, & adding a wind generator, we had to adjust for all the extra power. The recent “false-spring” weather here in the PNW has this station looking GORGEous & getting lots of juice!

What Steve Raible called "the loudest, most dedicated, most feared fans" in the NFL packed Lumen Field & Seattle streets this morning for the Seahawks ceremony and #SuperBowl victory parade! Check out the noise at seismic station KDK compared to an average morning nine days ago!

Like Marshawn Lynch, we're with you, Seattle! NFL on Prime shared this clip of Beast Mode's visit to PNSN to commemorate the #Beastquake—check out the video to reminisce with us: www.facebook.com/nflonprime/v...

Happy #FieldworkFriday! Some days our commute is a little more complicated than others. 4:30am - Leave Seattle 8:00am - Arrive at Mt St Helens staging area 8:30am - Helicopter leaves landing zone 8:40am - Helicopter lands at East Dome 8:45am - PNSN Field Crew begins maintenance on station EDM

Congratulations to the Seahawks on their NFC Championship! Check out this episode of The Sound of the Seahawks featuring a few short clips of PNSN at the stadium explaining the installs or monitoring process as well as highlights and recaps of both playoff games. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6300...

Happy FieldworkFriday! While visiting Browns Point Fire Department (BRPT) for maintenance this week we snapped this beautiful picture of Commencement Bay, Port of Tacoma, and Mt. Rainier. All PNSN seismic sites have new station pages that can be found at pnsn.org/station/BRPT

PRELIM Earthquake: M3, 81.1 km SSW from Coos Bay, OR at 2026/01/27 13:25 PST http://www.pnsn.org/event/62216302 Did You Feel It?: https://zpr.io/35cxpWxxJjRp

The 12s shook the stadium during yesterday's NFC Championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and the LA Rams, but which plays created the most seismic activity? Here are how the top 7 seismic moments from last night's game compare to each other:

Today marks the anniversary of the 1700 Magnitude 9 Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, reminding us to be prepared for strong shaking in the PNW. URMs are particularly vulnerable, but retrofitting can mitigate the risk. #FixTheBricks www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5wa...

SEAHAWKS ARE GOING TO SUPER BOWL LX!!!! Seattle Seahawks beat the LA Rams, 31 - 27! Hopefully you got to follow along and catch each incredible play of this nail-biting game in real time, but if not then find the whole-game archive at: pnsn.org/data-researc...