Volcanic sunsets

On May 18th 1980, Mt St Helens erupted. I lived in Hayden Lake Idaho which is probably 350 miles east of the mountain. By late afternoon the sky was really dark and ash was falling, we got about 1/2 inch of it.

The ash acted as a filter and as it settled in local lakes, it collected particles on it's way to the bottom and made for some crystal clear water.

The next year we had some fantastic sunsets from all the ash still airborne. I found dozens of sunsets in my old slide collection and scanned a few to show here.

Mar 1982, K25, from my livingroom window.



Nov 1981, someplace on Rathdrum prairie.



1981, someplace on Rathdrum prairie.

Wow - those are some amazing sunset color shows. That first one almost looks like a close up of a forest fire.

I was living down in Salt Lake City at that time and we didn't see any of this.

So cool Ben! That’s great you still have this photos. It was some great color during that time.

I was at Ft Lewis at the time in the Army and worked on helicopters. All of ours were grounded for a week or so because the ash wash so abrasive and would ruin the engines. I also remember my Chevy Impala being covered in ash. I have photos, but they are in storage, I should get them out and do what you are doing.

What a great project. So many of us have tons of 2x2 slides and need to take a page out of your book Ben. The sunsets hold up well over all those years.

Stunning

That’s some intense colors in the sky Ben.

AlanLichty said:

Wow - those are some amazing sunset color shows. That first one almost looks like a close up of a forest fire.

I was living down in Salt Lake City at that time and we didn't see any of this.

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I bet Salt Lake is a lot different today.

JimFox said:

So cool Ben! That’s great you still have this photos. It was some great color during that time.

I was at Ft Lewis at the time in the Army and worked on helicopters. All of ours were grounded for a week or so because the ash wash so abrasive and would ruin the engines. I also remember my Chevy Impala being covered in ash. I have photos, but they are in storage, I should get them out and do what you are doing.

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My mom and dad were visiting us from Oregon and had to wait several days to go home, eventually he went east and south in a very roundabout route to get home. He died a few months later so that was the last time I saw him alive.

Trent Watts said:

What a great project. So many of us have tons of 2x2 slides and need to take a page out of your book Ben. The sunsets hold up well over all those years.

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It's fun, the quality of today's imaging systems is so much cleaner, but I have a lot of unrepeatable images.

Dan Moorehead said:

Stunning

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Thanks Don

Jameel Hyder said:

That’s some intense colors in the sky Ben.

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Thanks Jameel. I did no enhancement to these.