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Mount Rainer
I remember sitting at my desk in Washington State History & Geography class. The St Helens eruption wasn't even a year old, so naturally the volcanic ranges were a frequent topic of conversation, and there was lots of gee-whiz talk about "if it had been Rainer", within sight of Seattle, instead of St Helens.
"Rainer wouldn't need to erupt. All it needs is to melt a bit of its glaciers and it'll bury Tacoma in mud." The silence that greeted our teacher's pronouncement was deafening. He'd shut up a room full of 9th graders. Amazing.
I was reminded by this by The Seattle Weekly's coverage of geologists piecing together evidence of a huge lahar that reached Seattle 5000 years ago.
Edit: added link to lahar entry in Wikipedia
"Rainer wouldn't need to erupt. All it needs is to melt a bit of its glaciers and it'll bury Tacoma in mud." The silence that greeted our teacher's pronouncement was deafening. He'd shut up a room full of 9th graders. Amazing.
I was reminded by this by The Seattle Weekly's coverage of geologists piecing together evidence of a huge lahar that reached Seattle 5000 years ago.
Edit: added link to lahar entry in Wikipedia