Series of quakes shake Mount St. Helens area

MOUNT ST HELENS, Wash. (AP) – Two small earthquakes around Mount St Helens in southwest Washington state startled residents as far away as Portland and Seattle overnight.

The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network says Wednesday the 3.9-magnitude and 2.1-magnitude temblors struck shortly after midnight near the volcanic peak.

They were followed by several much smaller quakes in the hours before dawn.

Residents reported feeling the largest earthquake as far away as Portland, Oregon — about 70 miles to the south — and in a large area of southwest Washington.

Mount St. Helens is best known for a spectacular eruption in 1980 that coated the region in ash and blew off the mountain’s peak.

The seismic network outreach director, Bill Steele, says it’s fairly typical to see earthquake swarms in this area, though somewhat unusual to have one with a 3.9 magnitude.

Steele said Wednesday morning that a larger quake could follow within 48 hours, but there’s still only a small probability of that happening.

He says even though the quakes have been located near Mount St. Helens, it’s not caused by the magma underneath the volcano.