Historical eventMay 181980

Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens explosively erupted (pictured), killing approximately 57 people in southern Washington state, reducing hundreds of square miles to wasteland, and causing more than US$1 billion in damage.

Everything on May 18Original source

In context

When
Sunday, May 18 198046 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
20th century · 1980s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: From 1980.

What happened

Mount St. Helens explosively erupted (pictured), killing approximately 57 people in southern Washington state, reducing hundreds of square miles to wasteland, and causing more than US$1 billion in damage.

May 18 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1980Mount St. Helens
  2. 20062006 Nepalese revolution
  3. 2006Federal Parliament of Nepal
  4. 2009Sri Lanka Army
  5. 2009Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
  6. 2013Murder of Mark Carson
  7. 20152015 Colombian landslide
  8. 20182018 Santa Fe High School shooting
  9. 2018Cubana de Aviación Flight 0972
  10. 20192020 United States presidential election
  11. 20262026 Islamic Center of San Diego shooting

Also in 1980

  • March 14LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 crashes during final approach near Warsaw, Poland, killing 87 people, including a 14-man American boxing t…
  • September 17Solidarity (Polish trade union)Solidarity, a Polish trade union, was founded as the first independent labor union in an Eastern Bloc country.
  • September 17Gdańsk ShipyardAfter weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.
  • September 17Anastasio Somoza DebayleFormer Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed in Asunción, Paraguay.
  • September 5Gotthard Road TunnelThe Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 16.9 kilometres (10.5 mi) stretching from Göschene…
  • August 14Lech WałęsaLech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards.
  • July 5Björn BorgSwedish tennis player Björn Borg wins his fifth Wimbledon final and becomes the first male tennis player to win the championships five ti…
  • October 146th Congress of the Workers' Party of KoreaThe 6th Congress of the Workers' Party concluded, having anointed North Korean president Kim Il Sung's son Kim Jong Il as his successor.

Everything we record for 1980 →

Sources

Cite this page

“Mount St. Helens”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/mount-st-helens-1980-may-18, accessed October 28, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about this entry

When did Mount St. Helens happen?

May 18 1980 — 46 years ago, on a Sunday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

How do I cite this page?

Use the ready-made citation near the sources at the bottom of the page, and follow the source link to cite the underlying record as well.

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