This remote Washington State volcano isn’t set to erupt, as far as anyone knows, but it suddenly woke up this fall and a single seismometer (which fireighters had saved during a Summer 2024 wildfire) picked up the signal.
As the Global Volcanism Program reports on their Adams page (link added):
Most Recent Weekly Report: 2 October-8 October 2024
The Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) issued an information statement about seismicity at Adams. In the month of September six locatable earthquakes with magnitudes of 0.9-2 were recorded by one seismic station located 11 km SW of the summit and others located much farther away. Typically, at Adams, one earthquake is recorded every 2-3 years. CVO noted that there was no indication that the earthquake activity was a cause for concern; the Volcano Alert Level remained at Normal (the lowest level on a four-level scale) and the Aviation Color Code remained at Green (the lowest color on a four-color scale). CVO together with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN) plan to install temporary seismic stations in the Adams area, which will allow detection of smaller earthquakes and better estimates of size, location, and depth, information necessary to assess the significance of the activity.
Since it’s usually seismically quiet, and given the hazards at Mount Adams, the US Geological Survey considers it a high-risk volcano.
Volcanologists quickly deployed more seismometers, and as of November 20th, no unusual seismicity was noted.
It’s a watch-and-wait situation now. Perhaps Mount Adams was just rolling over in its sleep, but the possibility of more news from this Cascades giant is there. Let’s see what happens!
In the meantime —
More information:
- Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) page
- Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN) page
- Wikipedia
- VAAC centers (conceivably Washington, Anchorage, and Montreal centers could be involved, depending on weather conditions)
Updates
December 12, 2025, 2:59 p.m., Pacific: All is stable, apparently, but there is newer information at the CVO page linked above than this most recent GVP update:
Most Recent Weekly Report: 2 October-8 October 2024
The Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) issued an information statement about seismicity at Adams. In the month of September six locatable earthquakes with magnitudes of 0.9-2 were recorded by one seismic station located 11 km SW of the summit and others located much farther away. Typically, at Adams, one earthquake is recorded every 2-3 years. CVO noted that there was no indication that the earthquake activity was a cause for concern; the Volcano Alert Level remained at Normal (the lowest level on a four-level scale) and the Aviation Color Code remained at Green (the lowest color on a four-color scale). CVO together with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN) plan to install temporary seismic stations in the Adams area, which will allow detection of smaller earthquakes and better estimates of size, location, and depth, information necessary to assess the significance of the activity.
March 29, 2025, 5:30 a.m., Pacific: No changes are noted at the volcano, but reportedly Washington State is updating its emergency coordination plans for both Adams and St. Helens (which probably is the most likely eventual eruption candidate in the lower 48, as it’s so active).
Also, at Adams:
With only one permanent monitoring station near the volcano, the activity spurred USGS to set up temporary stations, some of which have since been removed or are now covered with snow. But there are five permanent monitoring stations that are on the way with permitting already done for four of them, according to Jon Major, the Scientist-in-Charge of the Cascades Volcano Observatory. Major said the goal is for the stations to start being installed this summer.
Featured image: Jim Choate, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
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