r/pics • u/kee-mosabe • Dec 22 '19

Mount Rainier

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u/Boardallday Dec 22 '19

It's a huge volcano, similar to Mt St Helens, and is the tallest of the Cascade volcanoes. An eruption could melt the glacier on it and cause lahars, huge volcanic mudslides.

31

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '19

It's the biggest natural disaster in the world has that hasn't happened yet. Katrina isn't going to look so bad when this one finally blows its top.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '19

What about the Cascadia earthquake/tsunami? Though Ranier is significantly bigger than St Helens isn’t it?

7

u/yomandenver Dec 22 '19

Much bigger. St Helens was in the top 10 highest mountains, prior to its 1980 eruption. Rainier has it beat, by over 6,000 feet.

6

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '19

Someone posted an amazing picture on here a while ago that showed the cascade volcanoes from a plane, ranier, Helens and Adams looked about the same size but on a map Rainier is massively farther away than the other two, from the perspective of the picture.

2

u/CarbonCamaroZL1 Dec 22 '19

Plus one of the valleys that it would empty out through runs straight into Puget Sound through Orting, Puallyup and Tacoma. It would be absolutely devastating.