Hi Petra. Living in Seattle, I am as prepared as I can be I think and I have an extensive earthquake kit. I know that the media has been entirely focused on what happened in NYC and D.C. which is completely understandable considering the magnitude of the events that took place on Tuesday morning.

I can see Mt. Rainier out the window where I live and I always take the time to look at it when the weather permits. I have a nice pair of binoculars which allow a pretty impressive view of the "big fella" as the media calls it. I am always kinda skeptical when I hear people say that they have seen steam, etc. coming from the mountain because I never had, atleast not from here. Well, the other day...the 12th I believe, I looked out the window and was intially very surprised by the appearance of the upper slopes of the mountain and then I got out the binoculars and watched for awhile. Just below the summit on the upper slopes on the west side of the mountain, there actually did appear to be steam coming from the mountain. Either it was steam, or it was a cloud shaped like a finger that never moved even when the normal clouds in the area moved. I came back an hour later and it was still there. It didn't rise very high, but it was persistent. I wondered if it was my imagination, but other people around here noticed it as well. I checked online and didn't see any increase in seismic activity, so I thought maybe it does vent from time to time? I know that Mt. Baker sometimes has a visible steam plume that is not accompanied by seismic activity. I haven't seen one at Rainier in the past but I'm pretty sure that is what I was seeing. As a matter of fact in the days following my initial observation, I have seen a similar sight in the exact same spot. Just below the summit on the west side. No one has mentioned it with all that's going on and perhaps it has happened in the past and is no big deal. Most people have been so glued to their TV's that they probably didn't take the time to look at anything outside. I know there has been a swarm near Mt. Hood over the past week, but nothing at Rainier.

When the sun comes out later, you can bet I'll have the binoculars out again looking at that same area to see if there's anything going on :-) I have been paying attention to the swarm off of Vancouver as well. I hope that the 6.0 Mb was it, but I know there's a chance that something else is going on here. Just noticing some things that I don't normally see around here and wondering what it means.