As of August 2005, Mount St Helens is still experiencing a period of significant unrest and the Alert Level 2 status means that scientists believe another eruption is possible at some point. The current situation is being closely monitored by the US Geological Survey and the University of Washington and they release daily updates on the volcano's activity.

Advanced technology is helping scientists to predict how the volcano is behaving. They are able to monitor the movement of the dome inside the crater thanks to Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and examine the activity with the help of 3D virtual reconstructions.

Mount St Helens is a stratovolcano, also described by geologists as a composite volcano. These are formed by the eruption of viscous lava flows over thousands of years and are potentially the most dangerous as far as the local community and wildlife are concerned because they tend to erupt explosively.

The newly formed lava dome inside Mount St Helens is like the cap on top of the magma beneath the Earth's crust and if the force becomes too great for the dome to contain there could be an eruption. An eruption also may be caused if the lava dome keeps growing and becomes so heavy that it collapses into the crater.

Predicting what will happen next is a day-to-day, sometimes even hour-by-hour, job. It's a bit like keeping an eye on a pressure cooker, it could simmer away gently for a while and then explode if the pressure inside can no longer be contained.

At the moment experts are confident to predict that Mount St Helens is not in imminent danger of erupting. Roads around the mountain that were closed last Autumn have now been reopened, as has the Mount St Helens Visitors Centre.