I remember Mt. St Helens blowing her top very clearly still. I watched it from our house in the U District some 75 miles to the north and still visible. The next day at work I was the one tasked with making the color proofs and first prints of the now famous sequence shot by Gary Rosenquist. People outside my darkroom heard a lot of Holy Shits! being exclaimed. Afterward I thought they were going to do a cavity search for stashed negatives. But considering the importance of these shots it was understandable.
http://petapixel.com/2013/02/26/photographing-the-eruption-of-mount-st-helens-from-10-miles-away/
http://petapixel.com/2013/02/26/photographing-the-eruption-of-mount-st-helens-from-10-miles-away/