Here's an AP report: A 3.1-magnitude earthquake shook the crater at Mount St. Helens Saturday morning, the strongest quake at the volcano since its new lava dome began growing in mid-October.

U.S. Geological Survey scientists continued to say no major eruption was imminent _ just a continuation of the minor ash and steam eruptions that have been occurring since the mountain re-awakened this fall.

Saturday's earthquake appeared to be a larger version of the small earthquakes that have been occurring about once a minute for the past several weeks, the USGS said in a news release.

Scientists hoped to take advantage of good weather predicted for Sunday and Monday to get a better look at the volcano.

Interesting story that indicates the dome is growing rapidly inside the crater of Mount St. Helens:

If lava continues to pour out at the current rate, geologists say the new dome will be tall enough to be visible from Portland in less than two years. And in little more than a decade, the volcano would be back to the size it was before the cataclysmic blast that turned a snow-covered peak to a blackened shell and shaved 1,313 feet off its peak.

While it's unlikely that today's furious growth will continue that long, it's possible the volcano will erupt sporadically over the next 20 to 50 years or more, regaining its former height gradually, said volcanologist Willie Scott of the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory.