I had just moved back to Oregon from Utah in January of 1980. The sky darkened and there was gray ash over everything. I live 85 miles north of the California border on the Oregon coast; but it made driving dangerous and breathing was really hard. We wore masks or cloth over our faces to be able to go anywhere. Most of us stayed inside.

For days after, we had a thick layer of ash over our homes and cars. Luckily, the Pacific winds blew a lot of the ash inland so we cleared off after awhile. But it was scary, that darkness.