Three violent eruptions of the Mount St. Helens volcano on 18 and 24 May and 13 June terminated the period of background aerosol prevailing in the stratosphere since the end of 1976, after the decay of the volcanic aerosols injected by the Fuego eruption in 1974. The Mt. St. Helens eruption cloud arrived over mid-Europe on 26 may. The subsequent formation of a multi-layered aerosol structure between 12 and 24 km could be observed by the ground-based lidar at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The highest altitude of 24 km was reached on 30 June, the maximum scattering ratio of 4.8 at 21 km on 14 July. The scattering ratios observed indicate that the St. Helens eruption is comparable to that of Fuego in 1974.