Our Amazing & Restless Planet

Precursory activity has started at Kilauea's summit. Expect Ep 51 to start today 14 July 2026.

1 month ago | [YT] | 9

Our Amazing & Restless Planet

I was going to post an Ep 50 eruption update but the videos were corrupted. Here is a breakdown on on Episode 50:
HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT
U.S. Geological Survey
Saturday, June 27, 2026, 6:59 PM HST (Sunday, June 28, 2026, 04:59 UTC)


KILAUEA (VNUM #332010)
19°25'16" N 155°17'13" W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: ADVISORY
Current Aviation Color Code: YELLOW

Summary: Episode 50 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at the summit of Kīlauea ended abruptly at 5:10 p.m. HST on June 27. The eruption is currently paused.

Activity Summary:

Episode 50 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at the summit of Kīlauea ended abruptly at 5:10 p.m. HST on June 27, 2026, after 7 hours of continuous lava fountaining from the north vent. The eruption is currently paused.
Tephra fall was restricted mostly to the closed area of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park to the southwest of the active Halemaʻumaʻu vents. A light fall of Peleʻs hair was reported from the town of Pāhala in Kaʻū.
Episode 50 Chronology:

Lava fountaining episode 50 in Halemaʻumaʻu at the summit of Kīlauea began at 10:10 a.m. HST on June 27 and stopped abruptly at 5:10 p.m. HST, after 7.0 hours of continuous fountaining from the north vent. The last 2-3 minutes were marked by gas jetting from the north vent. The south vent never fountained during this episode. The instantaneous effusion rate peaked at about 430 cubic yards (330 cubic meters) per second between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m. HST, with an average effusion rate of 280 cubic yards (210 cubic meters) per second for the entire fountaining episode. An estimated 6.4 million cubic yards (4.9 million cubic meters) of lava erupted and covered about 50% of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor. The Uēkahuna tiltmeter (UWD) recorded about 15.3 microradians of deflationary tilt during episode 50. Seismicity followed the normal change in tremor patterns seen after most fountain episodes. There were no locatable earthquakes associated with the end of the eruption.

The initial signs of the approach of episode 50 began with brief periods of spattering associated with gas jetting and tremor spikes from the south vent that were first observed at 7:22 p.m. on the evening of June 24. These intensified over the next day and were joined by small spattering events from the north vent. Around 3:00 a.m. HST on June 26, activity from both the south and north vents increased, leading to the first precursory overflows. Episode 50 lava fountaining began a little over 25 hours after the onset of very short (<50 feet or 15 meters) precursory lava overflows at 8:50 a.m. HST from the north vent on the morning of June 26. The initial overflow lasted about 13 minutes and was followed by another north vent overflow from 9:25 to 9:40 a.m. HST. This was followed by an approximately 21-hour long break in eruptive activity only punctuated by brief episodes of spatter associated with gas jetting and tremor spikes from the south vent.

Eruptions of precursory lava flows resumed from the north vent at 6:56 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. HST on the morning of June 27. This was followed by another large precursory overflow that extended well onto the crater floor that began at 8:38 a.m. HST. The second precursory flow lasted for over an hour until the vent began to drain back at 9:41 a.m. HST. The drainback was associated with multiple large tremor spikes and led directly into the next precursory overflow at 9:46 a.m. HST. Dome fountains gradually increased from about 15 feet (5 meters) high to over 50-100 feet (15-30 meters) high by 10:10 a.m. HST as increasing tremor and rapidly dropping tilt marked the onset of episode 50 fountaining.

The north vent lava fountain reached a peak height of around 1,000 feet (300 meters) just after 11:30 a.m. HST and produced significant heat and ash, feeding a plume cloud that reached a maximum height of about 18,000 feet (5,500 meters) above sea level based on radar data and verified by webcam images. Winds were out of the northeast for most of the eruption causing the plume to move to the southwest during the most energetic part of the eruption. The National Weather Service issued an updated Special Weather Statement (SWS) at 11:28 a.m. HST discussing the possibility of ash and Peleʻs hair falling in the Kaʻū district near the towns of Pāhala and Naʻalehu. The plume track largely remained within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park with most tephra falling in the closed area. The more distal part of the plume track roughly followed the Southwest Rift Zone and USGS field crews found a light fall of Peleʻs hair in the town of Pāhala around 1:30 p.m. HST. By this time the north vent fountain had dropped to 700 feet (210 meters) in height and the plume dropped slightly to 17,000 feet (5,000 meters) above sea level. The fountain and plume heights continued to gradually decrease in height to about 330 feet (100 meters) and 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above sea level by 4:50 p.m. HST. Then the episode ended at 5:10 p.m. HST. No ash or tephra was reported from any other populated areas except for Pāhala during the eruption.

1 month ago | [YT] | 6

Our Amazing & Restless Planet

Expect Kilauea to erupt between today 26 June 2026 and tomorrow 27 June 2026!

2 months ago | [YT] | 10

Our Amazing & Restless Planet

Episode 48 update** Appears that Ep 48 may start anytime today 30 May 2026.

3 months ago | [YT] | 8

Our Amazing & Restless Planet

A mag 6.0 earthquake shook the western part of the Big Island of Hawai'i at 2146 22 May 2026 HST 6 km southeast of Napo'opo'o at a depth of 22km (14 Miles) on the west flank of Mauna Loa. Minor damage occurred to buildings and utility lines as well as landslides near Captain Cook. The earthquake was felt as far as Kaua'i. This earthquake was non-magmatic in nature and was a result of pressure of the

island pressing down on the earth's crust. Kilauea is on course to erupt between now and 27 May 2026 if deflation events continue maybe as late as 1 June 2026.

3 months ago | [YT] | 10

Our Amazing & Restless Planet

Due to the start of multiple overflows from both vents expect Kilauea's episode 46 to start today 5 May 2026.

3 months ago | [YT] | 17

Our Amazing & Restless Planet

Episode 44 precursory activity has started at 0600 HST 3 April 2026. This activity is similar to Episode 40 in which there was 4 days of precursory overflows. Expect high lava fountains between now & 8 April 2026.

Edit: Previous deflationary activity pushes the window of ep 44 high lava fountains between now and 14 Apr 2026.

4 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 10

Our Amazing & Restless Planet

Kilauea episode 41 has started!

7 months ago | [YT] | 26

Our Amazing & Restless Planet

I am here at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park awaiting ep 40 to start. Did caoture aome precursory activity

7 months ago | [YT] | 11

Our Amazing & Restless Planet

Kilauea's Episode 39 is about to start anywhere from 23-25 of December.

8 months ago | [YT] | 15