Lava flowing into crater of Kīlauea; episode No. 25 of ongoing eruption about to begin soon

Glow and scattered spattering at the north vent of Kīlauea changed to more continuous spattering early this morning. At about 5:54 a.m., lava overflowed the north vent cone and is currently flowing onto the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu crater.

Episode No. 25 of the ongoing eruption of the Big Island volcano that began in late December is forecast to begin Wednesday or Thursday. But there is a chance that high fountaining could begin later today, according to personnel at Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

In recent episodes of the ongoing eruption within Halemaʻumaʻu, low-level precursory activity has lasted from a few hours to a few days. This activity can include spatter from north and/or south vents, small dome fountains, and lava overflowing from one or both vents.

At the start of previous episodes, precursory activity has rapidly escalated into sustained high fountaining over minutes to tens of minutes.

The tiltmeter at Uēkahuna has recorded 13 microradians of inflation since the end of the last episode. Low level seismic tremor continues beneath Halemaʻumaʻu crater. 

Most episodes of Halemaʻumaʻu lava fountaining since December 23, 2024, have continued for around a day or less and have been separated by pauses in eruptive activity lasting generally at least several days. 

• Timeline of eruptive episodes since December 23, 2024: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/science/eruption-information 
• Three Kīlauea summit livestream videos are available here: https://www.youtube.com/@usgs/streams 

No changes have been detected in the East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone. A VAN/VONA will be issued when sustained lava fountaining begins, marking the start of episode 25, or earlier if the situation warrants a further update.

Kīlauea Volcano Alert Level/Aviation Color Code remain at WATCH/ORANGE. All current and recent activity is within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.