Onset of Kīlauea eruptive episode 53 has begun

Precursory low-level eruptive activity at Kīlauea within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park has begun ahead of its 53rd eruptive episode.

The activity began at around 11:20 a.m. with the onset of intermittent lava dome fountaining and overflows from the north vent within Halema‘uma‘u Crater. A second overflow began at 11:35 a.m. and lasted roughly 4 minutes.

Summit inflation is continuing. As a result, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is raising the Alert Level for Kīlauea from advisory to watch and the Aviation Color Code from yellow to orange.

This low-level precursory activity can continue for hours to days before the lava fountaining episode begins. The forecast for episode 53 of lava fountaining to start is between today and Aug. 13.

Lava fountaining episodes began on Dec. 23, 2024. Most have continued for a day or less.

The last episode occurred on July 29. It ended abruptly after 7.5 hours of continuous fountaining.