Kilauea Eruption

Episode 49 — June 14, 2026

Episode 49 arrived right on schedule. Lava fountaining began at 9:36 AM HST on Saturday, June 14 and ended abruptly at 5:05 PM — just under 7.5 hours of continuous activity from the north vent in Halemaʻumaʻu crater. Fountains reached a maximum of about 688 feet (210m), consistent with the range we've seen since Episode 46.

The south vent stayed mostly quiet this time. It spattered periodically, sending material up to 150 feet (50m), but never produced a full fountain — making this a north-vent-only episode. The volcanic plume hit 18,000 feet (5,500m) above sea level based on radar data, lower than Episode 48's record-setting 24,000 feet but still impressive. Winds from the northeast pushed the plume southwest, keeping most tephra fallout within park boundaries.

Episode 50 — June 27, 2026: Tallest Fountains of the Year

Episode 50 delivered the milestone with a bang. Fountaining from the north vent ended abruptly at 5:10 PM HST on Friday, June 27 after roughly 7 hours of continuous activity, with lava jets reaching up to 1,000 feet (300m) — the tallest fountains of 2026 and among the highest of the entire cycle. It fell just short of Episode 39's record 1,400 feet, but comfortably out-fountained the 688-foot Episode 49 two weeks earlier.

Tephra fallout stayed mostly inside the closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park southwest of the vents, though a light fall of Pele's hair — thin, brittle strands of volcanic glass — reached the town of Pāhala in Kaʻū, about 30 km away. Crucially, summit inflation resumed within hours of the episode ending, the tell-tale sign that magma is already refilling the reservoir for Episode 51.

Episode 51 — July 15, 2026: 950-ft Fountains, Then a Pause

After a forecast window that slipped repeatedly through early July as bouts of summit deflation reset the countdown, Episode 51 finally arrived. Lava fountaining began around 8:30 AM HST on Tuesday, July 15 from the north vent in Halemaʻumaʻu crater and ended abruptly that afternoon — roughly 8.3 hours of sustained activity. Fountains reached a maximum of about 950 feet (290m), with the peak effusion rate near 400 cubic yards per second (300 m³/s) around 10:30 AM. The south vent glowed and jetted gas but never produced a full fountain, making this another north-vent-dominated episode.

The volcanic plume climbed to roughly 18,000 feet (5,500m) above sea level, lofting tephra and Pele's hair mostly across the closed, downwind portion of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park southwest of the vents. Crucially, summit tiltmeters recorded renewed inflation once the episode ended — the same reload signal that has preceded every episode in this cycle.

That reload played out on schedule. Episode 51's pause lasted just under two weeks before the next episode arrived.

Episode 52 — July 28–29, 2026: A Shorter, Overnight Fountain

Episode 52 was a quieter chapter in the cycle. Fountaining began around 7:10 PM HST on Monday, July 28 from the north vent and ended abruptly at 2:36 AM HST on July 29 — roughly 7.5 hours, most of it overnight. The maximum fountain height was about 500 feet (150m)— a little over half of Episode 51's 950-foot peak, making this one of the more modest episodes of the summer. The volcanic plume still climbed to roughly 19,000 feet (5,800m) above sea level, drifting tephra across the closed, downwind portion of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

As with every episode in this cycle, the summit began re-inflating almost immediately. HVO recovered the ~8-10 microradians it needed over the following two weeks and forecast a window of August 13–17 — and Episode 53 arrived right at the front of it, on August 12.

Episode 53 — August 12–13, 2026: A New West Vent Opens

Episode 53 did something none of the previous 52 had: it changed the shape of the crater floor. Fountaining began around 3:45 PM HST on August 12 from the north vent and ended abruptly at 1:23 AM HST on August 13 — 9.6 hours of activity. The north vent reached a maximum of about 500 feet (150m) around 5:00 PM, matching Episode 52 rather than the towering 950-foot Episode 51. But the notable change happened at the south end of Halemaʻumaʻu: a collapse pit behind the long-quiet south vent gave way and opened a new west vent, which periodically fed lava through the episode. The south vent itself never fountained.

By volume it was a busy episode. HVO measured an average effusion rate of about 180 cubic yards (135 m³) per second across the whole event — erupting roughly 6 million cubic yards of lava — with an early overflow rapidly extending more than 2,000 feet (600m) from the vent across the floor of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Strong trade winds pushed the degassing plume southwest over the Kaʻū Desert. Summit deflation totaled 14.0 microradians during the episode, and inflation resumed the moment fountaining stopped.

Fifty-three episodes in, nobody knows where the cycle ends — the magma supply feeding it shows no sign of tapering, and the new west vent is a reminder that the crater is still actively rebuilding itself. HVO says a 54th episode is likely but, as of its August 13 update, needed more tilt data to set a forecast window. If you're visiting Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in the coming weeks, you might catch the next one live. The park typically closes during active fountaining but reopens within hours once the episode ends. Check the USGS Kilauea updates page for real-time status.

How USGS Forecasts Kilauea Episodes

HVO's forecast model is surprisingly straightforward. Tiltmeters at the summit measure ground deformation as magma fills the shallow reservoir beneath Halemaʻumaʻu. When tilt reaches the threshold — typically 8-10 microradians of inflation — the reservoir is full enough to trigger a new fountaining episode. The inflation rate (about 2 µrad/day in the current cycle) lets scientists estimate the eruption window with ~3-4 day precision.

It's not perfect — Episode 46 arrived slightly ahead of schedule on May 5, while some earlier episodes were delayed by a day or two. But the model has correctly predicted every episode since late 2025, making this one of the most forecastable eruptions on the planet. Think of it like a pressure cooker with a known capacity: once it's full, something's going to give.

Episode 48 — June 1, 2026 (ALL-TIME RECORD)

Episode 48 began at 4:40 AM HST on June 1 and ended at 1:37 PM — nine hours of continuous lava fountaining from the north vent in Halemaʻumaʻu crater at Kilauea's summit. With this episode, the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption officially surpassed Puʻu ʻŌʻō's 47 high-fountain episodes from 1983-86, making it the most episodic fountaining eruption ever recorded at Kilauea.

What made Episode 48 especially interesting wasn't the fountain height — 650 feet is consistent with the recent Ep46-47 range. It was the plume. At 24,000 feet above sea level, the volcanic plume towered 4,000 feet higher than Episode 46's previous cycle record of 20,000 feet. That suggests more volatile-rich magma reaching the surface, even as fountain heights have stabilized. More gas, same fountain — an unusual combination.

The episode was preceded by 95 small overflows from the south vent over 22.5 hours — the most extensive precursory activity of any episode in the cycle. Tephra fell at several inches in diameter near summit overlooks, with about 2mm of ash and Pele's hair reaching Volcano Village, Mauna Loa Estates, and Ohia Estates. Lava covered 40% of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor.

Episode 47 — May 14, 2026

The 47th episode — the one that tied Puʻu ʻŌʻō's record — ran from 3:27 PM HST on May 14 to 12:27 AM on May 15. Nine hours of continuous fountaining from the north vent, with 650-foot (200m) fountains and approximately 6.8 million cubic yards of lava. Fine ash and Pele's hair fell outside park boundaries. At the time, it seemed like a routine episode. Nobody knew Episode 48 would break the record 18 days later.

Episodes 45-46 Recap

Episode 45 (April 23): Erupted right on schedule, 14 days after Episode 44. The north vent produced fountains that occasionally topped 1,000 feet (305m) over 8.5 hours — visible from Hilo, 30 miles away. The wispy trails at the fountain's peak made for spectacular nighttime footage that went viral on social media.

Episode 46 (May 5): A 9-hour episode with 650-foot (200m) fountains from the north vent. The real story was the volcanic plume — it reached 20,000 feet (6,000m) above sea level, the tallest of the entire cycle. Both vents showed precursory lava flows in the days before, but only the north vent produced a full fountain. This was the first time the plume-to-fountain ratio was so high, suggesting more volatile-rich magma.

Episode 44 — April 9, 2026

The 44th episode of lava fountaining began at 11:10 AM HST on April 9, 2026, from the north vent in Halemaʻumaʻu crater at Kilauea's summit. It ended at 7:41 PM — roughly 8.5 hours of continuous activity.

Peak fountain heights hit ~800 feet around 1 PM, with the north vent doing most of the work. Lava covered roughly half the Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor. Chunks of lightweight reticulite (a type of volcanic glass) up to 12 inches across rained down near Kilauea Military Camp and the Volcano Golf Course subdivision. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park closed temporarily, and a stretch of Highway 11 was shut down until around 6 PM.

The Ongoing Eruption Cycle (Dec 2024 – Present)

What started on December 23, 2024 has become the most remarkable episodic fountaining eruption in recorded history. Through 53 episodes and counting, Kilauea has been erupting in discrete fountaining episodes from two vents in Halemaʻumaʻu crater — the north vent and south vent. Each episode follows a predictable pattern:

1. Summit inflation builds over 1-4 weeks as magma fills the shallow reservoir
2. Precursory lava oozes from one or both vents, sometimes days before
3. Fountaining begins abruptly, typically from the north vent
4. 6-12 hours of sustained activity with fountains ranging from 30m to 425m
5. Eruption pauses. Deflation begins. Cycle resets.

The cycle went through an intensification phase. Early episodes in January 2025 produced modest 100-160 foot fountains. By mid-2025, heights exceeded 1,000 feet. Episode 39 on December 24, 2025 set the fountain height record at approximately 1,400 feet (425m). Episodes 46-48 have settled around 650-foot fountains, but the plume heights tell a different story — Episode 48's 24,000-foot plume shattered Episode 46's 20,000-foot record, suggesting more volatile-rich magma even as fountain heights stabilize.

Kilauea Eruption History

Kilauea is one of the most active shield volcanoes on Earth. It's been erupting nearly continuously since 1983, and Hawaiian oral histories record eruptions going back centuries. Here are the major eruption periods:

Kilauea's eruptions are effusive — basaltic lava flows rather than the explosive blasts that characterize stratovolcanoes. Compare this to the explosive 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption or the ongoing Mayon Volcano eruption in the Philippines, where pyroclastic flows pose an immediate threat. Hawaii's shield volcanism makes Kilauea one of the safest active volcanoes in the United States to observe.

Can You Visit Kilauea During an Eruption?

Yes — and millions of people do every year. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park remains open between episodes, and the episodic nature of the current eruption means the park is accessible most of the time.

During active episodes, the park closes temporarily (Episode 44 caused a same-day closure). Between episodes, you can drive to overlooks above Halemaʻumaʻu crater and see the fresh lava flows, steam vents, and — at night — the orange glow from cooling lava.

Kilauea Volcano Tours

Seeing an active volcano is a bucket-list experience. The best way to make the most of a Kilauea visit is with a guided tour — local guides know the best viewpoints, current conditions, and can get you to spots you'd never find on your own. Helicopter tours offer aerial views of the crater and lava flows that are genuinely jaw-dropping.

Frequently Asked Questions