Kilauea volcano in Hawaii has erupted for the 55th time since December 2024, ending its longest pause yet with lava fountains reaching 250 feet.
Lava began shooting from the north vent just after 3 a.m. local time Saturday inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, pouring a broad sheet into Halemaʻumaʻu crater.
FOX Weather reported the return of activity at one of the world’s most active volcanoes after an unusually long quiet stretch that followed the end of the prior episode on Aug. 25.
U.S. Geological Survey volcano observers tracked the fountain as it grew to about 250 feet high and at least as wide. Wind from the northeast kept falling tephra inside already closed sections of the park.
USGS Volcanoes posted the official status note at 4:21 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time on Oct. 17, 2026.
USGS Volcanoes stated:
"Kilauea Message 2026-10-17 04:21:15 HST. The north vent fountain has grown to about 250 feet (80 m) high and is at least as wide. The fountain is feeding a broad sheet of lava into Halema'uma'u crater. Wind is from the northeast and tephra is within the closed area of HVNP."
Episodes in this series have generally been separated by pauses of two weeks or more. The break after Aug. 25 stretched roughly two months and ranked as the longest gap so far.
That pattern dates to Dec. 23, 2024, when the current run of episodic eruptions began. Captions tied to USGS imagery also marked the 53rd episode on Aug. 12, 2026, and referenced the 54th before Saturday’s restart.
USGS scientists pointed to a late-September and early-October shift at the summit. A series of earthquakes and a shallow magma intrusion beneath Halemaʻumaʻu made the next start time impossible to pin down with confidence.
Fresh ground cracks cut across the north part of the Kīlauea summit caldera floor, known as Kaluapele, between Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. The cracks sliced through recent tephra deposits near active vents and measured up to about 6 inches wide.
On Oct. 6, a thermal camera recorded the steaming cracks at roughly 60 degrees Celsius, or 140 degrees Fahrenheit. USGS photographer M. Patrick documented the new fractures and the heat readings.
Park managers had already moved to limit exposure. The Halemaʻumaʻu Trail and parts of the Byron Ledge Trail were temporarily closed earlier in the month because of the stepped-up seismic activity.
Those steps fit a familiar cycle of trail shutdowns at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park when lava unrest returns to the summit.
Observers describe the system as a shallow reservoir under the crater that fills, vents, and refills. Magma also pushed into cracks beneath the surface, driving the earthquakes and ground breaks that preceded Saturday’s fountaining.
The same unrest period drew wider notice when nearly 100 quakes rattled Kīlauea and forced additional park precautions.
No injuries or structural damage were reported with the 55th episode itself. The immediate hazards stayed inside controlled zones.
Still, the standard warnings apply. Volcanic gas can bother people downwind, especially anyone with breathing problems. Fine glass strands known as Pele’s hair can irritate skin, eyes, and airways if they drift into open areas.
Kilauea’s stop-and-start summit show is only one piece of the Big Island’s restless geology. Separate monitoring has also tied offshore shaking to undersea volcanic movement near the island chain.
A recent magnitude 5.2 earthquake off Hawaii’s Big Island underscored how often seismic and volcanic signals travel together in the region.
Elsewhere, large eruptions have shown how fast ash and closures can snarl daily life far from the vent. The Mount Anak Krakatau eruption that grounded flights across Indonesia remains a clear example of transport shock when a volcano jumps from quiet to full output.
Hawaii’s park closures so far have been narrower and proactive. Tephra from the new fountains stayed inside the closed portion of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, matching the wind call in the USGS message.
At publication, the duration of the 55th episode had not been declared over. The north vent was actively feeding lava into the crater floor while crews kept the hazardous ground off-limits.
For visitors and residents, the practical lesson is unchanged. When the summit stirs, the agencies that map cracks, measure heat, and shut trails are doing the basic work of keeping people out of the fallout zone.
The mountain sets the timetable. Clear warnings and closed gates are what stand between a spectacular lava sheet and a preventable injury.
