Kilauea volcano erupts, closes Hawaii highways

Hollering out to our various Big Island Palm Talkers. @Kim @Dypsisdean @Hilo Jason @HiloGreg @bgl and all the rest, hope you're okay.

Yeah, I treat myself to a little whine now and again over the winds, but this takes mega-bakeries full of cakes . . . . 

 

Second time recently, we’ve had to disconnect our water catchment system because we have tephra and Ash landing on the roof which gets into the gutters which gets into the water tank, but other than that, no problems here.

I happened to be on a flight from Honolulu to Hilo yesterday, but on approach to Hilo at 2:45 pm, the pilot made an odd left turn. Then another more severe left turn and I could feel the plane climbing rather than descending. I knew something was wrong, and wondered if we were returning to Oahu. The pilot announced we were being diverted to Kona, much to the dismay of passengers. Planes don't do well flying into ash clouds, thus the inconvenience. Luckily a dear friend, BGL, came to pick me up and take me back across the island. The park was closed, visitors ordered out, and the highway approaching the park was closed. This is an exciting place!

 

Edit: I should add, the repeated eruptions are contained within the humongous main crater up in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and notwithstanding the flying tephra, no homes or towns are in peril.

36 minutes ago, Kim said:

the repeated eruptions are contained within the humongous main crater up in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and notwithstanding the flying tephra, no homes or towns are in peril.

Thank God for that!  🙂

Living in north Hilo we’ve been fortunate not to have had much impact from recent eruptions. Lots of Pele’s hair, but no tephra and very little vog. We are also on city services, so no worries about catchment tank disruptions. 

Glad Bo was able to pick you up Kim, a major inconvenience averted. If such an event happens again, we’re here as a back-up.

Tim

 

I'm glad you are all ok and looking out for each other, it's cool to see in videos but you always wonder where it will go next. Hopefully she keeps to the crater for a long time to come! 

I will stick with my subtropical climate for now, no cyclones or volcanoes to worry about, only problem is my palms grow so slow. Lucky Hawaii growers! 

Hi there.

I am honestly relieved that you are all doing well. Even if Okinawa's participation in this forum has dropped a bit lately, the Hawaiian forum members are always observed closely.👍

To enlighten you,...

...this is a brand new C.macrocarpa leave.

Stay safe fellas, we count on you - best regards,

Lars

 

I live about 30 miles due east of Kilauea summit. Of course, I live directly ON Kilauea, just the lower slopes. The spectacular fountaining two days ago was episode 43. These have been happening roughly every two weeks for the last 15 months, but each one only last a few hours. It is difficult to catch them unless you happen to already be in the park when it starts. Despite being so close, I have not seen the 300-400 m high fountains in person. Surprisingly, all these eruptions have had essentially no impact on me. All the action is within the caldera. I did get a dusting of Pele's hair (fiber glass) from episode 41 or 42 several weeks ago. I had to disconnect my roof's rain gutters from my catchment tank until rain washed it off. Otherwise, I might as well be in Ohio. I have been more worried about big earthquakes, but so far I only felt one minor M4.5 a couple months ago. Fingers crossed.

Here is what the recent eruption looked like on weather radar. Doppler radar sees the steam and ash cloud rising over 3,000 m, not the actual lava fountains. Today the island is covered in red and orange as a massive storm slowly passes over.

Thanks @kim for sharing! 

Glad you are all well and out of harms way . Thank you @DoomsDave for starting a thread so our Hawaii folks can check in and report , fortunately out of the threat of the eruptions so far. Harry

18 hours ago, Rick Kelley said:

Vivo a unos 50 kilómetros al este de la cima del Kilauea. Claro, vivo justo EN el Kilauea, en las laderas inferiores. El espectacular chorro de agua de hace dos días fue el episodio 43. Estos chorros han estado ocurriendo aproximadamente cada dos semanas durante los últimos 15 meses, pero cada uno dura solo unas horas. Es difícil verlos a menos que ya estés en el parque cuando empiezan. A pesar de estar tan cerca, no he visto en persona los chorros de agua de 300-400 metros de altura. Sorprendentemente, todas estas erupciones no me han afectado prácticamente nada. Toda la acción está dentro de la caldera. Sí que me cayó un poco de pelo de Pele (fibra de vidrio) del episodio 41 o 42 hace varias semanas. Tuve que desconectar las canaletas de mi techo del tanque de recogida de agua hasta que la lluvia lo lavó. De lo contrario, bien podría estar en Ohio. Me han preocupado más los grandes terremotos, pero hasta ahora solo he sentido uno menor de magnitud 4,5 hace un par de meses. Crucemos los dedos.

Así se veía la reciente erupción en el radar meteorológico. El radar Doppler muestra la nube de vapor y ceniza elevándose a más de 3000 m, no las fuentes de lava propiamente dichas. Hoy la isla está cubierta de rojo y naranja mientras una enorme tormenta avanza lentamente.

Hawai🌴🌴🌴🦜🦜

On 11/3/2026 at 12:29, DoomsDave said:

El volcán Kilauea entra en erupción y cierra las carreteras de Hawái.

Un saludo a nuestros diversos Palm Talkers de la Isla Grande.@Kim @Dypsisdean @Hilo Jason @HiloGreg @bgl Y a todos los demás, espero que estén bien.

Sí, de vez en cuando me permito quejarme un poco sobre el viento, pero esto requiere mega panaderías llenas de pasteles... 

 

On 11/3/2026 at 12:29, DoomsDave said:

El volcán Kilauea entra en erupción y cierra las carreteras de Hawái.

Un saludo a nuestros diversos Palm Talkers de la Isla Grande.@Kim @Dypsisdean @Hilo Jason @HiloGreg @bgl Y a todos los demás, espero que estén bien.

Sí, de vez en cuando me permito quejarme un poco sobre el viento, pero esto requiere mega panaderías llenas de pasteles... 

 

What a tremendous explosion, Dave! It's like a bomb.

El 12/3/2026 a las 9:51, palmfriend dijo:

Hola.

Sinceramente, me alivia saber que todos están bien. Aunque la participación de Okinawa en este foro haya disminuido un poco últimamente, siempre se sigue de cerca a los miembros hawaianos.👍

Para aclararles las cosas,...

...esta es una hoja nueva de C. macrocarpa.

Manténganse a salvo, muchachos, contamos con ustedes. Un cordial saludo.

Lars

 

Palma macrocarpa🦜🦜🌴

I would like to visit the island of Hawaii someday. They are Polynesian sister islands, along with Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in Chile.

Hope everyone on the island is OK.

Of course, it's a great island.
Very beautiful.

El 12/3/2026 a las 19:52, DoomsDave dijo:

¡Gracias @kim por compartir! 

Of course, it's a great island.
Very beautiful.

Yes @Hu Palmeras, it is a very beautiful island. But we did have a little weather after my arrival. I arrived on March 10, then lots of rain. Lots! Saturday, March 14 at 8:30 am the power went out as winds picked up to very intense gusts and rain fell in sideways-blown sheets. We wisely decided to skip our usual trip into Hilo for lunch and grocery shopping. Friends brought a small generator to keep the refrigerator going and we had dinners by candle light.. This lasted through Sunday and finally Monday at 2:30 in the afternoon the power came back on -- but not for everyone. Sleeping at night during the storm sounded like an oceanfront condo with storm waves crashing. The interminable wind and rain had quickly become exhuasting.  

When things finally calmed, I walked the garden to find big dead, very heavy! ohi'a logs had fallen and broken up into pieces in several places in the garden, but amazingly no real damage. I have a lot of cleanup to do, but am so grateful for friends and neighbors pulling together here to make sure everyone is safe and not stressing too much.

I realize how addicted I have become to my devices for weather reports, news, and virtually every kind of information. With no power and no internet we were cut off from the world -- but we could drive into town, buy a delicious coffee from Kohala Coffee Company, and catch up on the essentials, then vacate the table for others in the same situation. Our area had more than 20 inches of rain from Saturday through Sunday but some areas of the island had in excess of 45 inches, and damage from rain was worse on Maui and Oahu.  This kind of storm is known as a Kona Low, for you weather buffs out there. 😉 A friend on the Kailua-Kona side said it was the worst storm she had experienced in her 33 years here!