Messages from the USGS Volcano Hazards Program https://www.usgs.gov/natural-hazards/volcano-hazards/ Wed, 24 Jun 2026 22:00:03 +0000 A moderate magnitude 3.6 earthquake occurred at 5 miles (7 km) depth beneath the southflank of Kīlauea volcano at 8:29 am HST today. This quake is not directly related to magmatic activity. 2026-06-24 18:53:39 UTC VHP Message 759 A deep, magnitude 4.5 earthquake occurred offshore of Hawaiʻi Island at 2:14 am HST. Over 150 felt reports within the first half hour. Light shaking, no significant damage expected. No change to eruption. 2026-06-17 12:50:33 UTC VHP Message 758 Episode 49 ended at 5:05 p.m. HST after 7.5 hours of fountaining. The north vent fountain dropped rapidly from 200-300 hundred feet (60-90 m) just after 5 p.m. and then began jetting tephra in bursts for the last 2-3 minutes. 2026-06-15 03:14:02 UTC VHP Message 757 The north vent fountain has dropped to about 300 feet (90 m) and continues to feed a lava flow on the south and east sides of Halemaʻumaʻu. Winds are variable but field crews found no significant ash fall on the north side of the summit. 2026-06-15 02:44:02 UTC VHP Message 756 The north vent fountain has dropped to about 400 feet (120 m) high and is feeding a flow along the south side of Halemaʻumaʻu crater. Summit tilt at UWD has dropped over 10 microradians and produced over 4 million cubic yards of lava. 2026-06-14 23:25:56 UTC VHP Message 755 The north vent fountain is now averaging about 600 feet (185 m) high. Maximum effusion rate during the highest fountains was about 420 cubic yards per second (320 m3/sec). Lava has covered about 30-40% of the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu. 2026-06-14 22:02:44 UTC VHP Message 754 The north vent fountains are now about 700 feet (210 m) high and creating more ash and tephra. The plume cloud is now at approximately 17,000 feet a.s.l. and is moving mostly to the southwest with Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. 2026-06-14 20:44:32 UTC VHP Message 753 The north vent fountain is now about 300 feet (90 m) high and growing. The plume is up to approximately 12,000 feet (3700 m) above sea level and moving to the southwest. 2026-06-14 20:02:49 UTC VHP Message 752 Episode 49 fountaining began at 9:32 a.m. HST marked by a rapid increase in summit tremor along with ongoing summit deflation. fountains are currently 100-150 feet high and are expected to grow to 600-800 feet within the next 1-2 hours. 2026-06-14 19:42:20 UTC VHP Message 751 The south vent began overflows at 7:58 am HST and ended at 8:04 am HST. The north vent has active spattering. Several short ( 2026-06-14 18:10:46 UTC VHP Message 750 The precursory overflow that began from the north vent at 5:59 am HST stopped at 7:04 am HST as lava drained back into the vent. The summit deflation that accompanied this small eruption stopped with the end of the overflow. 2026-06-14 17:19:01 UTC VHP Message 749 A second precursory overflow began at 5:59 am HST fed by a 15 foot (5m) high dome fountain. Alert levels were raised to orange/watch at 4:45 am HST this morning. Onset of episode 49 fountains is most likely today or tomorrow, June 14-15. 2026-06-14 16:10:19 UTC VHP Message 748 Precursory overflows from the north vent began at 4:10 am HST this morning and were fed by 10-15 ft (3-5m) dome fountains. The flow stagnated and lava drained back at 4:30 am HST. 2026-06-14 14:33:36 UTC VHP Message 747 There have been a few small spatter bursts from the north vent beginning just after 2:00 pm HST. These are best seen on the V1 streaming camera. The start of episode 48 fountains is most likely Sunday or Monday. 2026-06-14 01:13:13 UTC VHP Message 746 USGS HVO reports that monitoring stations are now back online and data is being restored as of 2:30 am HST. The backfilling of data may take some time. 2026-06-06 12:54:32 UTC VHP Message 745 USGS HVO has been experiencing a partial network outage since 1:09 am HST this morning. A field crew is out diagnosing the problem. HVO still has sufficient data to issue alerts if there is a change in activity. 2026-06-06 12:31:23 UTC VHP Message 744 The USGS HVO information statement for the M4.6 earthquake is here: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hans-public/notice/DOI-USGS-HVO-2026-06-03T04:31:46+00:00 2026-06-03 04:47:59 UTC VHP Message 743 A M4.6 earthquake off shore of Keahou-Kahaluu in Kona at 34 km depth was felt widely at 5:58 pm HST June 2. This quake was similar in origin to the M6 May 22 quake, but was not an aftershock of that earthquake. 2026-06-03 04:46:18 UTC VHP Message 742 Episode 48 ended at 1:37 p.m. HST after 9 hours. North vent dropped rapidly in the last few minutes. 2026-06-01 23:44:05 UTC VHP Message 741 Wind at the summit is now out of the south as seen on the V3 camera and the V1 camera is getting pelted with tephra. Summit has deflated 16.5 microradians as measured on the UWD tiltmeter. 2026-06-01 22:51:55 UTC VHP Message 740 North vent fountains have dropped below 300 feet (90 m). Effusion rates have dropped from a peak of 400 cubic yards per second (y3/sec) (300 cubic meters per second (m3/sec)) to about 130 y3/sec (100 m3/sec). 2026-06-01 22:34:35 UTC VHP Message 739 North vent fountains have dropped slightly from a maximum of about 650 feet (200 meters) to 425-500 feet (130-150 m). Tephra fall has lightened but fine ash and Peleʻs hair may continue for hours after the eruption stops. 2026-06-01 19:21:20 UTC VHP Message 738 HVO has released a Status Report about ash and tephra fall conditions along with links to NWS and Civil Defense messages. https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hans-public/notice/DOI-USGS-HVO-2026-06-01T16:10:56+00:00 2026-06-01 17:43:31 UTC VHP Message 737 North vent fountains are 500-650 feet (150-200 m) feeding the plume cloud to over 20000 feet. NWS issued an ashfall advisory for communities to the SW and NE of Kīlauea's summit. 2026-06-01 15:49:56 UTC VHP Message 736 North vent fountains are now about 350 feet (100 m) high and growing. Tremor still increasing along with rapid deflation. 2026-06-01 15:17:38 UTC VHP Message 735 North vent fountains increasing in height to about 200 feet (60 m). Tremor also continues to increase as episode 48 ramps up. Expecting 600-800 foot (180-250 m) high fountains within the hour. 2026-06-01 15:07:50 UTC VHP Message 734 Episode 48 began at 4:40 am HST on June first. Continuous fountaining from the north vent and tilt drop began at 3:45 am HST followed by increased tremor just under an hour later. 2026-06-01 14:45:22 UTC VHP Message 733 Vigorous fountaining continues from the north vent and summit tilt has begun deflating. Tremor remains constant at this time as gas pistoning overflows continue from the south vent with approximately 90 overflows to date. 2026-06-01 14:11:39 UTC VHP Message 732 North vent began overflowing at 3:45 am HST. Flows are feed by sustained dome fountaining about 15-30 feet (5-10m) high. Tremor and tilt are currently stable. 2026-06-01 13:56:05 UTC VHP Message 731 Forecast window based on seismic velocity analysis runs from about 8 pm HST tonight to later tomorrow, June 1. Velocities are projected to reach optimum levels on multiple stations around 3 am HST, early tomorrow morning. 2026-06-01 05:41:29 UTC VHP Message 730 Overflows continue from the south vent and spattering continues in the north vent. There have been 60 overflows all related to gas pistoning. Tremor remains consistent and summit inflation continues at a very slow rate. 2026-06-01 05:36:31 UTC VHP Message 729 Precursory activity continues with 35 south vent overflows and spattering in the north vent. Surface winds around the vent have slowed and the plume is rising almost vertically. 2026-05-31 20:25:55 UTC VHP Message 728 The vigor of spattering within the north vent increased significantly at 7:51 am HST when the 29th overflow from the south vent ended. Lava appears to be erupting from the back wall of the north vent and draining into the main vent. 2026-05-31 18:02:31 UTC VHP Message 727 There have been 24 overflows from the south vent since precursory activity began at 5:41 pm HST May 30. Overflows are 15-30 minutes apart and last about 5-10 minutes ending with drainbacks. North vent continues to spatter. 2026-05-31 15:32:19 UTC VHP Message 726 Periodic precursory overflows are continuing. The NWS has issued a Special Weather Statement for south and east Hawaiʻi Island about potential for ashfall. https://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=HIZ027&warncounty=HIC001&fi... 2026-05-31 05:00:55 UTC VHP Message 725 The first overflow was sluggish and only made it about 100 m from the vent and lasted about 5 minutes. A second overflow began at 6:27 pm HST. Spattering continues at the north vent and tremor shows clear gas pistoning. 2026-05-31 04:34:26 UTC VHP Message 724 Episode 48 precursory overflows began at 5:41 pm HST from the south vent. It was preceded by about 24 hours of continuous spattering within the north vent. Summit inflation has temporarily flattened. Surfaces winds are from the northeast. 2026-05-31 03:48:10 UTC VHP Message 723 The summit of Kīlauea continues to inflate slowly. Low level spattering has built a small cone in the north vent. There have been no precursory overflows. The forecast for the onset of episode 48 fountains is today through Monday, June 1. 2026-05-31 02:28:07 UTC VHP Message 722 Spattering from the north vent is becoming more frequent and at times is nearly continuous. No overflows from either vent at this time. Seismic tremor remains relatively constant with no indication of gas pistoning. 2026-05-29 06:56:57 UTC VHP Message 721 Spattering from the north vent has become more frequent and vigorous over the past hour. Small bursts are occurring every few minutes and depositing some spatter on the rim of the vent. 2026-05-29 05:19:00 UTC VHP Message 720 Summit inflation of 15.6 urads recorded on the UWD tiltmeter is now equal to the measured deflation during episode 47.  The forecast window for episode 48 fountains is today through Saturday. There have been no precursory overflows. 2026-05-29 04:47:49 UTC VHP Message 719 Slow summit inflation continues tonight, but tilt remains below the level of the forecast window for episode 48 fountains. Tremor and glow remain about the same as previous days.d 2026-05-28 06:19:04 UTC VHP Message 718 Summit inflation resumed just after noon today and is continuing at a slow pace. The summit tiltmeter UWD recorded about 2 microradians of deflation, which may push back the onset of episode 48 fountaining depending on overnight inflation. 2026-05-27 04:41:15 UTC VHP Message 717 A sharp deflation of Kīlauea's summit began just after 4 pm HST and has recorded a drop of 1 microradian on the UWD tiltmeter. This will push back the episode 48 fountain forecast to May 26-27. No precursory activity has been observed. 2026-05-26 05:30:01 UTC VHP Message 716