The eruption at Kilauea started again on Tuesday at 8:32 a.m. — six days after it paused, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

This marks the 13th episode in the eruption that began on Dec. 23, 2024. Before this, there have been 12 episodes of lava fountaining separated by pauses in activity. 

Episode 13 started was preceded by small, sporadic spatter fountains 15 to 30 feet high that began around 1:30 p.m. on Monday within the north vent and continued to increase in intensity until 6:35 p.m., when HVO could see spattering on the streaming webcam. 

Spattering continued to increase in intensity overnight and into the early morning hours on Tuesday. The north vent erupted at 2:36 a.m. and high fountains began about 10 minutes later. By 3:30 a.m., the north vent’s fountains reached heights up to 500 feet. 

The current eruption is marked by episodic fountaining from two vents (known as the north and south vent) within Halemaumau, which has not been seen in any of the other Halemaumau eruptions since 2020. The duration of each of the 11 previous fountaining episodes varied from a few hours to over a week. Each fountaining episode has been accompanied by a deflation of the summit region. Pauses between the fountaining episodes have been marked by an immediate change from deflation to inflation as the magma chamber recharges and repressurizes. 

Hazards include volcanic gas emissions (vog) and windblown volcanic glass (Pele’s hair). The Hawaii Department of Health advised residents to check air quality levels on the Clean Air Branch website and the Hawai‘i Interagency Vog Information Dashboard.

Michelle Broder Van Dyke covers the Hawaiian Islands for Spectrum News Hawaii. Email her at michelle.brodervandyke@charter.com.