Kilauea summit tilt rises, periodic flames seen overnight at south vent
Tilt climbed at Kilauea’s summit as overnight flames flickered from the south vent, with scientists watching for a possible fountain episode later this week.
Periodic flames flickered overnight from Kilauea’s south vent as summit tilt continued to rise, keeping Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and the Volcano area on watch for the next burst from the summit crater. The activity is still confined to Halemaumau, but the combination of inflation and visible glow is the clearest sign yet that the eruption remains in an active recharge phase.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory issued its daily update Tuesday at 9:42 a.m. HST, saying bright glow with periodic flames was visible overnight from the south vent. The glow was not as bright or as continuous as previous nights, a detail that suggests the system is active but has not yet reached the most intense part of the cycle.
That pattern fits the larger episodic eruption at Kilauea’s summit. USGS said the 50th episode of the ongoing eruption began June 27 and ended seven hours later at 5:10 p.m., and the next high lava fountain episode, episode 52, was being forecast for July 24 through July 28. For people in Volcano, park visitors, and tour operators planning time near the summit, that leaves a narrow window in which glow and flame can intensify quickly.
The observatory is continuing to track summit inflation and tilt through its Kilauea Volcano updates and messages, along with the overnight glow and flame pattern at the south vent. That monitoring matters because the summit has changed rapidly before: in December 2025, high lava fountains destroyed a USGS monitoring camera in Halemaumau, showing how forceful these episodes can be even when they remain inside the crater.
For now, the practical takeaway around Hawaii Island is to watch the south vent after dark and the tilt trend through the next few days. If the glow grows brighter and more continuous, it would signal that the summit is moving closer to the next high-fountaining episode inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
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