Kīlauea eruption sends 1,000-foot lava fountains, ash toward Kaū

Lava fountains from Kīlauea’s north vent shot to about 1,000 feet above Halemaumau on June 27, while ash and Pele’s hair drifted toward Pāhala, Nāālehu and Highway 11 in Kaū. The seven-hour burst began at 10:10 a.m. inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and ended abruptly at 5:10 p.m.

The National Weather Service forecast low-level trade winds would push ash southwest, and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory recorded light Pele’s hair fallout in Pāhala from 1:00 to 1:55 p.m. HVO warned that tephra could keep falling on communities and roads in Kaū after the fountains stopped, including stretches of Highway 11 southwest of Volcano, where even thin fallout can affect driving, visibility and outdoor plans.

The episode’s peak output came between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m., when USGS measured an instantaneous effusion rate of about 430 cubic yards, or 330 cubic meters, per second, slightly higher than recent episodes. The south vent never fountained, and the plume rose to about 17,000 to 18,000 feet above sea level, keeping the ash, gas and tephra threat focused on the island’s southwest side rather than spreading evenly across the island.

Temporary closures were not expected at first, but they could change quickly with wind direction, volcanic gas and fallout. After Episode 50 ended, tephra stayed mostly within the park’s closed area, the summit eruption paused, and the USGS lowered the alert level to ADVISORY and the aviation color code to YELLOW.