Eruption of Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii

On October 1, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park closed the area near Keanakākoʻi Crater on Kilauea's summit. During the night, magma flowed through a new fissure beneath Halemaʻumaʻu Crater and failed to emerge through a new vent. The rest of the park was not closed due to this.

The old Crater Rim Drive, the lookouts near Keanakākoʻi, and the Crater Rim Trail to the crater are closed. The parking lot at Devastation Trail remains open, as the closed section begins there.

The tremors began on September 30 at about 2:00 p.m. Hawaiian time, about a mile below the active vents. The strongest, a magnitude 3.4, occurred at 9:52 p.m. at a depth of about 0.9 miles. It was felt: the observatory received about 30 reports. Over the course of 24 hours, it recorded 98 shallow earthquakes, mostly under Halemaʻumaʻu. A morning flyby on October 1 showed no new hot spots or new cracks on the surface. Lava remained deep in the northern vent.

Kilauea has been erupting in episodes within the caldera since December 23, 2024. The last high lava fountain was on August 25. The observatory keeps the volcano under increased surveillance, the aviation code is orange: the summit is still under pressure, so a new fountain and lava in another part of the caldera are possible. As of October 4, that nightly movement of magma had not resumed, and the eastern and southwestern rift zones were calm. The rim of Halemaʻumaʻu itself has been closed to people since late 2007. The observatory did not write whether the ban on Keanakākoʻi was lifted after October 1.