Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano Explosively Erupts
Not your average wake up call. An eruption from the Kilauea volcano's summit has shot ash, smoke and rock, about 30,000 feet into the air, early this morning on Hawaii's Big Island. Residents were warned to shelter in place.
The National Weather Service issued an ashfall advisory warning after radars showed the massive plume, which shot higher than the peak of Mount Everest.
These webcam images, from the HVO Observation Tower, show the ash plume as the sun came up. The plume is the result of a explosive eruption today, May 17, 2018 around 4:15 in the morning local time. The resulting plume has been billowing for days and is expected to cover the surrounding area after today's eruption.
Below is a timelapse from USGS' wide angle camera in Halema'uma'u prior to this morning's eruption. The timelapse starts late yesterday afternoon and continues through this morning.
Below is a screen shot of the ash plume at the Kīlauea Volcano summit, taken from a Mauna Loa webcam at 5 am local time. To view updated images, go to the USGS-Hawaiian Volcano Observatory webcam webpage.
Kilauea has been erupting continuously since 1983, but took a dangerous turn in the beginning of May, when several new fissures emerged in a residential neighborhood. This led to a huge plume of smoke; even before today's larger eruption.
Officials have said the explosion should not be deadly as long as people remained out of park. This is an evolving situation and there is likely to be more eruptions. Additional updates and warnings are likely to be issued in the coming days. You can find the latest updates here.
-Katie McGraw
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