Lava overflows as Episode 35 of ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at Kīlauea builds

During the lapse in appropriations, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory continues to maintain monitoring networks and issue updates and notifications of volcanic activity via the Hazard Notification Service.

Precursory low-level activity for episode 35 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption increased on Thursday morning, Oct. 16, 2025, with a series of lava overflows and drainbacks occurring from the south vent. 

Seven lava overflow-drainback events occurred between 7:47 a.m. and 1 p.m. HST. Each overflow produced short, channelized lava flows that flowed onto the crater floor. Each overflow event ended with lava suddenly draining back into the south vent. The drainbacks were immediately preceded by a short burst of spattering or small fountaining in the vent.

Additional overflow-drainback events are expected in the coming hours and days, possibly with increased frequency and/or duration. Similar events occurred during the days leading up to the onset of previous episodes. Approximately 100 overflow-drainback events were observed prior to episode 34 fountaining.

Precursory activity prior to previous fountaining episodes has lasted from a few hours to a few days and has included eruptive vent spattering, small dome fountains, lava overflows, and lava drainbacks. Current activity therefore suggests that episode 35 fountaining is likely to begin within the next few days.

Forecast models based on the rate of summit inflation indicate that episode 35 lava fountaining is likely to begin between Oct. 17 and 22, 2025, with the most likely dates being between Oct. 18 and 20. The onset of episode 35 lava fountaining may occur sooner if rates of inflation and precursory activity increase.

Summary of south vent lava overflow/drainback events recorded between 7:47 a.m. and 1 p.m. HST, Oct. 16:

Overflow Start time; Overflow End time; Duration (hr:mm)
Oct. 16, 2025 7:35 a.m.; Oct. 16, 2025 7:47 a.m.; 0:12
Oct. 16, 2025 8:50 a.m.; Oct. 16, 2025 9:03 a.m.; 0:13
Oct. 16, 2025 9:29 a.m.; Oct. 16, 2025 9:34 a.m.; 0:05
Oct. 16, 2025 10:47 a.m.; Oct. 16, 2025 10:51 a.m.; 0:04
Oct. 16, 2025 11:12 a.m.; Oct. 16, 2025 11:26 a.m.; 0:14
Oct. 16, 2025 11:54 a.m.; Oct. 16, 2025 12:28 p.m.; 0:34
Oct. 16, 2025 12:41 p.m.; Oct. 16, 2025 12:54 p.m.; 0:13

As reported in this morning’s Kīlauea Daily Update, nearly continuous strong glow was visible from both the north and south vents last night, indicating that magma within the conduits is close to the surface. Intermittent spattering in the north vent became visible just after dark last night. Infrequent spattering also occurred from the south vent after 10 p.m. HST. Seismic tremor changed from continuous to irregular gas pistoning last night. Kīlauea’s summit region continued to inflate over the past 24 hours. The UWD tiltmeter shows continued inflationary tilt and has recovered more than 22 microradians since episode 34 ended. Inflation rates increased on Oct. 15 to approximately 2 microradians per day.

At the start of previous episodes, precursory activity has rapidly escalated into sustained high fountaining over minutes to tens of minutes. During previous episodes, fountains reached heights of more than 1,000 feet and the eruptive plume reached heights of up to 20,000 feet above ground level soon after sustained high fountaining began.

Most episodes of Halemaʻumaʻu lava fountaining since Dec. 23, 2024, have continued for around a day or less and have been separated by pauses in eruptive activity lasting generally at least several days. 

• Timeline of eruptive episodes since Dec. 23, 2024: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/science/eruption-information.
• All eruptive activity is confined to Halemaʻumaʻu crater within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.
• Three Kīlauea summit livestream videos that show eruptive lava fountains are available here: V1cam, V2cam, V3cam.
• KPcam and MKcam provide views of the plume height for aviation purposes.

No changes have been detected in the East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone. 

A VAN/VONA will be issued when sustained high lava fountaining begins, marking the start of episode 35.

Kīlauea Volcano Alert Level/Aviation Color Code remain at WATCH/ORANGE. All current and recent activity is within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.