Kilauea's south vent also overflows as USGS says 'Episode 55 remains a possibility'

Status as of the latest USGS daily update

Latest USGS daily update

Sun., Sept. 27, 2026, 8:50 a.m. HST (1:50 p.m. CT)

Volcano Alert Level

WATCH

Aviation Color Code

ORANGE

USGS summary

“Small overflows from the north vent continue, along with tiny overflows from the south vent starting overnight. All vents have strong glow and intermittent spatter. There is no anomalous activity outside of the summit.”

Overflows since Sept. 22

53, “most of them from the north vent, although several small overflows occurred from the south vent overnight” (USGS)

Summit tilt

“Relatively flat” over the past day; total inflation since the end of episode 54 about 16.4 microradians (USGS)

Seismic signal

“Continuous tremor remains the dominant seismic signal across the summit” (USGS)

The latest

Tiny lava overflows began overnight from the south vent at the summit of Kilauea on the Island of Hawaiʻi, while small overflows continued from the north vent, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO).

“Small overflows from the north vent continue, along with tiny overflows from the south vent starting overnight,” HVO said in its daily update issued Sunday, Sept. 27, at 8:50 a.m. HST (1:50 p.m. CT). “The south vent also produced a few very small overflows overnight.” HVO's daily updates from Sept. 23 through Sept. 26 had described overflows only from the north vent.

The observatory said “Episode 55 remains a possibility during the ongoing Kīlauea summit eruption.” USGS lists Kilauea's Volcano Alert Level as WATCH and its Aviation Color Code as ORANGE.

HVO said that since the overflows resumed at 10:10 p.m. HST on Sept. 22, “there have been 53 overflows, most of them from the north vent, although several small overflows occurred from the south vent overnight.” Most lasted about 5 to 35 minutes and sent lava a few hundred meters (yards) from the vent. Glow and flames were seen from the north, south and west vents through the night, with intermittent spatter bursts from all three, it said.

Summit tilt “has remained relatively flat over the past 24 hours,” HVO said, with slight deflation of about 0.4 microradians beginning around midnight after a peak of 16.8 microradians of inflation on Saturday. It put total inflation since the end of episode 54 at about 16.4 microradians, about 4 microradians more than was lost during episode 54's fountaining. Episode 54, on Aug. 25, produced nine hours of lava fountaining that reached about 500 feet (150 meters).

“Continuous tremor remains the dominant seismic signal across the summit,” the update said. HVO also reported tremor spikes starting just after midnight that appear to be correlated with strong spatter bursts from the west vent, and 15 small, shallow earthquakes across the summit region in the past day.

HVO said “forecast windows for this episode can no longer be modeled due to the irregular changes in inflation and deflation.” It reported “no signs of reactivation of the recent vents 1-6” and no significant activity in Kilauea's East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone.

Background

The current summit eruption began at 2:20 a.m. HST on Dec. 23, 2024 (6:20 a.m. CT). HVO's timeline of eruptive episodes lists 54 lava-fountaining episodes since then. Episode 54 ended at 7:33 p.m. HST on Aug. 25, 2026, and the timeline still lists the pause that followed as “TBD.”

The tallest fountain on the timeline is about 540 meters (about 1,770 feet), in episode 43 on March 10, 2026. USGS lists that fountain as 1,772 feet (540 meters) above vent level.

HVO says the eruption has been episodic since Dec. 23, 2024, from two vents, north and south, in Halemaʻumaʻu. The north vent “has produced the last 11 high fountain events (episodes 44-54),” according to Sunday's update. HVO's timeline notes that the south vent has produced precursory lava flows before earlier episodes, including most of the precursory flows before episode 44 in April 2026.

Measured from the start and end times on HVO's timeline, the 53 pauses between episodes averaged about 10.8 days, by World Brief Now's calculation. The current pause has now lasted more than 32 days since episode 54 ended on Aug. 25. The longest completed pause on the timeline, after episode 43, is listed by HVO as 30 days.

Earthquakes: World Brief Now searched the USGS earthquake catalog for all earthquakes within 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) of a point at Kilauea's summit (19.406° N, 155.283° W). In the 90 days before the eruption began, from 2:20 a.m. HST Sept. 24 to 2:20 a.m. HST Dec. 23, 2024, the catalog lists 643 earthquakes; the largest was magnitude 4.02, on Nov. 30, 2024. In the latest 90 days, from 5:07 a.m. HST June 29 to 5:07 a.m. HST Sept. 27, 2026, the same search returns 296 earthquakes; the largest was magnitude 3.73, on Aug. 15, 2026.

Those totals are World Brief Now's counts from the catalog as retrieved Sept. 27, 2026, not figures published by USGS. They include all magnitudes and both reviewed and automatic (preliminary) catalog entries, and they can change as USGS reviews events.

Charts

• Chart: Fountain height for each episode Approximate maximum fountain height for each of the 54 lava-fountaining episodes on HVO's timeline since Dec. 23, 2024. The tallest, about 540 meters (about 1,770 feet), was episode 43 on March 10, 2026. A hatched gray band at right marks the unnumbered Sept. 14–16, 2026, outbreak, when six new vents erupted lava flows without fountaining; HVO lists no fountain height for it. Chart: World Brief Now; data: USGS HVO.
• Chart: Earthquakes near the summit, two 90-day windows Daily earthquake counts (bars) and the magnitude of each earthquake (dots) within 20 km (about 12 miles) of Kilauea's summit, in Hawaii Standard Time. Left: the 90 days before the eruption began (Sept. 24–Dec. 23, 2024; 643 earthquakes, largest M4.02). Right: the latest 90 days through 5:07 a.m. HST Sept. 27, 2026 (296 earthquakes, largest M3.73). Chart: World Brief Now; data: USGS/HVO (USGS earthquake catalog).

Hazards

HVO says the eruption is occurring within a closed area of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. Hazards it lists include volcanic gas, with sulfur dioxide emissions typically between 1,000 and 5,000 tonnes per day during pauses, and vog downwind. It also warns of tephra, such as Pele's hair, which can cause skin, eye and respiratory irritation.

Sunday's update said poor weather has “greatly reduced visibility” on the streaming cams and webcams available to the public. Saturday's update had said Hurricane Nolo was bringing rain and winds to the island and that the park “remains closed today.”