Volcano Erupts Unexpectedly on Hawaii's Big Island Just Before Overnight Earthquake

The Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island erupted Sunday night. The eruption happened at around 9:30 pm local time within Kilauea's Halema'uma'u crater, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, causing the volcano's alert system to be upgraded and a red color code to be enacted as Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency (COH) asked residents to stay indoors.

The USGS noted that a 4.4 magnitude earthquake followed shortly after the eruption and it received more than 500 reports of people who felt the earthquake, though significant damage to buildings or structures was not expected. By 1 a.m., USGS officials told Hawaii News Now that there were reported lava fountains shooting about 165 feet into the sky. Those lava fountains were said to be feeding a growing lava lake within the crater. The USGS also noted that a fissure in the northwest wall of the crater was highly active.

Happening now: a new eruption of Kīlauea inside Halemaʻumaʻu

See live webcams inside Halemaʻumaʻu, courtesy of USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: https://t.co/Yf1Kc3AeJ9 pic.twitter.com/bsNmt3ZTUg

— Hawaii Volcanoes NPS (@Volcanoes_NPS) December 21, 2020

As a result of the eruption, the USGS changed the aviation code color to "red" ― a warning for aviators to avoid the area. The National Weather Service also issued an alert until 2 a.m. Monday warning of the possibility of heavy ash falling onto some areas of South Hawaii. The agency later said the eruption was easing and a "low-level steam cloud" was lingering in the area. The U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) "continues to monitor Kīlauea as the situation is rapidly evolving with this evening's eruption at the summit of Kīlauea," HVO acting Scientist-in-Charge David Phillips said. Phillips added that the HVO "will send out further notifications on Kīlauea and other Hawaiian volcanoes as we observe changes."

Video from W rim of the caldera just before midnight. As of December 21 at 1:30 a.m. HST, the growing lava lake has almost reached the level of the lowest down-dropped block that formed during the 2018 collapse events. Over the past 2 hours, the lake has risen by ~10 m (32 ft). pic.twitter.com/Qbx1d6hbq4

— USGS Volcanoes🌋 (@USGSVolcanoes) December 21, 2020

The USGS noted that Kīlauea's south flank has been the site of over 30 earthquakes of magnitude-4.0 or greater during the past 20 years. Kilauea has been in a state of "non-eruptive unrest" since the end of the 2018 eruption. That eruption began in May of 2018, causing the Big Island to be rocked with several earthquakes, one of which marked the largest temblor in Hawaii since 1975, and led to small tsunami waves and sea fluctuations around the island. The eruption destroyed more than 700 homes, forced thousands to flee, and produced enough lava to fill 320,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. ABC News reports that an area more than half the size of Manhattan was buried in up to 80 feet of now-hardened lava.