The Big Island of Hawaii is open for business and the Honokaa Western Week festivities have begun. Throughout this week, Honokaa town comes to life with the celebration of its 62-year-old tradition that culminates with its annual parade, block party and 3-day rodeo. Come dressed in your spiffiest cowboy or cowgirl duds and enjoy a week of fun activities in Honokaa town, far, far away from the erupting volcanoes.
It’s time for the rodeo: May 26 to 28, 2018 – Honokaa Hawaii
Everyone loves a parade including cowboys and horses. You can find all of that this coming Friday May 25 in Honokaa town.
There is no doubt in my mind that the lava from this phase of the eruption will make it to the ocean by tonight or sometime in the next two days if the current level of activity continues. Seems like many of the fissures have joined and a new cinder cone may be in the making.
I am not a geologist, but only speculating in what could come next. Check all of the YouTube videos that I have compiled. You will see people’s reactions to the lava, news bulletins, more aerial shots, and commentary from the brave videographer residents who have chosen to stay in lower Puna and document all of the activity for the world to see.
Hawaii Island’s Kilauea volcano continues with its active eruption as fissure #17 opened up and is still spewing noisy lava. Honolulu Civil Beat is streaming the eruption live on Facebook(may have to scroll down some once you reach the page).
Screen capture from live webstream at Honolulu Civil Beat on Facebook. 5-13-2018.The eruption seems to be closer to this USGS webcam. Details: This image is from a temporary research camera positioned near Kapoho looking northwest. From left to right on the horizon, one can see Puʻu ʻŌʻō vent near the left edge of the image, the gas plume from Halemaʻumaʻu crater near the middle of the image (when clear enough), and Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea farther to the right.
HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY DAILY UPDATE U.S. Geological Survey Sunday, May 13, 2018, 8:25 AM HST
KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)
19°25’16” N 155°17’13” W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING
Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE
Summary:
LOWER EAST RIFT ZONE
Eruption of lava continues along Kilauea Volcano’s lower East Rift Zone. A new outbreak early this morning just over a half mile northeast of the end of Hinalo St. and about one half mile south of highway 132 has been confirmed. Hawaii County Civil Defense reports the outbreak is on Halekamahina Loop Road. Aerial observations of this new fissure indicate it is at least several hundreds yards long and producing spatter rising many tens of feet into the air. A slow-moving lava flow is moving away from the vent.
Elevated earthquake activity and ground deformation continue and additional outbreaks in the area remain likely.
Conditions around the erupting fissures can change very quickly. Residents in lower Puna should remain informed and heed Hawaii County Civil Defense closures, warnings, and messages (http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts).
KILAUEA SUMMIT
Deflationary tilt at the summit of the volcano continues and seismicity remains elevated. This morning, a steady, vigorous plume of steam and occasionally minor amounts of ash is rising from the Overlook vent and drifting downwind to the southwest. As has been observed over the past several days, occasional rockfalls into the deep vent are expected produce intermittent pulses of slightly more vigorous ash emissions. Depending on wind conditions, dustings of ash may occur in the Kilauea summit area and downwind. More energetic ash emissions are possible if explosive activity commences.
USGS/HVO continues to monitor the situation at the summit and the lower East Rift Zone 24/7 in coordination with Hawaii County Civil Defense and other emergency authorities. HVO geologists are onsite in the area this morning conducting overflights, examining the fissure vent activity for significant changes, and searching for any signs of new or resumed activity.
Please see this link for newly organized information about ash hazards, gas hazards, and the Lower East Rift Zone eruption. https://vog.ivhhn.org/
A new eruption started yesterday (May 3) in the Leilani Estates subdivision at around 4:30 in the afternoon. The breakout of lava opened up in the middle of a street and lasted for a few hours. The new eruption stopped for several hours before restarting on another street in the same subdivision early this morning (May 4). As of this posting a third location of lava breakout has occurred.
The situation is ongoing and in constant change. The Hawaii County Civil Defense agency has ordered a mandatory evacuation of the Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens subdivisions. It would be a good idea for all residents living downslope of the active eruption area to be ready to also evacuate.
Some mainland media have erroneously reported that the overall eruption is new. As most everyone in Hawaii knows, this is the latest phase in a long running eruption that started at the Pu’u O’o area in January 1983 and has been ongoing ever since. Over the decades the eruption has destroyed homes, businesses and property. In 2008 the summit of Kilauea erupted and to this very day, both locations have been in continuous eruption spewing millions of yards of lava. The Leilani Estates chapter is just the latest in this ongoing series.
The Hawaii Files will be updating this post through most of today with additional videos added to our compilation (above) as they are posted by various sources to YouTube. New photographs from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will also be posted as they become available.
An eruption has commenced in the Leilani Estates subdivision in the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea Volcano. White, hot vapor and blue fume emanated from an area of cracking in the eastern part of the subdivision.
Coordinates:-155.0321, 19.3702
Depth:5 km (3.1 mi)
Magnitude:6.9
Date:2018-05-04 12:32:55 local
2018-05-04 22:32:55 UTC
Age: 0 days
Distance From:16km SW of Leilani Estates, Hawaii
Number of Phases:67
Azimuthal Gap (deg):212
Distance to Nearest Station:0.1 deg
Vertical / Horizontal Error:0.71 km / 0.48 km
Event ID:us1000dyad
Contributing Network:us
The Honokaa High School Jazz Band is on its 2018 Oahu semester tour . The band is playing at several venues over the next few days. Last night (April 19) they played at Centerstage at the Ala Moana Center. Under band director Gary Washhburn, the band wows crowds with their renditions of popular jazz, pop and rock tunes. The band showcased their virtuosity by covering popular standards such as “Route 66,” “Cry Me a River,” “Moondance,” “The Closer I Get To You,” and several others. Washburn has written music for the band. They played two of his upbeat, toe-tapping, instrumental compositions which showcased the talents of various members on keyboards, drums, sax and brass.
