Mount Kanlaon on Negros Island in the Philippines erupted at 12:46 p.m. on Saturday, October 10, 2026, sending an ash plume 5 to 6 kilometers above the summit. The eruption itself lasted about two minutes, but residents of Bago City reported booming sounds and ground shaking as the column rose.
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Philippine volcanologists described it as a moderately explosive event, and the volcano stayed at Alert Level 2. Nothing about the eruption changed the warning status, though ash kept venting for hours afterward and the Office of Civil Defense in the Negros Island Region collected reports from nearby communities, including the booms and shaking at Bago City.
A two-minute blast and a plume that reached 6 kilometers
The Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program, in its weekly volcanic activity report for 8 to 14 October, records a moderately explosive eruption at 1246 on 10 October. The event itself lasted two minutes, yet ash emissions continued for 2 hours and 41 minutes, and the plume drifted north-northeast. Sulfur dioxide output peaked at 4,656 tonnes per day on the same day.
The height matches what Philippine outlets carried on the day. The Daily Tribune reported that the plume rose 5 to 6 kilometers above the crater, and quoted Mari-Andylene Quintia, resident volcanologist at the Kanlaon Volcano Observatory, who called the eruption “moderately explosive.” The Tribune said ash emission was still being observed on Saturday afternoon. Its account gives the start slightly earlier than the weekly report, so the precise minute differs between sources while the height does not.
The profile gives the 2026 sequence for comparison. A two-minute eruption on February 19 sent ash about 2 kilometers up, one on February 26 reached about 2.5 kilometers, the March 15 eruption reached about 5 kilometers and threw ballistic blocks up to 1 kilometer from the crater, and a three-minute eruption on July 9 produced a plume of about 2 to 3 kilometers. Against that run, the 5 to 6 kilometer column on October 10 was the tallest of the 2026 eruptions listed there, and it matches the March event at the low end of its range.
Booms and shaking reported at Bago City
The Bago City reports come from the Office of Civil Defense in the Negros Island Region, as relayed in the Smithsonian report. Residents there observed the ash plume, heard booming sounds and felt the ground shake. These are accounts from people on the ground, not instrument readings, so they describe how the eruption was perceived rather than how strong it measured.
The same report adds that ashfall and a sulfur odor were reported in several barangays of Don Salvador Benedicto. Bago City is no stranger to Kanlaon ash: the Smithsonian volcano profile notes that an eruption on April 8, 2025, sent a plume about 4 kilometers high and dropped ash on several barangays in La Carlota City, Bago City and La Castellana.
Ash emissions kept coming after the main blast. A Xinhua report carried by The Star said there were eight on Sunday and at least five on Monday, October 12, and the GMA Network reported on Sunday’s ash emissions as well. The Smithsonian report says emissions on October 11 and 12 rose as high as 600 meters and drifted northwest and west.
Alert Level 2 and the 4-kilometer danger zone
PHIVOLCS, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, kept the alert level at 2 on its scale of 0 to 5. Under that status the public is told to stay out of the 4-kilometer-radius Permanent Danger Zone, and pilots are advised not to fly close to the summit. The Star’s report adds that communities within 6 kilometers of the summit should stay vigilant and prepared in case the alert is raised to Level 3. The Tribune article refers to a six-kilometer zone, so published accounts differ on the radius, and the Smithsonian figure of 4 kilometers is used here.
Seismic activity during the report week ranged from 0 to 19 volcanic earthquakes per day, with tremor periods recorded on October 11 to 13. PHIVOLCS has said another explosive eruption is possible, and that communities near the volcano remain exposed to ashfall, volcanic gases, pyroclastic density currents and ballistic projectiles if explosive activity returns.
Kanlaon is the highest point on Negros Island at about 2,422 meters, according to the Smithsonian profile of Kanlaon. The same profile lists a run of explosive events: a May 13, 2025 eruption with a plume about 4.5 kilometers high and pyroclastic currents up to 2 kilometers, after which the alert level went to 3, and a 15 March 2026 eruption with a plume about 5 kilometers high. The alert was lowered to 2 on July 29, 2025, and the October 10 plume stands taller than any 2025 or 2026 plume listed in that profile.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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