Lava and ash have once again transformed the summit of Kīlauea into a vision that looks ripped from a disaster film, with towering fountains, roiling gas and a sky streaked in volcanic debris. The latest summit episode, part of an ongoing series inside Halemaʻumaʻu Crater, produced some of the most dramatic activity of the current eruption cycle before shutting down abruptly. Even as the vents quieted, the scale of the display and the reach of the ashfall underscored how quickly conditions on Hawaiʻi’s most closely watched volcano can swing from mesmerizing to hazardous.
I see this eruption as a reminder of Kīlauea’s dual identity: a global icon of volcanic beauty and a living system that can disrupt air, water and daily life across the Big Island in a matter of hours. The spectacle of lava jets climbing well over a thousand feet into the air came with ash advisories, road closures and a temporary shutdown of key viewpoints, forcing residents, visitors and scientists to navigate both awe and risk in real time.
Fountains that pierced the sky
The latest summit episode at Kīlauea built with startling speed, with vents inside Halemaʻumaʻu Crater sending lava jets more than a thousand feet into the air in what looked, from a distance, like a continuous wall of fire. Video from the crater rim shows twin fountains rising to about 480 m, or roughly 1,575 feet, a height that puts this event among the most powerful of the current summit sequence. Another clip from inside what is described as “Holly Ma Crater the” captures lava blasting more than “a,000 ft” into the air, a shorthand that still conveys the sheer vertical reach of the jets as they roared from both the north and south vents inside the pit, turning the crater into a cauldron of incandescent spray and dense gas plumes linked to Holly Ma Crater.
From the ground, the effect was surreal. One eyewitness on the Big Island described “episode 41 of her current eruption series” as a once-in-a-lifetime view, noting they took a photo around 11:45 a.m. as the fountains peaked. Social media images show thick curtains of ash and Pele’s hair drifting across the viewing area, with commenters remarking on “lots of ash falling” and noting that parts of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park were closed. From above, satellite imagery of the Kīlauea summit region reinforces how concentrated the activity was inside the caldera, even as its effects spread far beyond the crater rim.
Episode 41’s violent arc
The event that locals and scientists are calling Episode 41 unfolded over several hours, beginning late in the morning and intensifying into the afternoon as lava output surged. Observers at Halemaʻumaʻu reported that the volcanic activity resumed around 11:10 a.m. on a Saturday in Jan, with the crater once again filling with incandescent lava and gas, according to a Halema-focused update that cited the U.S. Geolo team. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, referred to as the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in several bulletins, tracked the episode as part of an ongoing summit eruption sequence in Halema Crater, noting that this particular burst produced over a thousand feet of lava and enough ash to affect nearby communities.
By early evening, the same Episode 41 had prompted an ashfall advisory for the Big Island, with Update No 3 at 8:14 p.m. Jan. 24 noting that the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory was warning of ash and Pele’s hair drifting downwind from Halema Crater. Another bulletin described how Episode 41 of the ongoing summit eruption ended after more than 8 hours of activity, with an Article noting an Update at 8:32 p.m. Jan. 24 that described how tephra and ash had reached communities in Hilo and coastal areas of Puna. A separate analysis of the Eruption at Kilauea, Hawaii, credited to USGS, notes that the eruption ended abruptly after about eight hours, reinforcing how quickly the system can switch off even after such an intense burst.
Ash, closures and life on the Big Island
For people living and traveling on the Big Island, the apocalyptic visuals came with very practical consequences. Volcanic debris from Episode 41 prompted warnings and closures as ash and small rocks landed on roads, with officials describing how the episode ended “after volcanic debris prompts warnings, closures” and noting that material on the road created hazards for drivers linked to the Close of the event. The National Weather Service issued and later canceled an ashfall advisory for the island, with Update No bulletins explaining that ash from Halema Crater could reduce visibility and contaminate water catchment systems before conditions improved enough to lift the alert, as detailed in the ashfall advisory summary.
Inside Hawai Volcanoes National Park, rangers temporarily closed the summit of Kīlauea due to unsafe volcanic conditions, including high levels of gas and the risk of sudden changes in eruptive behavior. A Jan update on social media from Hawai Volcanoes National Park explained that the closure was necessary to protect visitors from ash, tephra and volcanic gas, while also reminding people that even areas without visible lava can be dangerous if gas is present. Residents posting from the Big Island described ash settling on cars and homes, with one commenter noting that “Volcanos National Park is closed” as they shared images of the darkened sky and fine gray dust coating the landscape, a scene captured in the Big Island community group.
What scientists saw inside the crater
Behind the scenes, scientists at The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, often abbreviated as HVO, were tracking Episode 41 as part of a broader pattern of summit unrest at Kilauea. Earlier in Jan, HVO detected an earthquake swarm beneath the summit caldera, a sign that magma was moving and pressure was building, according to a technical update on Kilauea in Hawai. That report noted that The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, or HVO, works with the United States Geological Survey to assign alert levels on a 4 level scale, reflecting both ground deformation and seismicity. A separate Activity Summa bulletin from the USGS Geological Survey, labeled as a Volcano Notice under DOI and HVO, described how researchers used a combination of seismic sensors, gas measurements and visual observations in their Survey of the summit, with key metrics like 54 and 33 embedded in the DOI-USGS-HVO-2026-01-23T18:54:33+00:00 identifier that tracks the timing of each Activity Summa update.
In the immediate aftermath of Episode 41, the USGS issued a fresh Volcano Notice under DOI and HVO, with an Activity Summary that made one point very clear: Kīlauea is not erupting at the moment. The Jan bulletin explained that the south vent dropped rapidly as the episode ended, and that lava was no longer visible at the surface, even though volcanic gas emissions remained elevated enough that they may contaminate catchment water supplies, a detail highlighted in the Activity Summary for DOI-USGS-HVO-2026-01-25T18:42:56+00:00. Another section of the same USGS Volcano Notice stressed that there were no signs of activity migrating into the East Rift Zone or Southwest Rift Zone, reinforcing that the hazards remained focused on the summit and its immediate surroundings, as summarized in the Halema eruption notice that had previously described the summit eruption of Halemaʻumaʻu at Kīlauea.
Living with a restless volcano
For communities around Kīlauea, the latest episode is part of a longer story of adaptation to a volcano that rarely stays quiet for long. The ongoing summit eruption series inside Halemaʻumaʻu Crater has produced multiple high fountaining events, with Episode 41 standing out for its combination of height, duration and ash production. Residents on the Big Island have grown accustomed to tracking Hawaiian Volcano Observatory updates, watching for terms like Episode and Eruption in official language, and adjusting their routines when ashfall advisories or park closures are announced. The Jan sequence, with its towering jets and far reaching tephra, has reinforced how quickly conditions can change even when scientists emphasize that Kīlauea is not erupting between episodes, as noted in the USGS Activity Summary.
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