Lava, thunder and lightning, seen, heard at Kilauea’s summit
COURTESY USGS / HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY
The spattering lava lake in Halemaumau Crater is seen from the Jaggar Museum on Tuesday.
COURTESY USGS / HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY
The level of Kilauea’s summit lava lake rose over the past day and was 92 feet below the vent rim Tuesday morning. Between passing heavy fog and rain showers, vigorous lava spattering was visible from the Jaggar Museum Overlook in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Mother Nature put on a show at the summit of Kilauea above and below the Halemaumau Crater floor.
Kilauea is in a period of inflation and the lava lake level rose to a point where lava spattering is visible from the Jaggar Museum overlook.
Janet Babb, a spokeswoman for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said the lava was especially active Tuesday and posted photos of the activity on the HVO website.
“It was one of those magical days on Kilauea,” Babb said. “We had thunder and lightning and we had visible (lava) spatter.”
Fog, rain and low clouds sometimes obscured the view of the crater, but when the fog pulled back and during breaks in the rain, the glow from the lava reflects off the clouds and fog, she said.
The lava lake level was about 92 feet below the crater floor Tuesday and was about 66 feet below the floor today, allowing visitors to see lava from the visitor’s center at the Jaggar Museum.
In addition, calm winds allowed the sounds of the crater — the rumbling of rocks moving in the lava lake — to be heard from the overlook.
“The sounds vary from whooshing sounds to sharp cracks,” she said.
Babb said the tradewinds usually send the sound away from the overlook.
On Tuesday, the rumblings of the volcano were occasionally interrupted by thunder.
