Highway Closed Due to Falling Volcanic Bits

Kilauea's latest lava fountaining episode reached 1,000 feet high on Tuesday, prompting temporary closures at a national park and part of an important highway because of falling glassy volcanic fragments and ash, known as tephra. Kilauea, on Hawaii's Big Island, has been dazzling residents and visitors for more than a year with an on-and-off eruption that periodically sends fountains of lava soaring into the sky, reports the AP.

The fountaining that began Tuesday morning marked the eruption's 43rd episode since it began in December 2024. While some fountaining episodes have lasted a few days, Hawaii News Now reports this one lasted nine hours, coming to a sudden end at 6:21pm. The USGS reported "fallout [of] up to football size pieces and smaller" was reported at overlooks in the park.

The tephra—a quarter-inch reportedly fell in the first 90 minutes—prompted temporary closures at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park around the summit and a partial closure of Highway 11, an important route around the island, on either side of the park. Volcanic tephra can irritate eyes, skin, and the respiratory system, according to county officials. Ash fell so heavily during a previous fountaining episode that some communities needed help from county civil defense workers to clean up ash that coated their homes, said a county rep.