First Snow of the Season

Although it is just a dusting and not enough for skiing, we did get our first snow of the season in October.

Hurricane Lane 8-24-2018

            At this point, Hurricane Lane is approximately due west of Kailua-Kona. The Hilo side of the island has been inundated with heavy rain. Over 2 feet of rain has already fallen. While the island has not been experiencing high winds, the rain is causing landslides and fallen trees on the east side of the island. Consequently, many roads are closed.

            In the Kailua-Kona area, we have had less than an inch of rain and no wind. We are fortunate to have two mountains protecting us: Mauna Loa and Hualalai. Consequently, the effects of Hurricane Lane have been minimal so far.

Puna Eruption 8-5-18

I may be wrong in this, but I believe the eruption activity in Puna is at an end. Earthquakes have essentially ceased in th e Kilauea summit area, indicating that the large amount  of molten material feeding the Puna eruption is no longer leaving the summit area. In addition the flow from the active fissure in Puna has essentially ceased. Hopefully, that means the island will return to the tranquill, beautiful paradise it has been. Keep your fingers crossed/

Puna Eruption Update

As of now, the eruption in Puna  is ongoing with no immediate end in sight. Voluminous lava is flowing in a channel and has completely filled in Kapoho Bay. Over 600 hundred homes have been lost due to the lava flow. Explosions have been occurring at Halemaumau Crater on a daily basis. These explosions have compromised the structural integrity of Jaggar Museum  and all relics have been removed from the museum. In all probability the museum will have to be moved to another location. The National Park has been closed for the past six weeks and its reopening will not occur until well into the future.

The effect of the eruption on the Kona area largely depends on the winds. If the trades are active the Sulfur Dioxide and particulate concentrations are bearable for almost everyone. If the trades stop, then the high concentrations of those contaminants become dangerous. Consequently one has to be aware of meteorological conditions.

The end of the eruption cannot be predicted. The only encouraging sign that I see is that the time between explosions at Halemaumau has increased, so that it appears to be taking longer for pressure to build up  and cause an explosion. That, of course, says nothing about the lava flowing in Puna.

Earthquakes on the east side

As a consequence of the eruption occurring in the Puna District, earthquakes have been quite frequent on the island. In the last 24 hours there have been 269 earthquakes in the Puna District. The largest was a 6.9 earthquake which generated a very small local tsunami. On the west side of the island we felt the shaking, but by no means close to that which was experienced on the east side. As I was sitting working on the computer the chair started to shake. The shaking was no where near as intense as the 6.8 quake in 2006 which occurred on this side. But it did persist for about 30 seconds which was an indication that it was intense somewhere on the island. Services were, in fact, disrupted on the east side of the island.

As of this writing, 6 fissures in the Puna District have extruded lava. The entire Leilani Subdivision has been under mandatory evacuation.It does appear that this activity will subside soon.

Pele is on the move

After several days of almost continuous earthquake activity, an eruption has occurred on the southeastern part od Hawaii Island. Residents said for days the ground never stopped shaking. This afternoon a rift opened up in Leilani Estates which is just east of Kalapana, for those who are familiar with past eruptions. Fountaining along the rift has occurred and a mandatory evacuation has been ordered for a portion of Leilani subdivision.

It has been quite a few years since a new rift has opened up in the Puna district. However, the Puna district is on the East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano and eruptions there are not unexpected. Residents live with the knowledge that eruptions are probable.