HAWAII ISLAND – Heavy vog continues to spread over Hilo and parts of East Hawaii.

The volcanic gas emissions, which often impact West Hawaii and can drift to affect the rest of the island chain, have been covering Hilo with haze over the past few days, thanks to light and variable winds.

The Hawaii Department of Health Short Term SO2 Advisory webpage showed “moderate” levels of sulfur dioxide (SO2) levels in Hilo on Sunday morning.

The Mountain View monitoring site was “Currently Unavailable”, however posts over social media in the last few days reported poor air quality.

With Kona winds forecast around Monday night, the vog is expected to last for at least a few more days. The video above contains a Vog Model animation produced by the Vog Measurement and Prediction Project (VMAP) of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii – Manoa. The model uses estimates of volcano emissions along with forecast winds to predict the concentrations of sulfur dioxide gas (SO2) and sulfate aerosol particles (SO4) downwind of the ongoing Kilauea eruption.

Fore information on vog impacts and mitigation, visit the Hawaii Interagency Vog Information Dashboard.