(BIVN) – Lava fountains at the summit of Kilauea volcano reached record heights Friday night.

Episode 35 ended abruptly at 3:32 a.m. Saturday morning, lasting 7.5 hours in duration. Once again, the eruptive event featured two separate lava fountains. 

The south vent fountain reached nearly 1,500 feet – or 460 meters high – while the north vent got up to 1,100 feet, or 330 meters. The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory confirmed these were the highest single fountain, and highest pair of fountains, seen during this current eruption that began in December 2024. 

At the height of the episode, the Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense issued this alert message to nearby residents, warning elevated gas levels and tephra was occurring in the area and downwind of the eruption. 

Tephra reportedly fell on Highway 11 southwest of the summit, and fine ash and Pele’s hair may have impacted a broad area of Kaʻū along the southern and southwestern parts of Mauna Loa. 

image from USGS webcam on Friday night

Episode 35 fountains began at the north vent at approximately 8:05 p.m. Friday night. The south vent began erupting 45 minutes later. South vent fountains grew rapidly and within 20 minutes had equaled the north vent fountains in size, before eventually surpassing them. 

The red glow from the event could be seen as far away as Hilo. 

An estimated 13 million cubic yards of lava were produced during the episode, with a combined average eruption rate was over 500 cubic yards (400 cubic meters) per second. 

The episode is now over, but lava flows continue to exhibit slow movement as it cools and solidifies over the coming days. Several secondary lava flows could be seen, as tephra on the slopes of the cone remobilized and flowed down-hill. 

Summit inflation resumed following the end of Episode 35, indicating that another episode is possible in the coming weeks.