USGS webcam shows Kīlauea lava fountains on the evening of December 23, 2025.

(BIVN) – High lava fountains burst from the summit of Kīlauea on Tuesday night, marking the one-year anniversary of the Hawaiʻi island volcano eruption.  

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory issued a Volcanic Activity Notice at 8:27 p.m., reporting Episode 39 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 8:10 p.m. HST on December 23, 2025.  

“Past episodes have produced incandescent lava fountains over 1000 feet (300 meters) high that produce eruptive plumes up to 20,000 feet (6000 meters) above ground level,” the Observatory wrote. “According to the National Weather Service, winds are blowing from the northeast direction, which suggests that volcanic gas emissions and volcanic material may be distributed to the southwest.” 

USGS webcam shows a plume rising above the summit of Kīlauea on the evening of December 23, 2025.

All eruptive activity is confined to Halemaʻumaʻu crater within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, officials say. Commercial airports in Kona and Hilo will not be affected by this activity, the USGS stated. 

Overflows of degassed lava from the south vent began at approximately 6:41 p.m. on Tuesday evening and continued to increase in intensity until the sustained fountaining began over an hour later. 

By 9:15 p.m., south fountains had grown to 1,250 feet (380 meters) high, while north fountains were measured at 920 feet (280 meters) high. Effusion rates were high and lava flows covered about 10 to 20% of the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu crater, the USGS HVO said. 

Kīlauea Volcano Alert Level/Aviation Color Code remain at WATCH/ORANGE.

Courtesy USGS HVO

UPDATE – (Dec. 24) – Episode 39 ended abruptly at 2:13 a.m. HST on December 24, after 5.9 hours of continuous lava fountaining.

“Lava fountains from the south vent reached up to 1400 ft (420 m) while north vent fountains were just under 1000 feet (280 meters) around 9:30 p.m. HST on December 23,” the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported. “Episode 39 fountains lasted for 5.9 hours and produced an estimated 13 million cubic yards (10 million cubic meters) of lava. The combined average eruption rate was over 250 cubic yards per second (190 cubic meters per second) from the dual fountains. Lava flows from the fountains covered about 60-70% of the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu crater.”