Eruption Update

Hubby & I took a couple days off for the holiday, which was a nice excuse for getting a break from the vog and ash. Home again, yup we're back to dealing with the volcano. Things have escalated, as expected. 

Down in Puna, lava is still erupting from the various fissures. More lava has flowed over the ground. One flow has overrun two of the geothermal wells there. There has been much anxiety about what would happen if that occurred, but apparently nothing of out of the ordinary happened. No explosions, no gas eruptions, nothing. Just more land covered by lava. More lava is flowing in other areas, destroying more homes, at least 10 but probably more. At least one fissure has fountained very high into the air, creating Pele's hair, fine golden strands of volcanic glass. The advancing lava is forcing more residents out of their homes. 

Here's some maps that we reference in order to keep an idea of what's going on.....

Meanwhile up at the summit, things are also escalating. More earthquakes, some now in the 4 magnitude category. More frequent ash plumes. In fact, on our way out past the volcano Sunday morning, we witnessed an ash eruption. Very, very impressive. Just a small one, but still amazing. We also noticed that there are a lot more cracks in the roadway up there. 

On our approach to the volcano we passed by ash laden rain clouds hanging over Kapapala Ranch.