Kīlauea episode 49 ends after 7.5 hours of lava fountaining, Hawaii

Kīlauea’s episode 49 eruption began at 09:36 HST (19:36 UTC) on June 14, inside Halemaʻumaʻu crater at the summit of the volcano, producing lava fountains up to 213 m (700 feet) above ground level.

Fountains during this episode exceeded the roughly 198 m (650 feet) reached during episode 48 on June 1, but remained well below the approximately 365 m (1 200 feet) reached during episode 23, the highest fountains in the current eruptive sequence.

The National Weather Service (NWS) reported the plume reaching 5 500 m (18 000 feet) above sea level, while ground-level sensors near the vents showed winds from the northeast, sending volcanic gas emissions and volcanic material toward the southwest.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) said tephra fall from volcanic ash clouds was greatest within 5 km (3 miles) of the vents, while lighter ash and Pele’s hair could remain suspended and travel farther from the eruption site.

A notable event took place at 14:07 HST (00:07 UTC on June 15), when a whirlwind, known locally as puahiohio, struck HVO’s V3 livestream camera. “These whirlwinds are a variety of dust devils that form in the presence of heat, which causes upward air flow and strong windshear,” HVO volcanologists said.

While no damage to the V3 camera was reported during this event, a V3 summit camera was destroyed during episode 38 in December 2025 after tephra from an inclined lava fountain buried the instrument during one of the strongest eruptive episodes of the current sequence.

You can see the V3 camera getting destroyed in the video below:

Episode 49 ended abruptly at 17:05 HST (03:05 UTC on June 15) after 7.5 hours of continuous lava fountaining.

References:

¹ Volcanic Activity Notice for Kilauea – HVO/USGS – June 14, 2026

Teo Blašković

I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.

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