Category: Hawai’i

Exploring the islands

Crunchy

If I were to use one word to decribe a recent visit to the park it would be…

Crunchy.

Tephra from recent eruptions in the lawn at Kilauea Military Camp
Tephra from recent eruptions in the lawn at Kilauea Military Camp

The year and a half long series of eruptive episodes has been beautiful and exciting. Tall lava fountains every couple weeks that put the lava in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, drawing huge crowds and providing a spectacle for both tourists and us island dwellers alike.

A combination of several high lava fountains and our usual winter Kona storms has resulted in episodes of tephra falling across the main sections of the park, closing both the park and the Mamalahoa highway.

The southerly winds brought about by Kona low pressure systems has sent the tephra northeast instead of the usual southwest. Instead of settling in the desolate and uninhabited Kaʻu Desert, tephra has instead fallen heavily across the park entrance area and highway, the visitor center, and the main caldera viewpoints. Tephra has reached beyond the part to impact Volcano Village, and even reached as far as Hilo.

Continue reading “Crunchy”

Episode 45

Time for another volcano run.

The tall lava fountian of episode 45 in Kilauea Caldera as photographed from the Keanakako'i Overlook, on the morning of April 23 , 2026
The tall lava fountian of episode 45 in Kilauea Caldera as photographed from the Keanakakoʻi Overlook, on the morning of April 23, 2026

I had skipped or even aborted going to several recent episodes as conditions looked bad. When Episode 42 looked imminent, I was packed and ready to go. Then I looked at the winds… From the south. I aborted before ever leaving the house. A good decision, it rained rock in the main section of the park and on the viewpoints, thus the park and the highway were quickly closed.

Episode 43 occurred in heavy rain, while episode 44 was a repeat of 42 with tephra blowing to the northeast, prompting the park and highway to be closed again. Based on the chatter, I think most of the volcano junkies on-island were feeling a bit of frustration.

With another eruptive episode looking likely, I put my boss on notice that I might just collect that day off I was owed. Waking to a 2 am alarm, I rolled over, grabbed the iPad and checked the USGS webcams… We have a go!!

Continue reading “Episode 45”

Bloom in the Lava

Hawai’i is not known for the sort of mass blooms that occur across large sections of the arid Southwestern US in years of favorable rainfall. But a smaller version does occasionally occur across the younger lava flows around Waikoloa and Kiholo.

A spring bloom in the Waikoloa lava fields with bright yellow Dahlberg daisies (Thymophylla tenuiloba) carpeting the ground
A spring bloom in the Waikoloa lava fields with bright yellow Dahlberg daisies (Thymophylla tenuiloba) carpeting the ground

Spring storms have brought several inches of rain to the normally arid Waikoloa area, the soils are saturated. A few species of wildflower have taken advantage of the conditions to bloom en-mass.

The primary species is Dahlberg daisy (Thymophylla tenuiloba) carpeting many acres in a bright yellow show. Among the rough terrian of rock and mesquite it is rather pretty.

Dalhberg daisy is an invasive, probably imported as an ornamental, but this short lived annual does not seem to have any worrisome ecological impacts and is not a high priority for eradication.

Continue reading “Bloom in the Lava”