Hawaii's Kilauea volcano bubbles to life, prompts code red aviation alert

 The volcano located on Hawaii's Big Island began erupting for the first time since May, prompting officials to issue red alerts for aviation and surprising unassuming visitors to the state's national park.

By Courtney Travis, AccuWeather senior meteorologist

Updated Sep. 30, 2021 1:53 PM EDT

One of Hawaii's most active volcanoes erupted on Wednesday and spewed gas and lava into the air following months of dormancy.

The Kilauea volcano, located on Hawaii's Big Island, started showing signs of life on Tuesday when scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaii Volcano Observatory noticed increased activity, which caused them to elevate the alert status of the volcano to orange or "watch." The volcano then erupted at 3:20 p.m., local time, on Wednesday, Sept. 29.

In the time the eruption has continued, officials with the observatory have upgraded the alert level from a watch to a warning and raised the aviation color code alert to red.

Officials with the observatory said Thursday that the eruption at Kilauea's  summit is occurring within a closed area of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. They warned that high levels of volcanic gas are the "primary hazard of concern," and this hazard can have "far-reaching effects downwind."

"The opening phases of eruptions are dynamic and uncertain," officials said, noting they will continue to monitor the volcano closely.

1/6

This webcam image provided by the United States Geological Survey shows a view of an eruption that has begun in the Halemaumau crater at the summit of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. (USGS via AP)

At the peak of the eruption, the volcano spewed lava as high as 100 feet in the air and flooded portions of the Halemaumau Crater's floor, which stands at the top of the volcano's 4,000-foot summit.

Officials said that the eruption was confined to the crater and currently is bringing no immediate danger to nearby communities or buildings. An area of the park around the erupting volcano has been sectioned off to visitors, but the 335,000-acre park remains open with no road closures.

Ken Hon, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientist in charge, told The Associated Press all signs indicate that the lava will stay in the crater. Hon also said to Hawaii News Now that it is still too early to know how long this eruption will last, but that it is common for them to last less than a year.

“We’re not seeing any indications that lava is moving into the lower part of the east rift zone where people live, Hon told the AP. "Currently, all the activity is within the park.”

Through the night, volcanologists continued to monitor the activity, while lava pools remained within the crater.

In the meantime, incredible footage was taken of the volcanic eruption.

Hawaii's Volcanoes National Park tweeted out a timelapse of the eruption, showing billowing volcanic gas emitting from the crater for several hours.

Visitors to the park got quite the surprise. One guest told Hawaii News Now that the eruption was "pretty unreal.”

“We just came visiting, and surprisingly it was going off. So we just stopped by to check it out,” the visitor said.

The most recent Kilauea eruption began in December 2020, and the volcanic activity continued for nearly half a year. The USGS said the Kilauea volcano was no longer active and had stopped erupting on May 26, 2021. The volcano had remained quiet until this week.

In 2018, Kilauea had a major eruption that caused thousands of Hawaiian residents to evacuate and ultimately destroyed over 700 buildings, according to the AP. The four months of eruptions resulted in enough lava to fill 320,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, the AP said.

The Kilauea volcano is a shield volcano, meaning its shape is a broad dome that slopes gently on the sides. The shape is formed by rounds of lava eruptions spilling over the sides of the crater over time.

For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, DIRECTVstream, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeatherNOW is streaming on Roku and XUMO.