Mauna Loa Erupts

Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano began erupting Sunday evening for the first time since 1984, following a recent spike of earthquakes in the area. Portions of the island were under an ashfall advisory yesterday, which has since been canceled. The volcano is the biggest of five that make up the Big Island of Hawaii and is the largest active volcano in the world, rising more than 13,000 feet above sea level. Its neighbor, the Kīlauea volcano, erupted in 2018 and destroyed more than 700 homes. As of this writing, the lava had migrated out of the summit area to a rift zone on the volcano’s northeast flank, but is not threatening any downslope communities. If lava were to break out of some rift zones, it could rush down quickly due to the volcano's steep slopes—during a 1950 eruption, the lava traveled 15 miles in less than three hours. The volcano's previous eruption lasted for around three weeks. See a time-lapse video of the eruption here and webcam updates here.