Halemaʻumaʻu eruption · episode 47 of 55
Kīlauea episode 47
Episode 47 of Kīlauea's Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 3:27 p.m. HST on May 14, 2026 and ended at 12:27 a.m. HST on May 15, 2026. USGS gives the duration as 9 hours. HVO's Uēkahuna tiltmeter (UWD) recorded about 15.6 microradians of deflation during the episode. HVO notes: North vent erupted lava fountain; precursory lava flows exclusively from the south vent.
Episode 47 at a glance
- Start (HST)
- May 14, 2026, 3:27 p.m.USGS timeline
- End (HST)
- May 15, 2026, 12:27 a.m.USGS timeline
- Duration
- 9 hoursUSGS timeline
- UWD tilt (deflation)
- about 15.6 microradiansHVO notice
- Max fountain height
- about 200 mUSGS timeline
- Lava erupted
- about 5.2 million m³USGS timeline
- Pause that followed
- 17 daysUSGS timeline
In HVO's words
The sentences these figures come from, quoted from USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory notices.
“The Uēkahuna tiltmeter (UWD) recorded about 15.6 microradians of deflationary tilt during episode 47.”
HVO notices about episode 47
- Volcano Activity Notice · May 13, 2026, 8:45 a.m. HSTEpisode 47 lava fountaining is forecast to begin today or tomorrow based upon geophysical data. Because an eruption is imminent, HVO is raising the Alert Level for Kīlauea from ADVISORY to WATCH and the Aviation Color Code from YELLOW to ORANGE
- Volcano Activity Notice · May 14, 2026, 3:41 p.m. HSTLava fountaining episode 47 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 3:27 p.m. HST on May 14.
- Volcano Activity Notice · May 14, 2026, 5:18 p.m. HSTEpisode 47 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption continues as of 5:00 p.m. HST on May 14.
- Volcano Activity Notice · May 15, 2026, 12:34 a.m. HSTLava fountaining episode 47 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at the summit of Kīlauea ended abruptly at 12:27 a.m. HST on May 15. USGS is dropping the Volcano Alert Level from WATCH to ADVISORY and the Aviation Color Code from ORANGE to YELLOW.
- Status Report · May 15, 2026, 12:54 a.m. HSTSummary: Episode 47 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at the summit of Kīlauea ended abruptly at 12:27 a.m. HST on May 15. The eruption is currently paused.
Daily updates: USGS Kīlauea volcano updates. Full table: USGS Timeline of Eruptive Episodes.
Times are Hawaiʻi-Aleutian Standard Time (HST). Start and pause times, durations, fountain heights and lava volumes come from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory's Timeline of Eruptive Episodes; tilt figures and episodes not yet in that table are quoted from HVO notices. USGS describes these as unreviewed, preliminary estimates that are subject to revision. Durations for episodes 17 and earlier may include precursory activity, and HVO rounds durations to the nearest hour, half-hour or day. A blank cell means HVO hasn't published that figure in a form we could read; we don't estimate it.
Credit: U.S. Geological Survey. This archive is generated automatically and is not an official USGS product.