Episode 20 ended at 9:58 p.m. HST on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, after 4.5 hours of sustained fountaining, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO reported. The Halema’uma’u eruption is currently paused.
„The sustained fountaining phase of episode 20 began at 5:28 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. Lava fountains and flows erupted from both vents, but the north vent was much more active than the south vent during all phases of episode 20. Fountains from the north vent quickly reached estimated heights of more than 500 feet (150 meters). Fountains from the south vent reached heights of up to about 65 feet (20 meters). It is currently estimated that lava flows from this episode covered less than half of the Halema’um’au crater floor. The sustained fountaining phase was preceded by almost 31 hours of precursory low-level activity that included gas-pistoning events in the north vent that produced low lava dome fountains, overflows, and drainbacks, as well as sluggish lava flows from the south vent.
„The end of episode 20 fountaining activity was accompanied by a rapid change in summit tilt from deflation to inflation, along with a rapid decrease in tremor. The Uēkahuna tiltmeter (UWD) recorded approximately 6 microradians of deflationary tilt between the start and end of episode 20 fountaining.
Source: HVO