Kilauea erupts on Big Island of Hawaii, lava fountains and softball-sized tephra fall across national park
Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island entered its 44th eruptive episode of the current cycle on April 9, 2026, which began in December 2024. The eruption produced towering lava fountains and ejected tephra the size of softballs across Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The source is USGS Volcanoes footage.
Verified
- ✓Kilauea entered its 44th eruptive episode of the current cycle on April 9, 2026. (USGS Volcanoes, WeatherNation reporting)
- ✓The current eruptive cycle began in December 2024. (USGS Volcanoes, WeatherNation reporting)
- ✓Lava fountains were observed during the eruption. (USGS Volcanoes footage)
- ✓Tephra the size of softballs fell across Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. (USGS Volcanoes footage)
▸▾Why this is here
- Source
- @WeatherNation
- Source type
- Raw Footage (Tier 9)
- Content type
- Raw Footage
- Confidence
- Corroborated
- Coverage
- 9 of 14 major US outlets
- Published
- April 12, 2026 at 8:36 PM PDT
Confidence labels explain how settled this information is. Learn about our confidence system → · What qualifies a story →
Get stories like this every morning.
Free daily briefing — 5 minutes, no spin.