Great website for updates/maps/history for the volcanoes and this eruption. Click the maps and photos for larger sizes/more details.
Relatively quiet day today. There was a report of noxious gas on Oahu causing some concern.:eek:
I called in anonymously to reveal it was only an old man surfing the free samples at COSTCO and crop-dusting the aisles.
Thanks!
I think the number if fissures is up to 15. Ad they’ve nabbed their first looter, some scuzzbag from Pahoa who got caught in someone’s house in Leilani Estates.
The park is closed again from today, because the level of the lava lake inside Kilauea itself is dropping rapidly and the fear is a huge steam explosion may be imminent, hurling cow-sized boulders into the air.
This mental image cries out for Gary Larson.
Maybe he’ll come out of retirement just for the occasion.
Eighteen fissures now – two opened yesetdray, one this morning.Some guy was interviewed by CNN saying he’d been out walking his dog at 3:30am to an orange sky and the sound of explosions and cracking from the 18th fissure, which was a good two or three miles away.
CNN keeps trying to milk this for all they can. One reporter asked a local volcanologist about the eventuality of evacuating the entire population of the Big Island, and you could see him stifling a laugh. Another this morning asked a local resident in the affected area by phone, "“What is your FEAR FACTOR right now??!?” He said, “Um, zero.”
Thanks for the updates! I’ve got a long-planned visit to Hawaii in a week – I’ll spend 4 days on Oahu, then 4 on the big island. As long as Hilo’s airport stays open, all should be well.
I was really hoping to take a drive up Mauna Kea to see the telescopes – it’s far enough away that I think roads on that part of the island should be OK, and the skies should be spectacular with the clouds from Kilauea tinting things (though it probably sucks for the astronomers).
Oh yeah, you go out the Saddle Road for that. Absolutely no problem. Be aware the Visitor’s Center at 9200 feet doesn’t open until 12 noon, as we rudely found out one morning a couple of months ago.
Oh, and just to mention – you probably already know this – they won’t let you past that Visitor’s Center unless you have a 4WD.
Do the rental car companies still consider Saddle Road off-limits?
No. Was there in March. I took a tour to the top nad was glad I did. Was a bit woozy at 4000 meters.
4wd (not awd) is a must. As well as knowing how to use low gears and how to avoid overheating brakes.
I don’t think so. The car we rented in March had no such restrictions. It did in the past, long ago during our last time there. I think I heard they stopped it in general.
By now, you’ve all probably seen that stop-action video of the lava covering that car. But look to the left of the car, and you will notice what is an R2D2 mailbox. That’s what the car owner was really pissed off about losing. Said it had been a gift from his daughter. Also said that car had been stolen I think it was three times, now covered with lava. That’s one cursed car.
(Saw the car owner interviewed on TV)
The guy who owned that car had a small local rental car business. He and as many of his friends that he could gather were moving all his cars to a safe location. When he finally got to that car, it wouldn’t start and the lava was closing in. If it would have started normally, he could have moved it, but the time necessary and the logistics of bring another car to jump it to the dangerous location just didn’t make sense, so he had to just let it go.
On the upside - the car will never be stolen again, what with becoming part of a geological formation.
Fissure No. 19 opened this morning in the Lanipuna Gardens subdivision, spewing lava. They keep comparing this flow with the 1955 eruption, which lasted three months and resulted in 24 fissures.
Big Island reservations through July are down 50% year-on-year, with the cost to the economy estimated at $5 million.
Won’t someone think of the Rippin’ Good Cookies??
Well you know what they say–fissure cut bait.
(No, I’m not sure what I mean by that either.)
I’m sure there’s a good set-up in there somewhere, to turn that into a suitably groan-worthy pun.
However, I’m not making any Pele jokes right now. Here’s my story why:
When the first pretty large quake (the 5.4) hit, I was kind of jazzed. True fact: big Indonesian gongs sound spectacular in a quake. They begin reverberating and emit the purest, most spooky, wonderful tones. My gongs are about to be set up at the local cultural center (6 days from now, yay). So I almost sent a jokey email to the people I know at the center, saying something along the lines of, “wow, it will be so cool if that happens when the gongs are set up - you’re going to love it.”
But as I was about to hit the “send” button it occurred to me that some of them might live closer to the epicenter or the lava flow and might not be in the mood for levity about our current geological uproar. So I hit “delete” instead.
BOY AM I GLAD I DID. Turns out two board members are severely affected: one, a pottery sculpture, lost years of his work when his entire studio was destroyed in the 6.9 quake. Another is worried sick as her home hasn’t been swallowed by lava but definitely could be next.
Thank god, I almost made myself look like an insensitive asshole. Which I probably am, but at least I managed to hide it this time.
Maybe something about Mt. Killawhale?
Eh, I got nothin’.