Lua Pele

Aloha kākou. The USGS has released a new video of the lava erupting. The lava can been seen in the daytime clearly and the nightly views are amazing. It has brought an uptick to tourism. Both local and other places. However, the level is nowhere near what it was pre-pandemic. I learned that Kīlauea Lodge has reopened. Located at 19-3948 Old Volcano Road, Volcano Village on the Big Island it is just minutes away from Volcano National Park. I used to go there for brunch and sometimes dinner.

This is a USGS video taken on the morning of Oct. 23, 2021. The view is from the southern rim of Halema‘uma‘u crater inside Kīlauea volcano. Lava continues to erupt from a single vent on the western wall of the crater. Lava fountains within the cone and spills out of the cone opening, flowing east into the lake. The lava lake has risen about 49 meters (161 feet) since Kilauea began erupting again on Sept. 29. So far, the lava is remaining in the Kīlauea volcano and is in a steady state.

Earthquakes continue in the Kīlauea Volcano where the USGS tells me that these quakes are due to magma moving in the crater. The USGS tells me that the quake swarms in the Pāhala area is due to shifting rock deep underground and not the result of magma moving. Yet you can see there is three times as many quakes in Pāhala than Kīlauea. That’s a lot of shifting rock.

The last large earthquake we had was on October 10th and that was a 6.2 magnitude. That was deep in the ocean near Lōʻihi Seamount. Our newest volcano forming off the coast of the Big Island. Who knows, in a couple of million years there will be real estate available on Lōʻihi.

The Volcanic Smog (VOG) concentrations are highest at Halema’uma’u crater and most of the SO2 and SO4 levels are in the upper atmosphere. It makes the Kailua-Kona skyline look gray and cloudy. The winds are pushing the VOG out over the ocean. So far the winds are not pushing the VOG to the neighbor islands. Eventually, I expect the winds to shift to push the VOG to east Hawai’i side of the island. Years ago the VOG was really bad. Air quality was poor. Then after the May 2018 eruption that devastated lower Puna the VOG has tapered off. The air quality has remained good for now.

The “Let’s Go Brandon” phenomena doesn’t seem to be going away. In fact it’s spreading to more college football games and follows Jim Crow Joe Biden to where ever he goes. Even to his home town of Scranton Pennsylvania where he only lived for a short time before moving to Delaware. He has to know that he’s becoming more and more unpopular day by day. But the Marxist democrats still insist that the 2020 election was fair, free, and that Jim Crow Joe got 81 million votes. More than any other president and more that Barry the Bullshitter Obummer. The most popular president ever has a chant that follows him everywhere.

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The day started with sun and clouds. Tradewinds are from the north at 9 mph, gusts 21 mph. Cloud cover is 26%. Visibility is 10 miles. We got 1/64  of an inch of precipitation in the rain gauge overnight. Temperatures are in the upper 70’s. Humidity is at 77%. Barometric pressure is 30.05 inches and dewpoint is 66 degrees. UV index 8. Air quality Index is good at 38

ʻOkakopa Iwakālua Kūmāono, 2021

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