Kilauea/Volcanoes National Park Update (Hilo: house, closing, subdivision)

[cynmkolohe]

Originally Posted by SarahB82

Speaking of the Big Island, how have the fumes been recently on Kilauea? The park had been closed about a month when I last visited in Feb.

After closing briefly on April 8/9, the park is now open again with access restricted in some areas. The parks website says that Crater Rim Drive remains closed between Jaggar Museum and Chain of Craters Road.

Link to the Park site: Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park - Closed Areas and Advisories (U.S. National Park Service)

Live panorama of Halema`uma`u, Kilauea Volcano: Live Panorama of Halema`uma`u, Kilauea Volcano, Hawai`i

This plume has been the source of the increase in the emission of SO2...for more information, or to check for any updates, you can use the website of my favorite local news station:

Vog Section | KGMB9.com | Vog, Defense, Civil, Code, Event

This page on the site has links to several helpful resources/articles.

On April 8, the first day that the tradewinds stopped and the alerts started, we woke up to an oddly still and hazy morning. The VOG was evident at my house in Hilo for a few hours early in the day--we could see, smell, even taste it (just like being up in the park, for those who have visited and experienced that sulfer taste in the air there). By lunch time, it was much less evident here as the wind patterns had shifted enough to move much of it away from our house. We are very thankful that the tradewinds are back!

[SarahB82]

Wow, so it had gotten worse if you had the effects all the way in Hilo. Does that happen quite often or is this one of those things that happens every few years? I've been to the Big Island a few times over the last five or so years and parts of the park haven't been closed before. The Crater Rim drive has always been a favorite attraction of mine despite the tourists(I like to pretend I'm not a tourist because I try to make the smallest environmental impact as I can when I visit any island besides Oahu!). Feel free to roll your eyes at me right now... The clouds would roll in around one or two, you'd get about five seconds of rain and then life was good again.

The Big Island has always been my favorite, and this past February I brought my mother with me(big mistake!). Apparently Diamond Head-like attractions are more her thing, but standing in a line behind about 100 people to get to the top of a hill to stand next to 100 sweaty people just to look down at Waikiki kills me. lol But the Big Island with it's big small towns are so peaceful and homey. There are these tidal pools behind a subdivision close to Kapoho Bay that I've near fallen in love with for snorkeling. Couldn't even get my mom in the water! lol

[cynmkolohe]

Originally Posted by SarahB82

Does that happen quite often or is this one of those things that happens every few years?

How often we see/feel the effects here in town depends on the wind patterns. Today, we had wind gusts up to about 20mph and these trade winds were blowing the VOG away from us. VOG tends to head toward Hilo when we have "Kona winds" and the wind pattern changes direction and/or they are what the weather folks like to call "light and variable winds".

Here is a link to an article that quotes a few Volcano area residents...for most, these last few days are considered just a part of living near an active volcano:

Hawaii Tribune-Herald :: Hilo, Hawaii

[cynthia007]

In my seventeen years of living on the BI, this past few months, and especially last week, has been the most voggy I've ever seen. Many of us think that Madame Pele is truly waking up and making her presence known. Only time will tell!