Kilauea Just Erupted for the 56th Time — And Scientists Say the Lava Could Find a New Way Out

At 12:10 p.m. HST on November 5, 2026, episode 56 of Kilauea's summit eruption began inside Halemaumau crater. Within about two hours the lava fountain reached about 660 feet, and the plume climbed to 18,000 feet. Then, at 6:01 p.m., after nearly six hours, it shut off abruptly. USGS estimates it erupted about 6 million cubic meters of lava. It was the 56th time the volcano has filled, burst and refilled since December 23, 2024. But this fall the pattern broke: a 52-day pause, six new vents, an underground intrusion on September 30, and a USGS warning that the location of eruptive activity could change. In this video: how Kilauea's "heartbeat" works and why scientists can forecast it, the tallest fountains of this eruption (episode 43, about 1,770 feet), the 1959 Kilauea Iki record, the explosive eruptions of 1790 and 1924, the 2018 Leilani Estates disaster and summit collapse, episodes 55 and 56, tephra, Pele's hair and vog, and what could happen next. All lava from this eruption has stayed inside Halemaumau crater, in a closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Figures are from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory as of November 6, 2026. For official updates, follow USGS HVO. CHAPTERS 0:00 Episode 56 begins 1:07 Kilauea and Halemaumau 2:12 Why it erupts in pulses 3:30 Towering fountains and the 1959 record 4:42 A darker history: 1790 and 1924 5:41 2018: Leilani Estates and the collapse 6:47 The rhythm breaks 7:42 Episode 55 8:23 This week: episode 56 9:41 How the eruption reaches people 10:35 What happens next 11:45 The heartbeat goes on SOURCES USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory: daily updates and volcanic activity notices (November 2-6, 2026), Kilauea eruption episode table (episodes 1-55), Volcano Watch (November 5, 2026), USGS data release doi:10.5066/P14MLKCX USGS: 1959 Kilauea Iki eruption, May 1924 explosive eruption, Keanakakoi (c. 1790) explosive deposits, 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption preliminary summary County of Hawaii (2018 homes destroyed); U.S. Department of the Interior Strategic Sciences Group (2018) National Weather Service (plume radar, ashfall advisories) CREDITS Most images and video: public domain, courtesy USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, National Park Service (Hawaii Volcanoes National Park), NASA, NOAA/NESDIS and CSU/CIRA, and the U.S. Army Air Corps (via Wikimedia Commons). Licensed images and video via Wikimedia Commons: James St. John (CC BY 4.0) · Brocken Inaglory (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Waydeo (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Kevin.Daniels (CC BY 3.0) · Aleksomber (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer) (CC BY 4.0) · Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada (CC BY 2.0) · Cm3826 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · istolethetv (CC BY 2.0)