Lava fountaining from Kilauea's 39th lava fountaining episode during the night 23-24 Dec 2025 (image: HVO/USGS webcam)The 39th lava fountaining episode from Halema'uma'u crater began at 8.10 pm on 23 December 2025 local time and lasted almost 6 hours, producing lava fountains up to 420 m tall.The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) reported, it "ended abruptly at 2:13 a.m. HST on December 24, 2025 after 5.9 hours of continuous fountaining (the start time was revised from 8:10 p.m. to 8:20 p.m. HST on December 23 based on tilt and tremor data)."The north vent stopped erupting at approximately 2:00 a.m. HST. The south vent stopped erupting at approximately 2:13 a.m. HST, marking the end of the episode. Lava fountains from the south vent reached up to 1400 ft (420 m) while north vent fountains were just under 1000 feet (280 meters) around 9:30 p.m. HST on December 23. Episode 39 fountains lasted for 5.9 hours and produced an estimated 13 million cubic yards (10 million cubic meters) of lava. The combined average eruption rate was over 250 cubic yards per second (190 cubic meters per second) from the dual fountains. Lava flows from the fountains covered about 60-70% of the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu crater."Volcanic gas emissions have greatly decreased. Lava flows from this episode on the floor of Halemaʻumaʻu within the southern part of Kaluapele (Kīlauea caldera) may continue to exhibit slow movement or incandescence as they cool and solidify over the coming days."