Officials: ‘Very little activity’ in vicinity of lava flow front

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Hawaii County Civil Defense reports Friday morning little activity in the downslope areas of the June 27 lava flow.

“Very little activity was noted from the stalled flow front extending approximately 5 miles upslope,” Civil Defense officials said.

Inclement weather prevented officials from observing the upper portion of the flow. Additional assessments are planned Friday as weather permits.

The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported that scientists on Thursday observed scattered breakouts upslope of Pahoa Marketplace.

“Overnight, however, no incandescence was recorded by webcams monitoring that area, suggesting that the level of activity may have fallen,” HVO scientists said Friday morning. “This is confirmed by a Hawaii County Civil Defense overflight this morning, which observed no obvious surface activity along the flow from the front to slightly upslope of Kaohe Homesteads. An HVO overflight scheduled for later this morning (weather permitting) will check this with thermal imaging.”

Activity also continued about 1.2 miles northeast 0f Kilauea Volcano’s Puu Oo vent near the forested cone of Kahaualea. A breakout about 2 miles northeast of the vent near the forest boundary also remained active, according to the observatory.

None of the activity poses an immediate threat to area communities, however, Civil Defense said.

Smoke and vog conditions were reported as light to moderate with a light west wind blowing the smoke and vog in a east direction, Civil Defense said.