Last update (Dec 13, 2022): Not only Mauna Loa suddenly stopped erupting, but so has Kilauea.
For the first time in 38 years Mauna Loa had started erupting. The lava from the eruption moved from the confines of the caldera at the summit to the North East Rift zone providing amazing views of the volcano.
The lava flowed at 0.08miles/ hour until it hit a flat zone where it slowed down considerably. There never was any threat to the downslope communities and stopped short of the Daniel K. Inouye Highway by about 1.7 miles.
Besides lava flow, eruptions also produce gasses. This eruption produced volcanic gasses (like sulphur dioxide) that dwarfed some of the bigger eruptions we have seen in recently like the one in Kilauea in 2018. There are about 10 air quality sensor towers on the island and they showed that these gasses possessed no threat unless you were right at the eruption (which is not allowed).
We have data for the past 33 Mauna Loa eruptions and on average these eruptions last 1-2 weeks. This eruption turned out to be no different.
Impact on our Vacation Rental guests
We created this post when the eruption began and were providing updates until the eruption ended.
Our beach house is located near Kona, which is on the West side of the island. Since the lava was flowing in the eastward direction from the summit, we were never close to the lava’s path. We did get to see the glow at the summit though.
Beside the Mauna Loa eruption, Kilauea had a tiny eruption that has been producing lava that is confined to its caldera since 1983. As seen above, we were in unique times where we could witness two eruptions at the same time on the island in more than 100 years!