Is Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano getting ready to BLOW?

An earthquake swarm (lots of earthquakes over and over again) that started Sunday morning has caused Hawaii Volcanoes National Park officials to close the eruption site and all summit trails. The visitor center and Jagger museum are currently open but you CAN'T go down Chain of Craters road at all.

This could mean nothing, or it could mean something big - we won't know until it happens or doesn't happen. See the Big Island earthquake map to get a feel for the recent earthquakes - I live in Hilo, about 25 miles down the mountain, and I have felt nothing, so these are not big earthquakes.

Earthquake swarms happen sometimes and mean very little to visitors and residents because nothing really changes - see this post in December 2005 about an earthquake swarm that meant nothing. Other times, major events surprise everyone and there is no indicator to tip officials off and cause evacuations, like episode 54 where two campers woke up at 4 in the morning to see lava fountaining from a fissure only hundreds of feet from their tent. I was working in the park when this episode happened and it was exciting in a big way ... but then everything went back to 'normal'.

So, stay tuned, we'll keep an eye out and see what -if anything- happens.