Lava crosses the road near Pohoiki Rd, Friday, May 18, 2018, near Pahoa, Hawaii. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
The Associated Press
PAHOA, Hawaii (AP) - The Latest on the eruption of Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island (all times local):
12:50 p.m.
Geologists are working to learn what the warning signs are for when Hawaii's Kilauea volcano explodes again.
Wendy Stovall of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says geologists are trying to pin down the precursory signals for Kilauea's explosions to give people better warning.
A large explosion at the summit this week spewed a 30,000-foot (9,100-meter) ash plume into the sky.
Scientists believe steam and hot rock explosions will continue.
Scientists say that a sample from a fissure in a subdivision shows that fresher, hotter magma could produce faster lava flows.
As of Friday, 22 fissures have opened and 40 structures have been destroyed.
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11:30 a.m.
A volcanologist says there's just no telling when Kilauea's volcanic activity will subside.
Janine Krippner of Concord University in West Virginia says much of what is happening is below the earth's surface on Hawaii's Big Island, making it tough for experts to say for certain.
Charles Mandeville of the U.S. Geological Survey's volcano hazards program says Kilauea has produced similar eruptions several times in the past 2,000 years.
Ash coming out of the volcano's summit can be a nuisance for area residents, though people are unlikely to be at risk as the park surrounding Kilauea has been closed and evacuated.
Mandeville says a larger hazard is lava flowing and hot, toxic gases coming out of open fissure vents in the middle of housing and infrastructure.
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12 a.m.
Hawaii authorities are handing out masks to protect people from ash as residents brace for an explosive eruption at the summit of Kilauea volcano.
One such eruption occurred Thursday. But most people found only thin coatings of ash, if they saw any at all. Winds blew much of the 30,000-foot (9,100-meter) plume away from people.
Joe Laceby of the town of Volcano says the ash felt like sand at the beach. He says it was a bit of an irritant but not too bad.
Laceby sealed windows and cracks in his home with cellophane wrap to keep out ash and volcanic gases. He has gas masks to protect himself from the toxic fumes and ash.
The explosion at Kilauea's summit came shortly after 4 a.m.
U.S. Air National Guardsmen, Orlando Corpuz, left, and John Linzmeier survey cracks on the road in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii Friday, May 18, 2018. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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U.S. Air National Guardsman John Linzmeier, top center, looks at cracks on the road in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii Friday, May 18, 2018. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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U.S. Air National Guardsman Orlando Corpuz carries a gas mask as he walks over cracks on the road in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii Friday, May 18, 2018. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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Wearing a gas mask, U.S. Air National Guardsman Orlando Corpuz uses an SO2 detector to monitor the air quality in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii Friday, May 18, 2018. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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Toxic gases rise from cracks in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii Friday, May 18, 2018. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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Toxic gases rise near an abandoned home in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii Friday, May 18, 2018. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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U.S. Air National Guardsman John Linzmeier looks at cracks as toxic gases rise near by in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii Friday, May 18, 2018. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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Mike Guich holds a fresh piece of lava rock spit out of a fissure on Pohoiki Road, Friday, May 18, 2018, near Pahoa, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
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A structure is seen next to a erupting lava fissure on Pohoiki Rd, Friday, May 18, 2018, near Pahoa, Hawaii. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
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Lava shoots out of a fissure on Pohoiki Rd, Friday, May 18, 2018, near Pahoa, Hawaii. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
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Lava shoot out of a fissure on Pohoiki Rd, Friday, May 18, 2018, near Pahoa, Hawaii. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
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U.S. Air National Guardsmen stand near cracks on the road in the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii Friday, May 18, 2018. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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Evacuee Steve Clapper tells his mother, Euteva Bukowiecki, to wear an oxygen tube at a shelter Friday, May 18, 2018, in Pahoa, Hawaii. Hawaii residents covered their faces with masks after a volcano menacing the Big Island for weeks exploded, sending a mixture of pulverized rock, glass and crystal into the air in its strongest eruption of sandlike ash in days. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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Volcanic activity from the Malama Ki and Leilani Estates neighborhoods glows in the distance from Hwy 137, Thursday, May 17, 2018, near Pahoa, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
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