It is a magnificent morning in Kailua Kona, absolutely beautiful. After yesterday, which was perhaps the second heaviest vog day ever, it is such a welcome relief. The sky is, in fact, actually blue right above me. Friends north of Kailua that I’ve spoken with on the phone say that up by the airport, the air is crisp and clean at the moment. Such a fantastic change!

If only for a while. The horizon whispers haze, and when the scent of the air is examined closely, there are metallic undertones. I do not expect the blueness to last through the day. But even a few hours of remembering how it used to be is greatly appreciated.

An akamai (ah-caw-my, very sharp and intelligent) BehindTheCoffee.com reader, Larry, has suggested that after the vent at Halema’uma’u was enlarged by explosive events, we might see a less activity, as pressure is released more easily by the expanded diameter of the vent. I told him I was of the opinion that the more activity we see, the more there probably is to come.

Today would seem to fall squarely into Larry’s camp. As I said to him, nothing would make me happier.

So perhaps we are on the way toward the end of the event. Yet… the plume turned brown five times yesterday, each time after what was described in technical terms by USGS as ‘a loud sound’. And there were sixteen earthquakes located under the Caldera, with over 80 smaller ones, more than twice the background value.

I think the summit tiltmeter and the GPS instrumentation in the caldera represent the mood accurately: no significant inflation nor deflation.

I suppose we’ll see in the next few days whether our glass was half empty or half full. My hope is that the glass goes away altogether for a while and we have more blue skies.