The volcano is erupting again

Some flights are delayed or cancelled.

If you have plans to travel to the area, you might want to register on the Safe Travel website for travel notifications

https://safetravel.is/?lang=en

or download the app.

It only started roughly an hour ago, so who knows what impact this will have on visitors. Wishing everyone the best, especially the locals.

The road between Reykjavik and the Keflavik airport has been closed.

Snow is also hindering the situation on the roads and at the airport.

Flybus has also cancelled some of its schedule due to changes in flight schedules.

By 3am local time the Icelandic government websites were saying that volcanic activity had subsided. The airport has reopened with a few cancelled flights and a few running up to 5 hours late.
This is one of 47 active volcanoes in Iceland currently.

The road to Keflavik airport is open but is still difficult. This is due to snow rather than seismic activity.

The snow is expected to stop this morning.

The Blue Lagoon is closed. The Sky Lagoon is open.

No European flights have been affected by the volcano.

Our trip is off to an interesting start! Our departure was pushed back a day due to an air traffic control strike in Iceland. Right before takeoff for our SEA to KEF flight, we were alerted about the volcanic activity. We saw the eruption from the plane as we landed in Reykjavik early Tuesday morning. It was an incredible sight! We departed on time for our connecting flight to Berlin. I hope all is okay in Iceland.

Oh Meg, that must have been a sight to see! We hiked it last summer when it was going strong, but obviously did not see it from above.

Iceland is truly such an amazing place and how the locals deal with these over and over is a testament to them. Wishing them all the best. The situation will be fluid for a while of course, so we are following it closely again. We head back Feb. 1st.

Thank you mikliz97! It certainly made for an exciting start to our trip. We’ve just landed and finished our trip with a 3 night stop over in Iceland and we will for sure be returning. I’ll report back with more details soon!

Meg--Oh I can't wait to read!

And it has started again. This is worst case as it breached the wall that was built to protect Grindavík.

Too early in the morning for me apparently;). It has not breached the wall yet, but is very close. So a wait and see thing. It is very close to the town though.

Oh wow. According to BBC, the lava has reached one of the homes in Grindavik. Hoping for safety for all.

It's going in the wrong direction. Images can be seen here: https://www.ruv.is/frettir/innlent/2024-01-14-gosid-virdist-vera-ad-na-jafnvaegi-401853

Meg--Yes, a few houses have burned so far. I really feel for the residents. They have been evacuated a couple times and their lives are uprooted with no idea if they will have a home to return to.

Oh my....the pictures of it reaching town are pretty scary.

In a coincidence, I happened to be on the Craters of the Moon National Monument website yesterday and noticed that the lava tubes and floes there were also created by fissure eruptions stretching for 52 miles.

Looks like there is more action as of yesterday. As in, the lava has cut off the hot water pipes, which everyone uses for heating. The airport may be chilly today and of course, Blue Lagoon is closed. They hope to get it fixed within a day.

Yes and we fly through there again in a few hours. We were in Iceland last week during a blizzard, now this. I really feel for the residents that are affected. It will be interesting to see if/what impact this has at the airport. They are saying the heat will be lowering n the terminal, but that is no big deal for me.

Tack mikliz97 (and Badger for the Icelandic perspective).

Mvh, Moomin

We could not see anything from the plane regarding the eruption. However they announced that the lavatories at KEF were closed due to a water shortage so we had to use the ones in the plane. By the time we landed the lavatories were open. The terminal was not noticeably cooler, but all grab and go food was not available unless like muffins etc. also because of this preordered meals on hard were not available.

mikliz97- I am looking forward to hearing about your trip! Glad to hear your flight was able to operate as planned. I hope the residents of Iceland are doing okay with this most recent eruption.

Meg, the most recent eruption is already done, and I think that the broken water lines have been repaired. They expect this current cycle of quick, fast eruptions to occur every three weeks or so. Of course, impossible to predict when and where. There's a great FB page called Iceland Geology/Seismic and Volcanic Activity in Iceland that has updated information and good interesting videos and pictures.

Meg—our trip was nice, but too short😉 I read today from a local on the Reykjanes Peninsula that they brought in generators for the locals and have shelters for those that are in need. This lady was using a hot water bottle to stay warm. Things are improving, and hopefully by now they all have water restored.