Lava continues advancing slowly east, toward homes in Puna. However, the flow is not yet an immediate threat.

A Big Island Civil Defense overflight Tuesday showed the front of the flow moving through thick forest. The lava also dropped into a deep crack in the East Rift Zone about 7.8 miles from the vent and 1.2 miles from the eastern boundary of the Wao Kele o Puna Forest Reserve.

The lava is now traveling in the crack. Steam rising from the crack, an indication of lava, was about 8 miles from the vent and 1.1. miles from the eastern boundary of the forest reserve.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory released a new video, taken Monday, showing  what’s known as the June 27th lava flow. 

The video begins with a view of the steam rising from the ground crack, where lava is moving. As the view rotates west, lava can be seen on the surface burning thick forest. Finally, the camera focuses on the eastern edge of the flow, where lava is plunging into the deep ground crack. This swiftly moving stream of lava was about 2 yards wide, and was visible down to about 100 feet depth in the crack, where it disappeared from view.

Another community meeting on the lava flow will be held in Puna Tuesday night at the Pahoa High School cafeteria. The next meeting will be held Thursday night.