New Zealand's Whakaari/White Island Volcano Raised to Alert Level 3
New Zealand's geological hazard monitoring agency, GeoNet, raised the Volcanic Alert Level for Whakaari/White Island, in the Bay of Plenty, to 3 from 2 at 3:20 a.m. UTC on Oct. 21, 2026, after observations confirmed a weak, ongoing eruption at the volcano.
GeoNet defines Level 3 as a minor volcanic eruption; on the agency's 0 to 5 alert scale, Level 5, the top step, is a major eruption with hazards extending beyond the volcano. At that level, the agency says, the most likely hazards are eruption hazards near the vent, though ash, lava flow and lahar, or mudflow, hazards may reach areas farther from the volcano.
GeoNet said Whakaari/White Island is now continuously, passively erupting a small amount of volcanic ash, and the agency raised the Aviation Colour Code to Orange from Yellow (one step below Red, the top of that four-colour, aviation-only scale, which signals an eruption already sending significant ash into the atmosphere).
The alert level had stood at 2, with the Aviation Colour Code at Yellow, since GeoNet's bulletin two days earlier, on Oct. 19, 2026, when the agency reported intermittent, low-altitude plumes of steam and gas with minor volcanic ash.
"There are no threats to the mainland beyond a potentially noticeable sulphur smell and light ash fall," GeoNet said. The agency added that a more explosive eruption could occur suddenly, posing a threat to life on the crater floor and in the area immediately offshore, southeast of the island.
