KEMETIC MINDS
Extreme Earth Changes Watch — Daily Report — August 26, 2026
An unusually busy 24 hours of geophysical news brought together a new Kilauea eruption episode, the close of a 200-plus-earthquake swarm, a record-setting Phoenix heat reading, and an M6.9 solar flare pointed at Earth (MSN, 2026; mbl.is, 2026; IBTimes, 2026). Two separate sinkholes also forced road closures in West Virginia and Utah [1][2].
- Kilauea’s 54th eruption episode of the summer was underway, with lava fountaining at the summit around 10:30 a.m. HST, according to the USGS [3].
- mbl.is reports that an earthquake swarm with more than 200 recorded earthquakes has ended [4].
- Phoenix reached a record-breaking 115°F on Tuesday, topping the previous 113°F record set in 2011, the National Weather Service said [3].
- Sunspot region AR4513 produced five M-class flares on Aug. 25, including an M6.9, and a possible CME is being analyzed (IBTimes, 2026; MSN, 2026).
- A water-main break opened a sinkhole on Huntington, W.Va.’s 7th Street West, where crews were filling the hole with gravel [1].
- A 4-foot sinkhole closed eastbound Hinckley Drive in Ogden, Utah, with no reopening timeline [2].
Video: Swarm of earthquakes near Brawley – News 11's Wiley Jawhary reports. Source: News 11 Yuma.
1. Hawaii: Kilauea’s 54th Eruption Episode Sends Lava Fountains at Summit
According to an MSN report, the U.S. Geological Survey said lava began to fountain at the summit around 10:30 a.m. HST as Kilauea’s 54th eruption episode of the summer got underway [3]. A separate story on the same outlet noted that “the 54th eruption of Mount Kilauea Volcano is underway as it continues its active summer” [3].
Video: Here’s How Drones Can Help Predict Volcanic Eruptions. Source: Amaze Lab.
2. Earthquake Swarm: More Than 200 Quakes Recorded
An earthquake swarm in which more than 200 earthquakes were recorded has ended, according to the Icelandic outlet mbl.is [4]. No further details were included in the brief report.
Video: Magnitude 5.6 earthquake rattles Northern California, causes multiple injuries. Source: ABC News.
3. West Virginia: Water-Main Break Opens Huntington Sinkhole
A portion of 7th Street West in Huntington, West Virginia, was closed after a sinkhole opened between Washington and Virginia Avenues [1]. The Huntington Sanitary Board said the collapse followed a West Virginia American Water line break during the weekend, and crews used a robot camera to inspect the sewer line for damage [1]. Bryan Chambers, communications director for the Huntington Water Quality Board, said Tuesday that crews would remove sections of roadway where the ground had washed out, repair the manhole chimney, and fill a good portion of the hole with gravel [1]. Resident Karen Baker said she was “shocked” because “smaller cars could have fallen in that big of a hole,” adding that “safety was my first thought” (WSAZ, 2026).
Video: Looking back at the Mount St. Helens eruption. Source: CBS Sunday Morning.
4. Utah: Sinkhole Shuts Ogden Road
A sinkhole that measured about 4 feet opened Tuesday morning in the eastbound lanes of Hinckley Drive near 1400 West in Ogden, Utah, prompting a traffic closure (Standard-Examiner, 2026). UDOT Region 1 Senior Communication Manager Mitch Shaw said no vehicles were damaged and that there is no timeline for reopening the roadway [2]. Shaw added that he does not believe there is further risk of sinkholes along the road [2]. ABC4 Utah also reported the closure near the Ogden airport (ABC4 Utah, 2026).
Video: Sinkholes in Florida force evacuations. Source: CBS Evening News.
5. Arizona: Phoenix Posts Record 115°F High
Phoenix reached a record-breaking 115°F on Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service, topping the previous mark of 113°F set in 2011 (MSN, 2026).
6. Space Weather: Earth-Facing Sunspot Fires M6.9 Flare
Sunspot region AR4513, which was facing Earth, produced five M-class solar flares on Aug. 25, including an M6.9 event that peaked at 10:02 UTC (IBTimes, 2026). The M6.9 flare caused an R2 moderate radio blackout, and four additional M-class flares caused R1 minor radio blackouts in areas including the Philippine Sea, the Pacific west of Central America, the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and the southeast coast of India (IBTimes, 2026). SIDC noted on-disk dimming near AR4513 and said the associated CME needed further analysis (IBTimes, 2026). MSN reported that the M6.9 burst and an accompanying CME could boost northern lights this week (MSN, 2026). SpaceWeather.com said the Beta-Gamma-Delta region posed a threat of stronger X-class flares (IBTimes, 2026).
What Scientists Are Saying
Across Tuesday’s events, official agencies provided measured assessments. The USGS said lava fountaining at Kilauea’s summit began around 10:30 a.m. HST [3]. The National Weather Service confirmed the Phoenix 115°F reading broke the 2011 record of 113°F [3]. In space weather, SIDC identified AR4513 as the most complex region on the visible solar disk and reported on-disk dimming with the M6.9 flare, while SpaceWeather.com flagged a threat of X-class flares (IBTimes, 2026). In Utah, UDOT’s Mitch Shaw provided the size of the Ogden sinkhole, said no vehicles were damaged, and indicated he saw no further sinkhole risk along the road [2].
How To Track These Events
For independent, real-time monitoring, the U.S. Geological Survey publishes free public feeds for earthquakes and volcanic activity, NOAA offers live weather and space-weather products, and the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program maintains updates on active eruptions worldwide.
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“Extreme Earth Changes Watch” exists to track real, agency-verified geophysical and weather events without the hype — every event here is tied to a named source: USGS, NOAA, the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program, or mainstream news, rather than an anonymous social post. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, and extreme weather happen somewhere on Earth every single day; this roundup exists to separate genuinely unusual or record-setting activity from routine background activity, using the same scientific sourcing bar every day.
References
- WSAZ. (2026, August 25). ‘People are going to get hurt’: Residents concerned about sinkhole. https://www.wsaz.com/2026/08/25/people-are-going-get-hurt-residents-concerned-about-sinkhole/ ↩a ↩b ↩c ↩d ↩e
- Standard-Examiner. (2026, August 25). Sinkhole reported along Hinckley Drive in Ogden. https://www.standard.net/news/2026/aug/25/sinkhole-reported-along-hinckley-drive-in-ogden/ ↩a ↩b ↩c ↩d ↩e
- MSN. (2026, August 25). Kilauea puts on fiery show as 54th eruption episode sends lava fountains soaring. https://www.msn.com/en-us/science/earth-science/kilauea-puts-on-fiery-show-as-54th-eruption-episode-sends-lava-fountains-soaring/ar-AA2aVMHe ↩a ↩b ↩c ↩d ↩e ↩f
- mbl.is. (2026, August 26). Earthquake swarm over: 200 earthquakes recorded. https://www.mbl.is/english/nature_and_travel/2026/08/26/earthquake_swarm_over_200_earthquakes_recorded/ ↩a ↩b
Investigative Methodology: This roundup is generated on a fixed daily schedule (morning, America/Chicago) from live wire sources. Every claim is grounded in fetched source text with a numbered citation, and this series only reports events backed by an official agency (USGS, NOAA, Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program) or mainstream news coverage — never anonymous social-media claims alone. No event is asserted to be connected to another, or framed as prophetic/supernatural, unless a cited scientist or agency source explicitly says so. Every video embed is verified to be a real, existing video via YouTube’s oEmbed endpoint before publication. No Wikipedia sources are used.
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