Fuego (Guatemala) - Report for 6 August-12 August 2026 - New Eruptive Activity — volcanic activity reported was recorded by Global Incident Tracker on Thursday, 13 August 2026 at 08:03 UTC. The event is classified as a volcanic eruption incident with a severity rating of Moderate, and was detected through GVP.
The Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanología, Meteorología e Hidrología (INSIVUMEH) reported that a period of stronger activity at Fuego that had begun at 0830 on 3 August ended on 5 August, after 50 hours of activity. Pyroclastic density currents, causing erosion that altered the crater morphology; rockfalls and accumulations of erupted material were reported in the Seca (W flank) and Ceniza (SW flank) ravines. Ashfall primarily affected communities on the W and SW flanks within the municipality of San Pedro Yepocapa (Chimaltenango). Lower-level eruptive activity continued through 12 August. Explosions recorded by the seismic network at rates of 4-11 per hour generated gas-and-ash plumes that rose as high as about 1 km above the summit and drifted as far as 25 km. Ashfall was reported in downwind areas, including San Pedro Yepocapa, Sangre de Cristo, and Finca Palo Verde. Weak-
Where this happened
The incident is located in Guatemala (North America), whose capital is Guatemala City. Historically, Guatemala is most affected by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and storms. You can follow every incident recorded in this country, updated live, on the Guatemala incident tracker.
Approximate coordinates of the reported event are 15.800°, -90.200°. The marker on the map above shows this position; for news-derived reports the location reflects the place named in media coverage and may represent a district or city rather than an exact site.
Understanding volcanic eruption events
Eruptions producing ash, lava, pyroclastic flows and lahars. Volcanic risk extends far beyond lava. Pyroclastic flows, ashfall that collapses roofs, lahars (volcanic mudflows) and aviation-grade ash clouds account for most volcanic casualties and economic damage.
How severity is rated
Global Incident Tracker rates every event on a four-step scale — Minor, Moderate, Severe and Extreme — derived from the source signal: earthquake magnitude, official GDACS alert colour, or the volume of independent media reporting for news-derived incidents. This event is currently rated Moderate. Ratings can change as more information becomes available, and a rating is a monitoring signal rather than an official government assessment.
Safety guidance for volcanic eruption situations
- Follow exclusion zones exactly — pyroclastic flows travel faster than any vehicle on local roads.
- Protect against ashfall with an N95 mask and eye protection; ash damages lungs and engines.
- Avoid river valleys and low ground downstream, where lahars concentrate.
- Clear roof ash carefully; wet ash is extremely heavy and collapses structures.
- Follow only official instructions from local authorities and emergency services — this page is a monitoring record, not an emergency alert.
Data and verification
This record was generated automatically from GVP and de-duplicated against our archive. Early reports for any incident can be revised: locations get refined, magnitudes are recalculated and impact figures change as assessments arrive. We deliberately do not publish casualty numbers unless an official source states them. The original source report is linked at the top of this page.
Keep watching the situation on our live world incident map, browse every volcanic eruptions we track on the Volcanic Eruption tracker, or see today's global picture on the incidents today page.
Timeline and sources
Officially recorded
An official record exists from Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program. That confirms the event was recorded; figures quoted from news reports are not confirmed by it.
How statuses are decided · the number of reports is never treated as confirmation.
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· received · event time 13 Aug 2026, 08:03 UTCFirst report Official agency record
First recorded from Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program.
Times are when this site received each report, in UTC; the event time is shown where the source gave one. Copies of one syndicated story count as one report.
Conditions at the time
Light rain of 1.8 mm was recorded, and the temperature peaked at 31°C.
Weather reanalysis for this location and date via Open-Meteo.