HILO, Hawai'i — Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park will remain closed for at least another day as winds from the east continue to push potentially hazardous volcanic emissions toward the park visitors center and the Jaggar Museum, the National Park Service announced.

After parks officials reviewed the latest information on emissions and weather at 11 a.m. today, the park announced that "southeasterly winds continue to cause sulfur dioxide levels to reach and exceed the designated closure threshold in areas of the park."

The latest weather forecast calls for trade winds to return tomorrow, which could allow the park to reopen then.

About 2,000 visitors and staff were evacuated from the park yesterday because of concerns that sulfur dioxide emissions from Pu'u O'o and Halema'uma'u would be concentrated in the park and create a health hazard.

In the end, most of the potentially harmful emissions drifted upward by 1,000 feet or more and off to the west, avoiding the most heavily populated areas around the park. Still, Park Incident Information Officer Michael Larson said the highest sulfur dioxide reading in the park was 9 parts per million late in the afternoon, which is well beyond the safety threshold.

"This morning with it being cool and some warmer air on top of it, it has kind of created a pancake effect, so we have some more of the vog lower down," Larson said.

Parks officials said this is the first time the entire park was closed because of eruptive activity since about 1982.

Civil defense officials have also warned five communities northeast of Halema'uma'u crater that sulfur dioxide fumes may pose a hazard there as well, but Civil Defense now says evacuations are not necessary from those areas.

The communities are Mauna Loa Estates, Ohia Estates and Volcano Golf Course subdivisions as well as the Volcano Village and Keauhou Ranch areas.

Very few people have evacuated from the communities around Volcano Village, and residents in the village area reported clear weather today with little vog.

Pu'u O'o on Kilauea's East Rift Zone has been producing about 2,000 metric tons of sulfur dioxide a day for years, while only about 200 tons per day were being released at Halema'uma'u at the summit. Sulfur dioxide emissions from the summit began to climb late last year, and by March 13 had climbed to record levels of 2,000 tons a day as a new vent opened in the wall of the Halema'uma'u crater.

Emissions at the summit had declined to about 800 metric tons as of Monday, but the shifting winds meant that even the reduced emissions at the summit combined with the ongoing emissions at Pu'u O'o threatened Volcano Village and the park.