The active vent on the floor of the Voragine has sporadically erupted since late July, and the first effusive activity from this vent since many years occurred in late September, forming a small lava field around the conelet on the floor of the Voragine. NE Crater frequently emitted ash plumes during the first week of October, and on the evening of 10 October, incandescent ejections rose as high as 50 m above the crater rim. The first snow of the forthcoming winter fell on Etna last night, and observations of the ongoing activity will probably be hampered by bad weather in the next months. During late August, lava ejections from Bocca Nuova have become significantly more vigorous, becoming a potential threat to people who stay on the crater rim. Both the southeastern and northern eruptive centers in this crater often eject fluid lava bombs outside the crater, with many bombs falling on its S rim.
Occasional explosions eject boombs on the lower south flank of the central cone.
Passage from Bocca Nuova to SE Crater along the south rim of Bocca Nuova has become extremely dangerous, but bomb fallout has also affected the N rim of Bocca Nuova where a track leads to the Voragine. The number of active vents in Bocca Nuova increased to seven on 28 August but was down to five two days later. The largest bursts from the northern vents are strikingly noiseless. Highly picturesque Strombolian and effusive activity continues from SE Crater whose intracrateral cone is now looming above a gap in the NE rim of the crater when seen from coastal areas east of Etna. During a visit on 30 August, lava fountains rose up to 150 m above the cone's summit, and three vents were active at times.