The May-August 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption resulted in numerous new insights into how Kīlauea Volcano works and provided scientists new opportunities to improve their understanding of volcanic hazards. Matt Patrick, a geologist with the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, describes the expected and unexpected aspects of the eruption and discusses how the activity might be used to improve his and other scientists’ ability to forecast future hazards on Kīlauea.