UPDATE: BALI VOLCANO BILLOWS ASH

A rumbling volcano on Indonesia's tourist island of Bali ejected greyish-white plumes of ash on Friday, this just reminded residence that weeks-long period of activity has not ended. 

Ash spewed as high as 2.1 km above the crater during one emission at 7:59 am, within a radius of about 5km around the mountain, the Indonesian Disaster Mitigation Agency said. 

"Sometimes it is hard for the lava and magma to come out, and when there is pressure, it will spew ash," agency head Gede Suantika told Reuters.

Until the volcano started to enter the ash emission stage on Friday, its emissions since 25 November had been mostly composed of steam, though there was some ash mixed in, he said. 

Hot magma has produced an eerie orange glow just above the crater, and thousands of villagers have fled homes on the mountain’s slopes, Agung’s ejections of material have been small this time.

Authorities raised the alert status to the maximum after it started erupting last month, causing travel chaos by closing the island’s airport for three days last week. Operations were normal on Friday at the international airports in Bali and on nearby Lombok island.