Glenn James
Hawaii Weather Today
Creator, Author, and Administrator for 30 years

 

The latest update to this website was Monday evening at 905pm HST


Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands Monday evening:

13.56  Mount Waialeale, Kauai!
2.28  Kalawahine, Oahu
0.25  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.06  Lanai City, Lanai
2.57  Puu Kukui, Maui
4.90  Honolii Stream, Big Island


The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph) Monday evening:

20  Lawai, Kauai – ENE
36  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – ESE
30  Makapulapai, Molokai – E 
30  Lanai 1, Lanai – NE
33  Kahului AP, Maui – NE
35  Puuloa, Big Island – NE


Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of our tallest mountain Mauna Kea (~13,800 feet high) on the Big Island of Hawaii. Here’s the webcam for the (~10,023 feet high) Haleakala Crater on Maui. These webcams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands, and at night whenever there’s a big moon shining down. Also, at night you will be able to see the stars, and the sunrise and sunset too…depending upon weather conditions.

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Big Blue…click twice for largest version

 

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Thunderstorms in the deeper tropics…cold front far northwest 

 

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Variably cloudy, with a mix of low, middle and high level clouds 

 

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Showers locally 

 

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Please open this link to see details on the current Watches, Warnings and Advisories noted above




~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Glenn’s Monday comments:  I’m at home here in upper Kula, Maui, Hawaii

It’s partly cloudy here in Maui County, with calm winds at my place, with a low of 56.5 degrees and the relative humidity is 76%

1216pm, just back from playing pickleball in Makawao, and this is a pure brag…I played 5-games and won 5-games! It had rained lightly in Makawao, although on the drive up here to Kula it poured…I mean buckets worth! It’s still raining here at my place, although not as hard as down the road, which is good as I made it from my car into the house without getting soaked.

337pm, it’s mostly cloudy here in Maui County, and we’ve had off and on showers this afternoon, generally in the light to moderate category…compared to the heavy showers late this morning into early afternoon.

6pm, still cloudy upcountry, although I can see sunshine down closer to the shorelines…it’s rather hazy too.

835pm, clouds are clearing after a considerably cloudy day here on Maui, with many off and on showers. At the time of this writing the temperature here at my Kula weather tower, which is about 3,200 feet on the leeward slopes of the Haleakala Crater is 61.5 degrees, with the relative humidity 78%.  WOW, there’s a very slim moon with a planet (Venus) very close to it in the western horizon…what a great sight!

 

April Showers Bring May Flowers to Hawaii - Revealed Travel Guides
The Jacaranda Trees are going off here in upcountry Kula, Maui


>>> Highest Temperature Monday, May 18, 2026 – 109 degrees at Rio Grande Village, TX
>>> Lowest Temperature Monday, May 18, 2026 – 14 degrees at Austin, NV

 

>>> Interesting Weather Web blog: Mauka Showers…2025-2026 Wet Season Numbers…And Here Comes El Niño!

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview…as of Monday evening:  An unstable and somewhat wet trade wind pattern will continue through Tuesday night, with brief downpours possible. From Wednesday into early next week, an area of high pressure north of the islands will push drier air the region and strengthen winds. The result will be a moderate to breezy trade wind pattern.

Update: Similar to yesterday evening, the heavy showers that occurred at select spots during the day have diminished. Only light, isolated showers remain embedded within moderate to locally breezy trade winds favoring the windward areas.

Weather Details for the Hawaiian Islands…as of Monday evening: Showers across windward and mountain areas, along with the Kona Districts on Big Island, were noted on radar. Some showers have been producing moderate to briefly heavy rain, and this has resulted in the issuance of flood advisories on Kauai and on Big Island. These showers will trend down around sunset.

Winds were averaging 10 to 20 mph with gusts 20 to 30 mph. Conditions remain on the humid side, as we await drier air that should arrive from Tuesday night into Wednesday night. Until that arrives, we will continue to see rather wet trades, meaning we will continue to have the chance for moderate to briefly heavy rain from showers.

From late Wednesday onward, we will see noticeably lower precipitable water values (down around 1 inch) going all the way into next week. Aloft, an upper level ridge will become established to our north, even as weak troughing will extend off the southwest coast of the mainland toward Hawaii. This troughing will have little to no impact on our surface weather, as the upper ridging will help keep relatively dry trades established over our area. Dewpoints will fall several degrees as the dry air comes in, allowing a little more cooling overnight for wind-sheltered areas.


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Here’s a near real-time Wind Profile of the Pacific Ocean – along with a Closer View of the islands / Here’s the latest Weather Map / Looping Surface Precipitation…through the next 8-days / Vog Map

 

Marine Environmental Conditions…as of Monday evening: The pressure gradient back from a surface high centered about 1,500 nautical miles northeast of the islands, remains tight enough to support moderate to locally fresh trades the next couple of days. The high will expand and strengthen through mid to late week. The resultant very tight gradient back across the Central Pacific will produce fresh to locally strong to near gale force nearshore winds the later half of the week. A Small Craft Advisory (SCA) is currently in effect over the windier waters surrounding Maui County and Big Island. The SCA will likely be expanded in area later this week to account for more area-wide strengthened trades.

A small size, short to medium period, north-northwest swell is expected to fill in Tuesday. A gale low skirting the Aleutian Islands of Alaska the next couple of days, will send the tail ends of small north-northwest swells through late this week. A series of small, long period, south-southwest swells will provide near summer average size surf along south-facing shores throughout the week. Strengthening trades later this week will keep short period, elevated eastern wind wave chop alive well into the weekend.

 

Top 4 Kid-Friendly Beaches on Oahu


World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity


>>> Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall


>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7 days.

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7 days.

>>> Gulf of America: There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7 days.

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

 

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7 days.

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

 

>>> Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will begin on June 1, 2026.

Here’s the link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

 

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclone

>>> Southwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s the link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)



Interesting:  Improving Plastics Recycling From End-of-Life Vehicles

Each year, four to six million cars are scrapped in the EU—resulting in the loss of resources. The EU End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation is intended to ensure that these materials are recovered and reused in new vehicles in the future. Researchers at the TUM have now analyzed a process developed within the Car2Car research project that enables plastics to remain within the recycling loop. The study shows potential climate benefits as well as the possibility of meeting upcoming EU requirements.

When a vehicle is taken out of service, it is quickly reduced to its basic components: batteries, wheels, catalytic converters, and airbags are removed, and fluids are drained. What remains is sent to a shredder. The result is a heterogeneous mix of metals, textiles, plastics, foams, and composite materials. Extracting recyclable plastics from this mixture is complex, but it is becoming increasingly important for automakers and suppliers, as the EU is currently planning a new regulation on the treatment of end-of-life vehicles. Once the regulation comes into effect, the share of recycled plastics used in new vehicles that comes from post-consumer recycling is to be gradually increased to 25 percent.

A portion of this recycled content must come from “closed?loop recycling,” meaning recycling plastics from end?of?life vehicles back into new vehicles. According to the EU proposal, this share should account for at least 20 percent of the required recycled content. “At first glance, that may not sound like much, but around 200 kilograms of plastic will be generated per end?of?life vehicle in the future,” says Magnus Fröhling, Professor of Circular Economy and Sustainability Assessment at TUM Campus Straubing. “In addition, plastics recycling has played only a minor role in the automotive industry so far, meaning we are still at a very early stage in this regard.”

Read more at: Technical University of Munich