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

 

The last update to this website was Friday morning at 558am HST


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

0.07  N Wailua Ditch, Kauai
2.02  Punaluu Stream, Oahu
0.36  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.01  Lanai City, Lanai
0.49  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.08  South Point, Big Island


The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph) Friday morning:

07  Lawai, Kauai – NE  
14  Mokuoloe Island, Oahu – NE
14  Anapuka, Molokai – NW  
23  Lanai 1, Lanai – NE
17  Kealaloloa Rg, Maui – NNE
14  Kahuku Ranch, Big Island – ESE


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 

 

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High clouds south and arriving from the west…surface low just northeast 

 

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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 Aloha Friday comments:  I’m at home here in upper Kula, Maui, Hawaii

517am, it’s mostly clear with high cirrus clouds (which lit up a very pretty pink at sunrise). Here at my Kula weather tower I had a low temperature of 50.5 degrees…with the relative humidity 76 percent.

 

>>> Highest Temperature Thursday, May 7, 2026 – 104 degrees at Death Valley, CA
>>> Lowest Temperature Friday, May 8, 2026 – 18 degrees near Roscommon, MI

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview…as of Friday morning:  Better established light to breezy trade winds will hold well into next week. While trades are slowly making a come back, overall large scale winds will be weak enough the next couple of days, to allow localized sea and land breezes to remain active through Sunday morning. This pattern will favor thicker cloud build ups, with more frequent daily shower activity primarily focused over upslope windward mountain interior areas…partially clearing in the evening over leeward spots.

A westward passing band of more moisture-rich air, along with weak instability brought on by the approach of a weak area of lower layer convergence, will increase windward rain probabilities through Saturday evening. Broad surface high pressure ridging developing north of the state, will maintain the trade winds through next week.

Weather Details for the Hawaiian Islands…as of Friday morning: An area of higher moisture approaching from the east, will be moving across the island chain through the day. Trades are returning and an east-southeast flow pattern has become evident overnight on radar, especially on Oahu. Convergence over the Koolau’s has generated a fair amount of persistent light to moderate rain, with many sites along the windward slopes of Oahu picking up a half to around an inch of rain.

A weak circulation, possibly in association with the tail-end of a weak lower level trough approximately 100 miles offshore of Hilo, is slowly moving west. This will decrease stability enough to introduce areas of showers, that will periodically come onshore over windward areas through Saturday. Rainfall behavior that was experienced last night along the spine and windward slopes of Oahu`s higher terrain, will be repeated across other islands through Saturday as this relatively more moist air advances west-northwest up the island chain and produces frequent showers. Higher rain accumulations will focus across more eastern-facing, or windward areas.

Cloud cover will gradually thicken up through the day, especially mid to high clouds originating from thunderstorm cirrus blow off getting caught up within upper level southwesterlies traveling over the state. While the trade winds will make the `feel` of humidity more tolerable, more overcast afternoon skies will keep many windward (coastal) communities in the mid to upper 70’s, while mostly sunny leeward lighter wind/rain/cloud shadowed locations will warm into the lower to middle 80’s.

Upper level support will be in play, introduced by the subtropical jet stream passing over the islands. This strengthens the `more wet than dry` argument in closing out the first full week of May. Surface troughing northeast of the islands will be moving back into the central waters through Saturday. This feature, albeit very week, will likely be the impetus to the regeneration of showers caught up within the trades, that will periodically come ashore the next few days. Higher rain chances will reside over the windward sides of islands, but leeward areas will also get into the action from either sea breeze convergence or better organized cells to wet leeward slopes along their west-southwest journey.

A few areas of drier air will be carried in from the east early next week, and this will help to lower widespread rain episodes Sunday through Tuesday. A more shallow mid weak boundary layer will kick off a few days of more robust trades focused on Monday-Tuesday through Thursday. Upper ridging expands in from the northwest by Tuesday, with weak troughing forming west of the state later in the week. This translates to a more typical seasonal early to mid-week trade wind and precipitation behavior. The timing of when we will receive a quick dose of rain will strictly be dependent upon when these eastern bands of higher mid to lower level moisture stream across the island chain.


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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 Friday morning: A weak trough east-northeast of the islands will keep trade winds light to locally moderate across all local waters today. By this weekend, however, a surface ridge building northwest of the state will bring a return of moderate to locally fresh trades. A Small Craft Advisory may be needed for the typical windy waters surrounding Maui and the Big Island by early next week, as the high expands eastward and trade winds strengthen further.

A declining moderate, medium-period, northwest swell will bring elevated surf to north and west facing shores today. Surf will decline through the weekend as the swell fades.

A small, long-period, south swell should provide a small bump in south shore surf through the weekend. Another small, long-period, south swell is possible mid-next week.

Surf along east-facing shores will remain slightly below normal today, due to the lack of strong trades over and upstream of the islands. East shore surf will gradually increase this weekend into early next week as trades make a slow return.

 

 

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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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: 

Tropical Cyclone 05W (Hagupit) is located approximately 48 NM south of Yap

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

 

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

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



Interesting:  How Trees in Urban Areas are Key to Cooling Down a Warmer World

Planting new forests may be a low-cost way to combat warming temperatures in urban areas, suggests a new study.

In a large-scale field experiment, researchers planted 640 tree saplings across 20 parks in Dayton, Ohio, and implemented varying irrigation methods. After monitoring sapling survival, growth and health in response to their irrigation methods and nearby temperatures, the team found that the effects of both water treatment and surrounding heat varied among tree species.

An analysis of saplings at season’s end revealed an overall survival rate of about 48%, indicating that irrigation approaches impacted species’ health differently: Certain species, such as red maple, northern catalpa and honey locust, consistently thrived over others, particularly the white oak, black gum and sassafras saplings.

Read More: Ohio State University