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

 

The latest update to this website was at 1230pm Thursday afternoon HST


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

0.04  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.39  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.12  Puu Kukui, Molokai
0.01  Lanai City, Lanai
2.10  West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.22  Pahoa, Big Island


The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph) Thursday afternoon: 

23  Port Allen, Kauai – E 
28  Kuaokala, Oahu – SW
24  Molokai AP, Molokai – NE
m  Lanai – m
39  Na Kula, Maui – SE
32  Mamalahoa 3, 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 (out of operation). 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.

https://weather.gc.ca/data/satellite/goes_gwdisk11_1070_100.jpg

Big Blue…click twice for largest version

 

https://cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES18/ABI/SECTOR/tpw/13/GOES18-TPW-13-900x540.gif

 Thunderstorms south…large area of high and middle level clouds arriving from the southwest

 

https://cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES18/ABI/SECTOR/hi/GEOCOLOR/20262181330-20262182120-GOES18-ABI-HI-GEOCOLOR-600x600.gif

Low clouds arriving from the east on the trade winds

 

https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/HAWAII_loop.gif

https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/PHKI_loop.gif

https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/PHKM_loop.gif

Localized showers 

 

https://www.weather.gov/wwamap/png/hfo.png

 

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




~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

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

509am, it’s partly cloudy here in upper Kula with calm winds, and a low temperature at my place of 57.5 degrees…with the relative humidity 79%

1241pm, just back from very fun pickleball playing in Makawao. It’s mostly cloudy here on Maui, with a few partly cloudy areas. As I drove up here from from Makawao, there was some brief light showers along the way, although it’s dry here at my place in Kula.

 

>>> Highest Temperature Wednesday, August 5, 2026 – 122 degrees near Tecopa, CA

>>> Lowest Temperature Wednesday, August 5, 2026 – 17 degrees at Peter Sinks, UT

 

Hawaii’s Weather Highlights…as of Thursday afternoon: Light to moderate trade winds will prevail today, followed by increasing trade wind speeds Friday through the weekend. Most shower activity will occur during the nights and early mornings, and affect windward and mountain locations.

From Saturday afternoon through Monday, an area of tropical moisture will move over portions of the state from east to west and bring enhanced shower activity to mainly Maui County and the Big Island. A typical stable trade wind pattern will return by Tuesday of next week.

Short Term Update: Satellite and radar imagery shows a little more trade wind showers near and just upstream Maui County and Oahu, therefore the probability of precipitation has increased today. Otherwise, the forecast remains on track with trades increasing Friday, then increasing rainfall chances Saturday evening through Monday.

Weather Narrative..as of Thursday afternoon: Satellite imagery loops showed the cyclonic spin of an upper low centered west-northwest of Kauai. Mid and upper level moisture could be seen streaming over the state from the southwest, ahead of the feature.

At the surface, locally moderate trades persisted as a trough from former TC Genevieve continued to pass well to the northeast of the state, and a stationary front remained anchored to the north. Showers have been rather isolated with accumulations only reaching a few hundredths of an inch at select windward sites. The West Wailuaiki Stream rain gauge on the windward slope of Haleakala, however, did pick up around a third of an inch.

The Hilo upper air sounding shows a subsidence temperature inversion height of 6,000 feet, which is typical for this time of year. Not much change is expected through Friday, with low cloud cover and isolated to scattered showers generally limited to windward and mountain locations.

On Friday, both the surface trough to the northeast and front to the north will have dissipated, allowing high pressure to build back in their wake. As local surface pressure gradients tighten in response, trade winds should ramp up to moderate to breezy levels going forward.

By early in the weekend, global models have been consistent in bringing an area of deeper tropical moisture towards the Big Island from the east. The most recent GFS model depicts the inversion weakening, as conditions become more unstable, and moisture deepening up to 15,000 feet.

Thus, from Saturday afternoon through Monday, embedded pockets of heavier rainfall will be possible for the Big Island and Maui County, especially for windward locations. At this point in time, it appears Oahu and Kauai will only be on the fringes of this passing moisture. While still too early to determine more concrete forecast details, a few inches of rainfall accumulation could fall on some of the wettest windward sites.

Typical moderate trade wind weather will return for Tuesday through the end of next week, with scattered showers mainly in the windward and mountain areas during the nights and early mornings.

 

https://www.weather.gov/images/hfo/graphics/npac.gif


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 Conditions…as of Thursday afternoon: Moderate trades persist as surface troughing to the northeast maintains a rather weak pressure gradient over the state. Dissipation of the trough to the northeast combined with renewed trough development south of the islands and strengthening high pressure to the northeast will favor fresh to locally strong trades by week`s end. Background medium and long period energy will produce small surf for south facing shores through Friday. A series of larger, medium to long period south swells arrive beginning on Saturday, causing surf to trend up for south and west facing shores this weekend into early next week. Surf may peak close to the High Surf Advisory threshold by the middle of next week. Along east facing shores, trade wind swell and moderate trades will support surf slightly below seasonal averages. Surf will build this weekend in response to strengthening trade winds. Surf along north shores remains flat to tiny through the period.

 

THE 15 BEST Hawaii Nature & Wildlife Areas (2026) - Tripadvisor


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.

 

Northeast Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> Western East Pacific and Central Pacific:

A broad area of low pressure could form by early next week over the western portion of the east Pacific. Some gradual development of this system is possible as it moves generally westward at 10 to 15 mph toward or into the central Pacific basin.

*Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent
*Formation chance through 7 days…low…30 percent

 

>>> Southwest Mexico:

An area of low pressure is forecast to form well offshore of the southwestern coast of Mexico late this weekend or early next week. Some gradual development of this system is possible thereafter while it moves generally west-northwestward.

*Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent
*Formation chance through 7 days…low…30 percent

 

Central North Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

 

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean:  

Tropical cyclone 12W (Dolphin)…is located approximately 199 NM east of Kadena AB

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/wp1226.gif

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/12W_061200sair.jpg

 

Tropical cyclone 13W (Kujira)…is located approximately 167 NM northeast of Manila, Philippines – Final Warning

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/wp1326.gif

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/13W_061200sair.jpg

 

>>> 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:  Algal Blooms: A ‘Dark’ Threat to Greenland’s Cooling Capabilities

In Greenland, where the island’s ice sheet is melting around six times faster than it was in the 1990s, billions of tons of ice are already disappearing each year. Two new studies published in January focus on the role of algal blooms and their exacerbating effect on glacier and ice sheet melt in the Arctic.

The first, led by Jenine McCutcheon, a geo-microbiologist at the University of Waterloo in Canada, analyzed the biogeochemical characteristics of the dust that is deposited on ice surfaces and how it contributes to melting. In the second study, led by Beatriz Gill Olivas, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Environmental Science at Aarhus University in Denmark, the authors investigated whether algal growth is limited by the availability of nutrients trapped in surface ice.

Despite popular conceptions of the icy surfaces in Greenland as being white and sterile, these sites are thriving ecosystems, inhabited by a variety of algae, fungi and other microscopic organisms. Processes like aerosol deposition and deglaciation cause nutrients to accumulate on the icy surfaces, feeding algae and causing algal blooms.

These algal blooms form dark, brownish-gray spots on ice sheets and glaciers that reduce albedo, the property of a surface to reflect solar radiation. Any surface with an albedo level less than 100%—essentially any surface that is not a highly reflective mirror—will absorb small amounts of heat. As a result, high albedo slows down warming and low albedo increases warming.

Read More at: Columbia Climate School

Image: A landslide in 2007 damaged Washington’s State Route 6 and several structures near the town of Pe Ell. New research from the University of Washington maps the communities most at risk from landslides nationwide; the database counts roughly 6.5 million vulnerable residents across the country.