The latest update to this website was at 557am Friday (HST)

 

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

0.01  Kilohana, Kauai
0.01  Kahana, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.52  Hana AP, Maui
2.49  Piihonua, Big Island

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

07  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
08  Kili Dr, Oahu – NE
07  Keopukaloa, Molokai – NW
07  Lanai 1, Lanai – NE
12  Launiupoko 2, Maui – NE
15  Puuanahulu, Big Island – SSE

 

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcams on the summit of our tallest mountain Mauna Kea (~13,800 feet high) on the Big Island of Hawaii, and atop the Haleakala Crater (~10,023 feet) 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.

 

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

A cold front northwest…a few thunderstorms far southeast 

 

https://www.weather.gov/images/hfo/satellite/Hawaii_IR_loop.gif

A cold front is stalling just to the north of Kauai

 

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

Showers locally…mostly around the Big Island 

 

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

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

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

It’s mostly clear here in Maui County early this morning, with a chilly low temperature of 49.5 degrees at my place, with the relative humidity 70 percent.

Weather Wit of the day: December Ice Storm – “No heat, no lights, Noel”

>>> Highest Temperature Thursday, January 8, 2026 – 89 near La Puerta, TX
>>> Lowest Temperature Friday, January 9, 2026 – minus 9 near Baker, NV

Monthly Precipitation Summary
Month: December 2025
Prepared: January 8, 2026

Headline: A tale of two halves of the state: Rainy Kauai and Oahu with dry Maui County and the Big Island. Plus, some interesting calendar year stats.

December began with dry and stable conditions, as light southeasterly winds and localized land and sea breezes prevailed ahead of an approaching front. That weak front stalled near Kauai on the 3rd, bringing showers embedded in southerly flow to Kauai and Niihau into the 4th. High pressure rebuilt northeast of the state as the front retreated back to the west, allowing east to east-southeasterly trade winds to strengthen, with typical scattered windward and mountain showers. Winds weakened and veered southeasterly to southerly again around the 8th and 9th as another front approached. The front brought a wetter pattern statewide through the 11th, followed by cooler northerly winds in its wake.

The most significant weather of December occurred around mid-month. A stronger front approached on the 12th, bringing breezy south to southwest winds and pre-frontal showers. The front moved through Kauai and O?ahu on the 13th and 14th before stalling and retrograding westward through the 15th. After a brief lull on the 16th, a shortwave trough destabilized the atmosphere through the 20th, leading to another extended period of steady rainfall over Kauai and O?ahu. Combined totals over the week were around 3 to 6 inches on Kauai (locally up to 7 inches) and 4 to 8 inches on O?ahu, with isolated amounts near 10 to 14 inches along the Koolau Range and northern Waianae Mountains. Rainfall rates were mostly moderate though, with mainly urban roadway flooding impacts, many instances of which were exacerbated by poor drainage maintenance. Two water evacuations occurred on windward O?ahu (Ahuimanu and Kaneohe), along with one water rescue in the Kalihi area of Honolulu. Maui County and the Big Island were largely spared from this event, remaining under drier southeast flow.

Trade winds gradually returned from the 21st to the 23rd, bringing more stable conditions. Moisture from a remnant front was pushed southward during this period, enhancing showers along windward slopes, with rainfall totals around 1 to 2 inches on most islands.

Drier and locally breezy trades prevailed through Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, followed by weakening winds and a shift back toward an east-southeasterly direction ahead of another front. The month ended with moderate trades and generally dry conditions. A brief surge of moisture on the morning of the 30th slightly enhanced windward showers, but no significant impacts were reported.

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview: We’ll see another day of light winds with a few showers, mainly driven by sea-breezes. A cold front is expected to move through the state Sunday night into Monday, bringing a line of showers. Relatively dry northerly winds will follow this front, providing for a cool Tuesday morning. A second front is forecast to move through Wednesday night into Thursday. Neither of these systems appear to be flooding threats at this time.

Hawaii’s Weather Details: Showers continue this morning on the Big Island from Cape Kumukahi southwest to South Cape, but the strongest showers are now offshore, as downsloping winds have pushed most of the activity off the coast. Elsewhere, skies were mostly clear over the other islands.

The latest guidance is very similar to previous runs, showing a front stalling just west and north of the state today. This will bring enhanced moisture mainly to the western end of the state, but ridging aloft will bring too much stability, so showers are not expected to be numerous or strong. Additional showers are forecast for much of the Big Island, where weak southeast winds will allow for a healthy dose of sea-breeze convergence-driven convection. Saturday, the front will wash out, and what little is left will pull back to the north and west, leaving another day of spotty sea-breeze driven showers.

Sunday, an upper level trough will move across the Central Pacific not too far north of the state, pushing the next cold front toward our area. This front will pick up the leftover moisture from the previous system, and push across the state from west to east. It is forecast to reach Kauai County Sunday night, Oahu and Maui Monday morning, and the Big Island Monday afternoon. The front should be accompanied by a band of moderate to strong showers, followed quickly by relatively cool and dry northerly surface winds.

Showers should be moving fast enough to limit any flooding threat. In the airmass behind the front, lows Tuesday morning should be around 5 degrees below normal, and likely even lower in sheltered valley locations of the western islands, where cloud cover should be minimal. Trades will resume behind the front, as surface high pressure builds back into the region.

Wednesday, the old frontal band will move back westward over the state, as a new cold front approaches from the northwest. This next front will be helped along by yet another upper level trough just to the north, and should move across the area Wednesday night into Thursday.

At this time, the moisture associated with this trough appears to be less impressive than the previous one. However, much can change in the model solutions between now and next Thursday, so it bears close watching. Finally, models show a surface high building in behind this front, bringing another round of trade winds and more typical weather for Friday.

Here’s a near real-time Wind Profile of the Pacific Ocean – along with a Closer View of the islands / Vog map animation / 8-Day Precipitation model

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

 

Hawaii’s Marine Environment: A high pressure ridge over the central waters will remain stationary, as a cold front approaches from the northwest. Light to gentle southeast to southerly winds will prevail over the marine waters. As the front dissipates and its remnants lift northward, gentle east to southeast winds will prevail Saturday and early Sunday, giving way to southerly winds again late Sunday. Due to these lighter winds, land and sea breezes are possible through the weekend. A stronger front will move down the island chain Monday and Tuesday, likely ushering in fresh northerly winds in it wake.

Surf along north facing shores will remain small as the west-northwest swell continues to gradually decline. Surf is expected to build in rapidly Saturday with long period forerunners potentially reaching the offshore waters earlier. This large long period north-northwest (330 degrees) swell will likely peak Saturday evening, producing surf near High Surf Warning (HSW) levels along north and some west facing shores. Surf will remain elevated on Sunday before a potentially even larger long period northwest (320-330 deg) swell will build through the day on Monday and hold through Tuesday likely above the HSW thresholds. Surf will likely remain elevated through the middle of next week.

Surf along east facing shores will continue to decline through the weekend, as winds over and upwind of Hawaii remain weak. Some increase in east shore surf is possible early next week. Along south shores, surf will remain very small through the forecast period.

 

9 Best Places To Visit On Gorgeous Kauai



World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

 

Atlantic Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Caribbean Sea:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Gulf of America:  There are no active tropical cyclones

 

Northeastern Pacific:  There are no active tropical cyclones

North Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

 

Northwest Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Southwest Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

North and South Indian Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones 

South Indian Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones 

Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

 

>>> Here’s a link to the Pacific Disaster Center’s (PDC Global) Weather Wall website

 

Interesting:  Melting Glaciers Top the List

Climate change, trust in science and health were among the most popular topics covered by UZH media releases and articles in 2025. As in past years, our stories about research at UZH resonated all over the world.

Last year, the UZH media relations team published over 70 media releases and articles about the university’s research findings and institutional developments. As always, not all topics received the same level of attention from national and international media outlets. An internal ranking of the 10 most successful releases shows that, for the first time, UZH’s media releases on climate change topics attracted the greatest attention across the globe.

Alarming Glacial Melt

2025 was the International Year of Glaciers, and the UZH-based World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) put the issue firmly in the spotlight. Fittingly, two UZH media releases on glacier loss received the most attention. Headlines highlighting an increased loss of freshwater resources and ever-rising sea levels resonated far beyond Switzerland. In UZH’s most popular 2025 media release, WGMS director Michael Zemp calculated that glaciers worldwide have lost an average of 273 billion tons of ice annually for the past 25 years. This stark warning was picked up by almost 1,100 national and international media outlets, both online and in print.

Read More: University of Zurich

Image: The South Cascade Glacier in the US state of Washington is the first glacier of 2025. The glacier is one of five reference glaciers monitored by the US Geological Survey and has been observed since 1958.