The latest update to this website was at 555am Friday (HST)

 

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

0.02  Wainiha, Kauai
0.01  Kaala, Oahu
0.25  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.20  Lanai AP, Lanai
1.50  Piiholo, Maui
1.63  Honokaa, Big Island

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

27  Lihue, Kauai – NNE
48  Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
25  Anapuka, Molokai – NE
28  Lanai 1, Lanai – NE
32  Kealaloloa Rg, Maui – NNE
43  Kealakomo, Big Island – NNW

 

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

 

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 A cold front is located northwest

 

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

The frontal cloud band is dissipating near the Big Island 

 

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Showers locally…mostly around the Big Island and offshore

 

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 with some cloudy areas early this morning, with a very cold low temperature of 41 degrees at my place!

 

Weather Wit of the day: Icing – A menace to pilots who think flying through freezing rain is a piece of cake

 

>>> Highest Temperature Thursday, January 15, 2026 – 88 near Malibu, CA
>>> Lowest Temperature Friday, January 16, 2026 – minus 16 at Mount Washington, NH

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview:  High pressure far to our northwest will pass north of the islands Saturday, turning our cool northerlies to dry trades today. The high will move well northeast of the islands Sunday, causing local background winds to turn southeast.

Humidity levels will be comfortably low through the holiday weekend. Very little, if any rainfall is expected for the next couple of days, but a small increase in mainly windward and mountain showers is expected after that. Our next cold front is expected to bring wet weather, that will reach the islands around the middle of next week.

Hawaii’s Weather Details: Cool and dry northerly breezes prevail across the main Hawaiian Islands this morning. Sea level dewpoints are unusually low, with some sites including Lihue and Honolulu as low as the upper 40’s early this morning. Lingering moisture trailing the front had been bringing some persistent showers to portions of the Hamakua District overnight, but these have since faded as drier air takes over.

The chilly post-frontal northerlies are thanks to a surface high northwest of Kauai. The high will move fairly quickly eastward today, passing north of the Hawaiian Islands on Saturday. This will swing the winds over to trades for today and Saturday. The airmass is very dry and stable, so if there are any windward and mountain showers, they should be quite light. The vast majority of the area today should be rain-free. Models show a very modest increase in trade wind showers Saturday, as low-level moisture increases a bit, but still overall it should be rather dry.

The low level flow turns southeast once again Sunday into Monday as the surface high moves well northeast of the islands, with a ridge extending to the southwest across the islands. Overall, the airmass stays drier than normal and fine weather for the holiday weekend is expected, with very limited shower activity.

The low level ridge over the islands will start to break down on Tuesday in advance of the next cold front. There is some variability in the models about how light the winds will be as they start to turn more southerly. At this point, moisture levels and moist-layer depth still look to be pretty meager for afternoon showers over the islands, so we should be limited to just a few sprinkles and probably not much more than that.

Models are in pretty good agreement bringing the next front to Kauai by next Wednesday. There are some differences in the strength of this front, with the GFS model showing a stronger, faster push down the chain with heavier showers. The ECMWF is not quite as strong, and slower. The current forecast shows an increase in showers at that time, but with the uncertainties in timing. There perhaps could be some thunder associated with this next front, but too much uncertainty in frontal timing and intensity to explicitly include for now.

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 system to the northwest will move east for the next few days, and bring stable breezy to locally strong trade winds. The northerly winds currently in place over the region will veer to the northeast and then east through Sunday. By late Sunday into early next week, winds are expected to weaken and veer southerly again ahead of another cold front. Current long range guidance shows this next cold front could approach the western coastal waters by the middle of next week.

An extra large northwest swell will maintain large seas for exposed waters. A Small Craft Advisory (SCA) remains in effect for all Hawaiian waters for combined high seas, and winds to 25 knots. After tonight, the SCA will be in effect over the eastern half of the islands for trade winds strengthening above 25 knots heading into the weekend.

An extra large, medium to long period northwest (320-340 degrees) swell which peaked will hold before declining into the night. A High Surf Warning remains in effect for exposed north and west facing shores of Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, and north facing shores of Maui. Additionally, a High Surf Advisory is in effect for west facing shores of the Big Island. This swell will gradually transition to become more northerly (350-010 degrees) as it fades through the weekend.

Surf along north and west facing shores will then linger near advisory levels Saturday, before another reinforcing northwest swell arrives Sunday into Sunday night. This swell looks to bring surf heights above advisory levels. The swell will then gradually decrease through Monday, before a WNW swell arrives Tuesday and peaks near advisory levels.

Surf along east facing shores will remain small, though will increase slightly into the weekend, as trades become re-established across the area. Additionally, some east facing shores sensitive to northerly swells may experience a slight uptick in surf heights this weekend, as the fading northwesterly swell becomes more northerly. No noteworthy swells are expected for the next few days for south facing shores.

 

The 10 Most Breathtaking Spots on Oahu You Can't Miss



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:  

Tropical Cyclone 01W (Nokaen) is located approximately 379 NM east-southeast of Manila, Philippines

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/wp0126.gif

Southwest Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones 

North Indian Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones 

 

South Indian Ocean:

Tropical Cyclone 14S (Dudzai) is located approximately 607 NM south-southwest of Diego Garcia

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/sh1426.gif

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:  Recent Tundra Fires ‘Exceed Anything in Past 3,000 Years’

Wildfires on Alaska’s North Slope were more active this past century than at any time in the past 3,000 years, according to a study recently published in the journal Biogeosciences.

The study was conducted in Arctic Alaska by an international team of researchers from Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, Romania and the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Toolik Field Station.

Angelica Feurdean, the study’s lead author and a senior researcher at Goethe University in Germany, said the team took a multidisciplinary approach to reconstructing fire history. Their findings point to record-high activity caused by increasing woody plants and drying soils, two consequences of warming temperatures.

“The interlinked changes across millennia mean recent fires are indicators of a system undergoing rapid transformation,” Feurdean said.

Read More: University of Alaska Fairbanks

Image: Photo by Marius Ga?ka
From left, researchers Angelica Feurdean, Graeme Swindles and Mariusz Ga?ka pause in the midst of wildfire smoke near Atigun Gorge in Alaska’s Brooks Range in summer 2015.