Glenn James
Hawaii Weather Today
Founder and maintainer for 30 years 

 

The latest update to this website was at 1218pm Thursday (HST)

 

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

1.20  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.12  Tunnel RG, Oahu
0.05  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.37  Kula Ag, Maui
0.09  IPIF, Big Island

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

18  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
25  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – E
29  Makapulapai, Molokai – E
20  Lanai 1,  Lanai – NE
35  Kealaloloa Rg, Maui – NE
25  Upolu AP, Big Island – E

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

The high clouds clipping some islands…a cold front northwest

 

https://cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES18/ABI/SECTOR/hi/GEOCOLOR/20260921110-20260921900-GOES18-ABI-HI-GEOCOLOR-600x600.gif

A few low clouds arriving along the windward sides / higher level clouds arriving from the west

 

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 

 

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

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Glenn’s Thursday comments:  I’m here in Corte Madera, Marin County, California on a working vacation.

512am Hawaii time, I’m here at my friend Linda’s house. It’s clear, with a 42.5 degree low. BTW, when I say Hawaii time, it is 3-hours later here in California.

 

>>> Highest Temperature Wednesday, April 1, 2026 – 104 degrees at Rio Grande Village, TX
>>> Lowest Temperature Thursday, April 2, 2026 – minus 1 degree near Estcourt Station, ME

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview…as of 930am Thursday: Typical moderate to locally breezy trade winds will continue through this weekend, bringing mainly night and morning scattered showers to windward and mountain locations. By early next week, a deepening trough northwest of the state will pull up a more moisture rich tropical air mass over the state, increasing precipitation chances. Some of the rain could be heavy, especially mid- to late next week.

Short Term Update…as of 930am Thursday: Radar shows only isolated light showers this morning. Satellite shows a long plume of cirrus moving over the state from the WSW, and this should be with us all day and into tonight. Expect a slight increase in trade showers this afternoon and tonight.

 

>> Please note: the latest models continue to show the potential for a heavy rain event beginning in the middle of next week extending into the weekend. A new round of flooding may occur if these models are accurate. Details (which island(s) may be hit hardest, exact timing, etc) are not available this far out, due to the reality of model accuracy in the tropics. Please stay aware of the evolving forecast because this system may become a serious problem.

Confidence is beginning to increase that an upper level trough will approach from the northwest, with an associated surface low and cold front developing and moving into the region beginning around the middle of next week. This is expected to bring unsettled conditions from mid- to late next week. Gusty southerly (kona) winds are possible with this system, bringing tropical moisture northward across the Hawaiian Islands. Should this scenario materialize, it would increase our chances for moderate to heavy rain, with flooding once again becoming a concern across the state.

The extent of any potential flooding threat will depend upon how the system evolves and how quickly it moves through the region. Also note that this weather system, and its southerly winds, also coincide with the window for the next potential episode of the Kilauea eruption (April 6-14) provided by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

 

Weather Details for the Hawaiian Islands…as of 331am Thursday: Satellite imagery shows very dry air in the mid and upper levels entrenched over and east of the state, aside from a thin layer of high clouds passing over the Big Island. This can also be noted on the latest atmospheric soundings from both Hilo and Lihue, with a rather dramatic dry layer residing above a 6,000 feet deep boundary layer temperature inversion.

At the surface, an area of high pressure, anchored roughly 1000 miles north of Hawaii, continued to drive moderate to locally breezy east-northeasterly trades. Scattered low clouds caught up in this flow have been pushing towards windward portions of the islands for the last several hours. Several windward stations on each island picked of a few hundredths of an inch of accumulation, but nothing of significance.

Today through Friday, the pattern will change very little, with moderate to locally breezy trades driving light scattered showers along mainly windward and mountain locations. The greatest shower activity can be expected to occur during the night and early morning hours.

By this weekend, the aforementioned high well north of the area drifts east, as a frontal system approaches. This should allow the local surface pressure gradient around the region to ease and trades to weaken slightly. Low clouds and showers will be isolated at best, with a shallow boundary layer in the lower levels, and dry air in place aloft.

By Monday, both the GFS and ECMWF models begin to dig a broad upper trough well northwest of the state. Light background flow around the islands will become southeasterly, veering to southerly late Tuesday. With such a light flow and slightly deeper lower level moisture in place, afternoon sea breezes could help initiate a few showers over interior portions of the islands.

Mid to late next week, models continue to deepen the upper level trough west of the islands, and inducing a low and cold front at the surface. Guidance has been consistent with this solution for the last several runs, so confidence is increasing. This would set the stage for tropical moisture being drawn northward across the Hawaiian Islands, by deep layer southerly or south-southwesterly flow, and a destabilizing atmosphere aloft.

As it stands now, the ECMWF generates a more compact and robust parent surface low compared to the GFS. Nonetheless, both models indicate the potential for gusty southerly winds and rounds of moderate to heavy rain. Thus, flooding may once again be a concern. The details for timing, location, and strength will need to be refined in the coming days.

 

Here’s a near real-time Wind Profile of the Pacific Ocean – Zoom Earth – 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…as of 331am Thursday: Weakening high pressure north of the islands will shift eastward over the next few days, leading to a weakening of the trade winds into the moderate range. Winds could then veer out of the southeast next week ahead of an approaching cold front. A Small Craft Advisory is in effect for the typically windier waters around Maui County and the Big Island.

The current mid-period northeast swell will gradually decrease as the northeast trade winds slowly decrease. As a result, east shore surf will gradually decline through the rest of the week, but will still retain a little size and chop, due to the moderate to locally breezy trades.

The next small, medium-period northwest (310 degree) swell will arrive this weekend into next week, bringing a small rise in surf for north and west facing shores. A larger mid-period northwest swell is then possible by the middle of next week. Along south facing shores, expect small reinforcements to sustain small surf through the week, until a slightly larger long period, south swell fills in early next week.

 

Kalalau Valley from Kokee State Park lookout



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

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

 

Northeastern Pacific:  There are no active tropical cyclones

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

North Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

 

Northwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Southwest Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

North Indian Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

South Indian Ocean: 

Tropical Cyclone 29S (Indusa)…is located approximately 335 NM south of Diego Garcia

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/29S_021800sair.jpg

 

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:  Coral Reef Science Must Adapt for a Chance to Outpace Climate Change

The study, was led by Dr Adriana Humanes, Newcastle University and Dr Juan Ortiz, Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). It highlights fundamental changes needed to generate knowledge fast enough to make these methods effective.

The international team of 28 experts identified promising discoveries that highlight the potential of assisted evolution to help mitigate the impact of climate change in reefs.

Assisted evolution aims to accelerate natural adaptation rates to help corals increase their thermal tolerance and reduce mortality during marine heat waves. Over the past decades multiple knowledge breakthroughs have increased our understanding of the processes driving thermal tolerance in corals. However, the experts’ evaluation of progress warns that the current rate of research and development of coral assisted evolution methods is likely to be outpaced by rapidly warming climate.

Read More at: Newcastle University

One of study authors monitoring corals they selectively bred for high heat tolerance at an ocean nursery in Palau.