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

 

The last update to this website was at 703pm Sunday HST


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

0.71  Kilohana, Kauai
0.37  Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.21  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
2.81  West Wailuaiki, Maui
5.01  Honolii Stream, Big Island


The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph) Sunday evening:

15  Puu Lua, Kauai – ENE 
24  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – SE
22  Makapulapai, Molokai – ESE 
27  Lanai 1, Lanai – NE
30  Kealaloloa Rg, Maui – NNE
30  Waikoloa Rd, Big Island – NE


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 far south…cold front stalled to the north

 

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Low clouds arriving on the gusty trade winds…high clouds just south

 

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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 Sunday comments:  I’m here at my friend Linda’s house in Corte Madera, Marin County, California, continuing on in my working vacation.

911am Hawaii time, just back from playing pickleball at Eastwood Park in Mill Valley, which was very fun, although a bit sad, as I won’t be seeing my friends there until I return in the autumn. I stocked up on a few things, from my favorite store called Good Earth, on the way back to Linda’s, that I’ll take back to Maui on Tuesday.

1213pm Hawaii time, Linda’s gone this afternoon and I had a chance to wash my clothes, and I have them out on the line drying. I just watched a great piece of work on the Nova channel, called Rain Bomb

550pm, the daytime clouds finally cleared late in the afternoon here in Marin, and skies remain clear as it’s dark now. As the clouds cleared the temperature dropped rather quickly, and at the time of this writing I have 53 degrees. The forecast calls for a 65% chance of showers here on Monday, and then an even higher 85% chance on Tuesday.

As I’ve been mentioning recently, I fly back to Maui Tuesday morning, and will be home in upper Kula Tuesday afternoon.

 

>>> Highest Temperature Sunday, May 3, 2026 – 100 degrees at Stovepipe Wells, CA
>>> Lowest Temperature Sunday, May 3, 2026 – 10 degrees at Peter Sinks, UT

 

>>> Interesting weather web blog: Mauka Showers…Waialeale’s Rainfall Trend

 

At the Lake – a poem by Mary Oliver

A fish leaps like a black pin-then-when the starlight strikes its side —
like a silver pin. In an instant the fish’s spine alters the fierce line of rising
and it curls a little-the head, like scalloped tin, plunges back, and it’s gone.

This is, I think, what holiness is: the natural world, where every moment is full
of the passion to keep moving.

Inside every mind there’s a hermit’s cave full of light, full of snow, full of concentration.

I’ve knelt there, and so have you, hanging on to what you love, to what is lovely.

The lake’s shining sheets don’t make a ripple now, and the stars are going off to their
blue sleep, but the words are in place-and the fish leaps, and leaps again from the black
plush of the poem, that breathless space.

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview…as of Sunday evening: A broad high pressure ridge north of the islands will produce moderate trade winds through Monday. Wind speeds will weaken Tuesday through Thursday, as a weak surface trough moves into the island chain. Trade winds slowly return by the end of the week, reaching moderate wind speeds by next Sunday, as the stalled front north of the islands diminishes and a broad ridge builds back into the region.

Weather Details for the Hawaiian Islands…as of Sunday evening: Clouds and showers were once again focused on windward and mountain areas. Trade winds were averaging 10 to 20 mph, with gusts near 30 mph in the typical breezy areas. These showers are forecast to continue into the night, and winds are forecast to slowly decrease after sunset.

Weak northwest flow aloft will become westerly Monday night, as a large upper level low well to our north moves east across the Pacific. A weak surface trough will move toward the state, resulting in trades becoming southeast winds Monday night into Tuesday. The trough will enter the west end of the state Tuesday night, and winds behind the front will become light northerly or northwesterly.

There is low confidence at this time on how far the trough will get, and the latest guidance indicates it will stall around Maui Wednesday night. East to southeast winds will develop Thursday night through Sunday, as the trough recedes to the west. Looking very long range, a stronger trough/cold front may approach the state late next weekend.

Moisture will remain rather limited through the next week. There are some indications that moisture may increase Thursday into next weekend, but confidence is low. In general, we can expect trade-wind showers Monday and Tuesday, then switch to a land-breeze / sea-breeze pattern Wednesday and Thursday. This means showers will be mainly windward and mountains early in the week, transitioning to afternoon inland showers and mostly dry nights Wednesday and Thursday. As trades return late in the week, showers will become mainly windward and mountains again.


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 Environmental Conditions…as of Sunday evening: Fresh to locally strong trade winds will blow through much of the night, as a stalled front weakens about 225 NM northwest of Kauai, and surface high pressure farther to the northwest moves eastward. A Small Craft Advisory has been issued around Big Island and Maui County for tonight, due to an expected short-lived increase in the trades.

The surface high will steadily erode on Monday, leading to a steady decline in the trades. Another front passing north of the islands Tuesday and Wednesday will disrupt the trade winds. Gentle to moderate trade winds are expected to redevelop Thursday and Friday.

The current small northwest swell will decline. A moderate northwest swell will build on Monday and produce surf above seasonal average during the peak Monday night and early Tuesday. This swell will slowly decline late Tuesday and Wednesday. A larger northwest swell could produce surf near the High Surf Advisory level Thursday, then lower Friday into next weekend.

A south-southwest swell will produce surf around seasonal average and will gradually decrease Monday and Tuesday, with mainly small background surf along south facing shores through the rest of the week.

Trade wind swell will slowly lower below seasonal average, and will remain small through the remainder of the week.

 

 

Hanalei bay kauai hawaii


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:  There are no active tropical cyclones

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

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



Interesting:  Earth’s Crust Is Tearing Apart off the Pacific Northwest—and That’s Not Necessarily Bad News

With unprecedented clarity, scientists have directly observed a subduction zone—the collision point where one tectonic plate dives beneath another—actively breaking apart. The discovery, reported in Science Advances, sheds new light on how Earth’s surface evolves and raises fresh questions about future earthquake risks in the Pacific Northwest.

Subduction zones are the sites of Earth’s most powerful tectonic events. They drive continents across the globe, unleash devastating earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and recycle the planet’s crust deep into the mantle.

But they don’t last forever. If they did, continents would endlessly collide and stack up, erasing oceans and wiping out the record of Earth’s past. The big question geologists have wrestled with is: how exactly do these mighty systems finally shut down?

“Getting a subduction zone started is like trying to push a train uphill—it takes a huge effort,” said Brandon Shuck, an assistant professor at Louisiana State University and lead author of the study. “But once it’s moving, it’s like the train is racing downhill, impossible to stop. Ending it requires something dramatic—basically, a train wreck.” Shuck conducted the research while he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which is part of the Columbia Climate School.

Read More: Columbia Climate School