The latest update to this website was at 530pm Thursday (HST)

 

Here are the highest temperatures Thursday…and the lowest Thursday morning:

82 – 73  Lihue AP, Kauai
84 – 72  Molokai AP, Molokai
86 – 72  Kahului AP, Maui
82 – 73  Kona AP, Big Island
81 – 70  Hilo, AP, Big Island

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

2.34  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.90  Lyon, Oahu
0.25  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.01  Lanai 1, Lanai
1.37  Puu Alii, Maui
1.13  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

>>> There are lots of new locations that measure rainfall and winds now, here’s a map of all areas for your reference (the map is clickable to zoom in closer)

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

25  Barking Sands, Kauai
39  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
32  Makapulapai, Molokai
27  Lanai 1, Lanai
43  Na Kula, Maui
28  Upolu AP, Big Island

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/GOES17/ABI/SECTOR/tpw/13/GOES17-TPW-13-900x540.gif 

 Cold front northwest


https://cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES17/ABI/SECTOR/hi/GEOCOLOR/GOES17-HI-GEOCOLOR-600x600.gif

Low clouds being carried our way on the trade winds…higher clouds coming up from the southwest

 

https://cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES17/ABI/SECTOR/hi/13/GOES17-HI-13-600x600.gif

Variable clouds

 

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

Localized showers

 

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

Kauai and Oahu (Satellite)

 

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

Kauai and Oahu (Radar)

 

https://www.weather.gov/images/hfo/satellite/Oahu-Maui_VIS_loop.gif

Oahu and Maui County (Satellite)

 

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

Oahu and Maui County (Radar)

 

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

 Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, and the Big Island (Satellite)

 

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

Maui County and the Big Island (Radar)

 

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

Big Island (Radar)

 

Model showing precipitation through 8-days (you can slow this animation down)

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 home here in upper Kula, Maui, Hawaii.

It’s partly to mostly cloudy here in Maui County this morning, with low clouds along the windward sides and some high level cirrus clouds. The low temperature here at my place was 54.5 degrees.

112pm, it’s mostly cloudy here on Maui, and rather hazy too.

Monthly Precipitation Summary / State of Hawaii / May 2025

May was dominated by moderate to breezy trade wind conditions with a couple of upper-level disturbances that helped to enhance rainfall around the middle to latter portion of the month. The first week of May was marked by typical moderate to breezy easterly trade winds with scattered windward and mountain showers and limited rainfall across leeward areas. Weak troughing aloft helped provide modest instability to pockets of moisture moving in on the trades to enhance showers, mainly over windward areas on the 8th and 9th, though a few showers did make it over to select leeward areas. The Puu Kukui and West Wailuaiki Stream U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) rain gauges on Maui recorded their highest daily totals for the month on the 8th at 2.56 inches and 1.13 inches, respectively. The modestly-enhanced rainfall was not enough to prevent a wildfire near Waimea Canyon (Kauai) on the 7th and one near Honokaa in the Big Island’s Hamakua district on the 11th.

Moderate to breezy trade easterly trade winds continued through the 16th, easing slightly and shifting out of the east-southeast through the 19th. As the winds weakened a bit, a complex upper-level disturbance developed over the state and lingered through 19th, for a weakening of the temperature inversion and enhancement to shower activity. The east-southeast direction of the wind allowed for afternoon sea breezes to develop in the wind-sheltered leeward and interior areas and gave them some much needed rainfall, especially on the Big Island. Flood Advisories were issued for the Kona districts of the Big Island on the 16th and 18th, and interior/leeward Oahu on the 17th. No significant flooding impacts were observed. The USGS’s Mt. Waialeale gauge recorded its (and the state’s) highest daily rainfall total of 8.48 inches on the 18th. Another upper-level low moved over the area from the northwest on the 22nd and 23rd, enhancing trade wind showers mainly over windward and mountain areas.

Moderate to locally breezy trade winds and drier conditions prevailed over the Memorial Day weekend due to increasing atmospheric stability and decreasing moisture. Mostly dry trade wind conditions continued through the end of the month, with wind speeds decreasing slightly as high pressure north of the state shifted southward and weakened. A notable exception to the dry conditions was the USGS Kilohana Rain Gage #1 on the northern slopes of interior Kauai which recorded its highest daily rainfall total for the month at 2.44 inches, likely due to sea breeze enhancement under weaker trade winds.

Weather Wit of the day:  Sea Breeze – Salted knots

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview:  High pressure far to the northeast of the islands will weaken over the next few days. Breezy trades will become gentle to locally breezy as we head into the weekend.

A trough developing west of the islands early next week should keep winds gentle to locally breezy, as the flow turns toward the east-southeast. Fairly typical night and morning trade wind showers are expected. A few more interior afternoon showers are possible early next week as well.

Hawaii’s Weather Details:  A relatively strong and large surface high is nearly stationary far to the northeast, generating breezy trade winds over our islands. The high is a little weaker than yesterday, and thus our trades are just a notch slower.

A band of showers on the trades moved through late last night and this morning and has cleared the islands, leaving us a somewhat drier airmass with fewer showers upstream. Atmospheric soundings showed an inversion near 7,800 feet, and precipitable water values just slightly above normal.

Mainly subtle changes expected over the Hawaiian Islands. The high far to the northeast will weaken as a wavy cold front stalls far to the north of the islands. This will weaken the local pressure gradient a bit, so trades will drop to background gentle speeds, only locally breezy in the typical windier areas by Friday.

Trades will then continue at those speeds through the weekend. Starting about Monday, a surface trough will develop to the west, and this will turn our local background flow over the islands to the east-southeast. It will still be locally breezy, but many areas will be shadowed from the background winds by island terrain.

The surface trough of low pressure will move away to the northwest by the middle of next week, and a new large surface high will build far to the northeast of the islands once again, returning us to breezy trades by Thursday.

As far as the sensible wx goes, a fairly typical pattern of summertime trade wind showers is expected for the next few days as modest mid-level troughing develops over the islands, and moisture levels remains fairly close to climatology for June. Light to moderate showers will favor windward and mauka sections during the nights and mornings. For Mon and Tue, we look to get into a hybrid pattern of windward and mauka showers favoring nights and mornings. There will also be a small chance for a couple of afternoon interior or leeward showers as well, as low level moisture ticks up a bit to slightly above climo. Depending on how much the background flow veers, it’s possible portions of the smaller islands, like the south shore of Oahu, could even see a few showers developing in the convergence downwind of Maui County in the ESE flow, but much too early to include this explicitly in the forecast right now. A more typical trade wind shower distribution returns on Wed as low level moisture decreases slightly once again.

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

Weather Analysis and Forecasts

Hawaii’s Marine Environment:  Moderate to locally strong trades will gradually ease, becoming gentle to fresh by Friday in response to weakening high pressure northeast of the state. Gentle to fresh trades prevail Friday into early next week, then restrengthen as the seasonal high redevelops. Small Craft Advisory has been extended through 6am Friday, as locally strong winds hold.

Tiny to small, long period southwest swell will hold maintaining small surf along favored exposures. Forerunners from a moderate, long period south-southwest swell originating from an extra-tropical cyclone east of New Zealand will gradually fill in Friday. This swell will peak over the weekend near or above the High Surf Advisory threshold, before slowly fading early next week.

Choppy surf along east facing shores will hold into the weekend, even though a locally induced trade wind swell will be on the decline. This is thanks to a low that developed near the California coast earlier this week, which is sending a moderate, medium period northeast swell, peaking Friday before fading Saturday. Surf along north facing shores will remain small.

 



World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

 

Atlantic Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Caribbean Sea:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7-days.

Gulf of Mexico:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7-days.

Northeastern Pacific:   There are no active tropical cyclones

South of Southern Mexico

>>> Two areas of low pressure are forecast to form from a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms that are currently located several hundred miles south of southern Mexico. One low is expected to form on the east side of an elongated trough during the next day or so a few hundred miles south of southern Mexico. Environmental conditions appear conducive for development, and a tropical depression is likely to form over the weekend while the system moves generally west-northwestward.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…medium…40 percent
* Formation chance through 7 days…high…80 percent

Offshore of Southwestern Mexico

>>>A second low pressure area is forecast to form on the western side of the elongated trough south of Mexico in a couple of days. Some slow development of this system is possible over the weekend.

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

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

North Central Pacific:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7-days.

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 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:  A Haze Over North America

More than 180 wildland fires burned across Canada on June 1, 2025, continuing what has been an active fire year so far. Some of the fires produced plumes so thick and widespread they were easily visible from a vantage point in space well beyond that of the Moon.

NASA’s EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) on NOAA’s DSCOVR satellite acquired this image on May 31, 2025. The instrument is positioned 1 million miles from Earth’s surface, which is about four times farther than the orbit of the Moon. For comparison, most polar orbiting satellites that observe Earth orbit at an altitude of less than 1,000 kilometers. From its distant position, EPIC captures a color image of the entire sunlit side of Earth at least once every two hours.

The EPIC wide view shows smoke from fires burning primarily in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The plumes extend to the north-northeast across Nunavut toward the coast of Greenland and southward across the United States. Another patch of smoke is visible over the Atlantic Ocean near Europe. Note that the hazy air west of Africa is not smoke but dust that has blown westward from the Sahara Desert.

Read More: NASA Earth Observatory