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

 

The latest update to this website was at 815pm Tuesday evening HST


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

0.62  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.91   Lyon, Oahu
0.42  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.70  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.60  Kawainui Stream, Big Island


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

29  Lihue, Kauai – NE
37  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – ENE
33  Makapulapai, Molokai – ESE
29  Lanai 1, Lanai – NE
43  Kealaloloa Rg, Maui – NE 
42  Puuloa, Big Island – NW


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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 Cold front far northwest…thunderstorms in the deeper tropics

 

Clear to variable cloudy over the island chain…higher clouds to the south

 

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Localized Showers 

 

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




~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Glenn’s Monday comments:  I’m at home here in upper Kula, Maui, Hawaii

456am, it’s clear here at my place, the low temperature was a chilly 51 degrees, relative humidity is 81%…with calm winds

1201pm, hardly any clouds over or around Maui County!

504pm, sunny other than a deck of middle level altocumulus and altostratus clouds moving over Maui County…which could provide a colorful sunset.

832pm, mostly clear with a few clouds, and a cool 59 degrees, with the relative humidity 74%…and calm winds

 

Here’s the NOAA Climate Prediction Center’s Hawaii seasonal outlook: Hilo, Kahului, Honolulu and Lihue each a 75% probability of below-normal three-month rainfall totals for December 2026–February 2027

 

Hawaii’s Weather Highlights…as of Tuesday evening:  High pressure far north of the Hawaiian islands will begin to weaken, allowing winds to decrease to moderate levels for the remainder of the week. Passing showers will be carried in on the trade wind flow over the next several days, with an increase in shower activity this coming weekend.

Short Term Update: Satellite imagery continues to show unsettled cloud bands riding into each island on the trade winds. A band of higher level clouds are blanketing Maui and the Big Island, courtesy of a subtropical jet stream aloft.

Weather Narrative…as of Tuesday evening: A high pressure ridge remains to the north of the islands, maintaining a moderate to locally windy trade wind pattern. As the associated high weakens, we expect the pressure gradient over the islands to relax, allowing trades to return to moderate levels . Passing showers will continued to be carried in on the trade wind flow, but with satellite derived precipitable water (PW) showing a drier than normal airmass upstream of the islands, look for the shower activity to taper off overnight, with isolated shower activity expected then through Friday.

Good agreement continues between the ECMWF and GFS models, that the high mentioned above will weaken Wednesday as a strong low, currently more than 2000 miles to the northwest, moves to the east and sets up far north of the islands Thursday. The low is forecast to strengthen and sink southward into the weekend, with an associated front then moving towards the islands. Currently both models are in good agreement with showers increasing during the weekend into next week. There are indicators in the models that winds atop the Big Island summits could reach warning levels during the first to middle part of the next week.

An increase in dew points is expected during the second half of the weekend into the early part of next week, which will bring warm and humid conditions back to the islands. There are differences in the timing and placement of features between the models next week. The GFS wants to develop a low west-southwest and move it to the northeast, approaching the Hawaiian islands from the west before it turns to the north. The ECMWF doesn’t pick up much on this first system. The latest ECMWF and GFS runs do both pick up another low developing to the west of the first one, and has it following a similar path. However this far out, and with such disagreement with the models, not a lot of weight should be put into either solution.

Fire Weather:  Fire weather will remain below critical levels for the next several days. The subsidence temperature inversion near Maui and the Big Island will remain in the 7,000 foot range.

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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 Conditions…as of Tuesday evening:  High pressure far north of Hawaii will maintain fresh to strong trade winds through tonight, and a Small Craft Advisory (SCA) remains in effect for all waters except windward Big Island through tonight. Trades will steadily decrease early Wednesday as the high weakens and is displaced eastward by an approaching low far northwest of the islands. The SCA will likely be trimmed back to the typically windy waters around Big Island and Maui at that time. Trade winds will lower to gentle strength, or may become disrupted entirely, as the low passes to the north Thursday and Friday. Trades could then turn more northeasterly this weekend. By next week, model discrepancies exist regarding a low pressure system moving in from the southwest which could affect wind speeds and direction.

Small surf for north facing shores is expected through tomorrow before a small northwest swell arrives giving a small bump Thursday afternoon and Friday. This will then be followed by a slightly larger mid period north- northwest swell this weekend. A potential storm force low in the process of developing north of Japan could send a larger long period west- northwest swell early next week. This swell is still uncertain and will depend on the evolution of the developing low.

Small background south swells will keep relatively small surf for south facing shores through much of the week. A moderate south- southwest swell is expected this weekend, and could bring surf heights above seasonal averages.

Rough trade wind swell will gradually decline later tomorrow morning as trade winds decrease, leading to smaller surf through the remainder of the week. A small medium period east swell is possible Thursday into the weekend.

 

>>> Highest Temperature Tuesday, October 20, 2026 – 95 degrees at Death Valley, CA


>>> Lowest Temperature Tuesday, October 20, 2026 – 17 degrees near Davis, WV

 

Hawaii Landscape Photography | Tropical Island Art | Max Foster Photography


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 

>>> Off the East Coast of the United States:

Invest 93L

A storm-force non-tropical low pressure area located a few hundred miles off the North Carolina coast is producing some shower and thunderstorm activity primarily west of its center. However, overnight satellite wind data indicated the low was still attached to an occluded front.

Over the next couple of days, the low could develop some organized deep convection and gradually lose its frontal features while it moves slowly north-northeastward over the Gulf Stream, allowing the system to briefly develop subtropical characteristics.

By the end of the week, the system is expected to accelerate northeastward away from the the eastern United States, where environmental conditions are expected to become unfavorable for additional subtropical or tropical development.

Regardless of the status of the system, high winds, coastal flooding, and dangerous surf are expected along portions of the U.S. East Coast during the next few days.

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


Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones


Gulf of America: There are no active tropical cyclones

 

Northeast Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> South of Southern Mexico:

Invest 94E

A low-pressure system located a few hundred miles south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec is producing a large area of showers and thunderstorms that are gradually becoming better organized, and a tropical depression is forecast to form during the next day or so. This system is expected to move westward to west-northwestward at around 10 mph during the next few days, remaining well offshore of southern Mexico.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…high…90 percent
* Formation chance through 7 days…high…90 percent

 

Central North Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

 

Northwest Pacific Ocean:

Tropical Cyclone 29W (Champi)…is located approximately 520 NM south-southeast of Kadena AB                                                                                    

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Southwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

 

North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: 

Tropical Cyclone 02S (Agueda)…is located approximately 806 NM east of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania 

 

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



Interesting:  Australia’s Bush fire Crisis Linked to Colonial Land-Use Change

Forest expansion and thickening after British colonization has created landscapes more prone to burning, amplifying the influence of climate change and propelling Australia’s bushfire crisis, a new study has found.

Published today in Nature, University of Melbourne researchers, in collaboration with Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Corporation, reconstructed the past 1000 years of vegetation, fire and erosion in Croajingolong National Park in East Gippsland, one of southeastern Australia’s most fire-prone forests.

The researchers found that colonialization drove cascading changes: increased fire temperature, a four-fold increase in eucalypt cover, transformation from an open woodland to forest, and increased soil erosion.

Read More: The University of Melbourne

Aerial view of Purghagoolah (Lake Elusive) located within the Croajingolong National Park looking northwest.