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

 

The latest update to this website was Saturday evening at 824pm HST


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

1.65  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
3.26  Kalawahine, Oahu
0.21  Honolimaloo, Molokai
0.02  Lanai City, Lanai
3.01  Puu Kukui, Maui
1.31  Pahoa, Big Island


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

23  Lihue, Kauai – ENE
27  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – ENE
17  Anapuka, Molokai – NW
14  Lanai 1, Lanai – SW
27  Kahului AP, Maui – NW
27  Hilo AP, Big Island – SE


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.

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

Lots of thunderstorms in the deeper tropics…cold front far northwest 

 

https://cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES18/ABI/SECTOR/hi/14/20261362200-20261370550-GOES18-ABI-HI-14-600x600.gif

Well developed cumulus and thunderstorms in the vicinity…otherwise variably cloudy with lower level clouds 

 

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

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

Showers locally…some are heavy 

 

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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 Saturday comments:  I’m at home here in upper Kula, Maui, Hawaii

It was mostly clear with some haze here this morning in Maui County, with a low temperature at my place 54 degrees…with the relative humidity 63%

1145am, it’s gradually getting more cloudy late this morning in Maui County, and the haze is still evident as well. The leeward sides of Maui remain mostly sunny, with small waves breaking.

1226pm, I’m beginning to see the cumulus clouds that are within sight from here at my place, showing some definite verticality. I would call them well developed cumulus clouds, although not quite cumulonimbus clouds.

345pm, a bank of fog is moving over my place here in upper Kula, although before it arrived I could see sunny to partly sunny skies down towards the coasts.

525pm, there’s low clouds rolling through up here in Kula, skimming the tree tops at times. I love this kind of weather, and am going to go get into it as I take my final walk of the day.

548pm, I’m just back from my walk, which I was lucky enough to get rained on some, nothing heavy, just some really nice large drops. The size of these drops lets me know that they are coming down from some well developed cumulus clouds that are over the slopes of the Haleakala Crater.

611pm, it just got through rain heavily, although it didn’t more than 5-minutes or so…nonetheless, it was a special few moments sitting here in my weather tower just watching and listening to it.

817pm, locally heavy rains are falling in several places across the state, with a flood advisory now active over the windward sides of Oahu and Maui.

 

April Showers Bring May Flowers to Hawaii - Revealed Travel Guides
The Jacaranda Trees are going off here in upcountry Kula, Maui


>>> Highest Temperature Saturday, May 16, 2026 – 108 degrees at Death Valley, CA
>>> Lowest Temperature Saturday, May 16, 2026 – 20 degrees near Stehekin, WA

 

>>> Interesting Weather Web blog: Mauka Showers…2025-2026 Wet Season Numbers…And Here Comes El Niño!

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview…as of Saturday evening: Light to moderate wet trades will continue through Sunday. Winds will increase in speed Monday, becoming moderate to occasionally breezy. Wet trades through Monday night will dry out somewhat Tuesday, and a rather typical trade pattern is forecast to continue from Tuesday into next weekend.

Short Term Update…as of Saturday evening:  The departing upper level low to the north managed to produce enough deep convection to induce a surface trough nearby. As a result, trades were briefly disrupted over Maui County and portions of the Big Island. As trades began to build back in around sunset, heavy showers developed along windward slopes of Oahu, Maui County, and northern Big Island. Expect this activity to gradually diminish as the night progresses.

Weather Details for the Hawaiian Islands…as of Saturday evening: Radar and satellite show numerous showers have been occurring over the state, mainly on Oahu and the eastern side of Big Island. Rainfall amounts have ranged from just a few hundredths of an inch up to 3 inches since sunrise today. Winds have been averaging 5 to 15 mph – generally out of the east windward and west leeward.

The upper level low that helped bring so much precipitation to parts of the state yesterday, continues to move away to the northeast as it weakens. We still have some instability, but it is significantly less so now. Ridging aloft to our northeast will be slightly weakened by troughing extending off the coast of the southwest mainland, but will still be strong enough to bring the trades back and keep them in place for at least the next week.

Initially, with precipitable water values near 1.5 inches, we will see plenty of trade wind showers. This will change Tuesday, when drier air is brought back into the region from the northeast. From Tuesday into at least next weekend, trade showers will be more typical in number and intensity. Wind speeds will generally average 5 to 15 mph Sunday, but increase Monday to 10 to 20 mph, with higher gusts. These moderate to occasionally breezy trades will then persist into next weekend.


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 Saturday evening: Winds will remain slightly east southeasterly at moderate to fresh levels through the rest of the weekend. Meanwhile, increasing stability over the region will result in decreasing shower and thunderstorm coverage across the coastal waters. A more typical easterly trade wind pattern will return next week.

A small, medium-period north northwest (320-330 degree) swell will continue to decline through Sunday night, with surf along north- facing shores following suit. A medium-period north northwest reinforcement may provide another small bump in surf along north- facing shores by early morning on Monday, followed by another small reinforcing swell on Tuesday. Surf along west-facing shores will remain mostly steady through the rest of the weekend as the northwest swell influence gradually declines, but a new, long- period south southwest swell fills in.

A mix of small, medium- to long-period south swells will maintain small surf along south-facing shores for the next several days. The long-period south southwest swell described above will increase surf along south-facing shores through Sunday. Additional small, medium to long-period south swell reinforcements will arrive Sunday through mid-week.

Moderate to fresh trades will maintain rough and choppy surf along east-facing shores for the next several days. Tides will peak around 2.5 to 3.0 feet this weekend. Minor overwash of low lying coastal areas will be possible during times of high tide.

 

 

20 Best Kauai, Hawaii Beaches that Promise Amazing Views


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

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

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

>>> Gulf of America: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

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

 

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

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 cyclone

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

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

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



Interesting:  Study Finds Wetter Storms Mean Drier Conditions Over Time

A Dartmouth study shows that annual rainfall in much of the world has consolidated over the past four decades into heavier storms with longer dry periods in between.

“It doesn’t matter where you are, more consolidated rainfall means less water is available for the land. We show that this phenomenon is consistent worldwide, what physically accounts for it, and what we should expect going forward,” says Justin Mankin, the study’s senior author and an associate professor of geography.

“Rainfall concentration is almost as important to land wetness as how much rainfall you get in a year,” says first author Corey Lesk, who led the study as a Neukom Postdoctoral Fellow in Mankin’s Climate Modeling and Impacts Group.

Read More at: Dartmouth College

Dartmouth researchers used an economic tool called a Gini coefficient that typically measures wealth inequality to gauge how evenly or unevenly precipitation fell each year from 1980-2022. They found that annual rainfall has become more concentrated (blue scale) for most of the world, regardless of whether the local climate is wet or dry. The western United States saw among the highest levels of rain consolidation, with yearly rainfall for the Rocky Mountains becoming 20% more concentrated. Conversely, precipitation in the Arctic, Northern Europe, and Canada became less concentrated (brown scale) as their warming climates result in more snow and rain year-round.