The latest update to this website was at 551am Tuesday (HST)

 

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

3.08  Puu Lua, Kauai
0.63  Kaala, Oahu
0.16  Kaunakakai Mauka, Molokai
0.11  Lanai City, Lanai
0.03  Honolua, Maui
0.23  Kaiholena, Big Island

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph) as of Tuesday morning:

22  Lihue, Kauai – SSW 
25  Kuaokala, Oahu – SSE
13  Anapuka, Molokai – S
14  Lanai 1, Lanai – SSE  
10  Na Kula, Maui – NNE 
15  South Point, Big Island – NE

 

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 next cold front is approaching from the northwest

 

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

Variably cloudy skies…mostly high and middle level clouds 

 

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…some are heavy

 

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

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Glenn’s Tuesday comments:  I’m here at home through the winter in upper Kula, Maui

It’s partly to mostly cloudy here in Maui County early this morning, with a low temperature of 58 degrees at my place, with the relative humidity 66 percent.

Weather Wit of the day: Do you notice that most of the weathercasters you see on TV start off by saying, “Good evening?” and then they spend the next five minutes telling you why it’s not.

>>> Highest Temperature Monday, December 15, 2025 – 89 at Palm Springs, CA
>>> Lowest Temperature Tuesday, December 16, 2025 – minus 8 at Presque Isle, ME

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview: An approaching cold front from the northwest will weaken into a trough as it reaches the far west nearshore waters this evening. This dying front will merge with what is left of an old convergence boundary. The bonding of these two features will provide better focus for redeveloping and lingering mid to late week rain episodes and isolated thunderstorms that will primarily impact Niihau, Kauai and Oahu.

High pressure will begin to take hold over the state at all levels this weekend, and translate to a drier pattern heading into the holiday week. Trade winds will return over the weekend and significantly strengthen to breezy to locally strong magnitudes early next week.

Hawaii’s Weather Details: Showers and isolated thunderstorms will continue into early this morning across Niihau and Kauai, bringing locally heavy rainfall and a continued risk of flash flooding. The coverage and intensity of this rainfall should decrease during the day, however another cold front will approach from the northwest by tonight. This front is forecast to stall near the western islands bringing and increase in moisture and a multi-day threat of locally heavy rainfall.

Model trends have been to stall the front a bit farther east, which is increasing confidence in a heavy rainfall threat over Kauai and Oahu by later tonight into Friday. Some of the models remain a bit weaker and west with the front, but even these solutions bring a heavy rainfall risk into the aforementioned islands. The lower resolution global models generally support 1-3″ of rainfall, but one model indicates upwards of 2-6″ through Friday.

Given the stalling nature of the front, anomalous moisture and some instability in place, would indeed expect to see at least localized rainfall totals up over 4″, with some risk of flash flooding over Niihau, Kauai and Oahu. Finally by late Friday into the weekend the front should dissipate and/or lift north of the islands, with more common easterly trades taking over.

This in turn should reduce the risk of heavy rainfall, although lingering above normal moisture will likely still result in some continued lighter showers through the upcoming weekend. The easterly trade pattern should continue into early next week, although an increase in wind speeds should result in an increase in upslope rain showers across the favored eastern facing terrain.

Maui and Hawaii Counties will also receive rain but it will be much more limited, as showers will be surface-based convection from lift created by the local sea breezes breezes.

Fire weather:  Due to enhanced rainfall over the western two-thirds of the state, conditions will remain below critical fire weather thresholds.

Here’s a near real-time Wind Profile of the Pacific Ocean – 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: A weak surface trough is near Kauai and another cold front is immediately west of the islands. This front maintains a chance for isolated thunderstorms over the western nearshore waters through at least Wednesday. Locally fresh south to south-southwest winds emerge in the meantime as the low digs south. Winds then weaken late this week followed by returning trades perhaps as early as Sunday.

A long period north swell has peaked and will continue to drop. Renewed energy out of the northwest quadrant (300-320) will elevate surf near the HSA threshold once again early Wednesday through Thursday.

East shores remain flat except where long period northwest and north swell energy wraps. South shores experience short period wind wave chop and south swell energy due to persistent south-southwest winds through the week.

 

Beautiful rainbow over Waikiki this morning. Looks like the rainbow was providing protection from the rain clouds. : r/VisitingHawaii|



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

 

Northeastern Pacific:  There are no active tropical cyclones

North Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

 

Northwest Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Southwest Pacific Ocean:  

Tropical Cyclone 08P…is located approximately 269 NM northeast of Port Vila, Vanuatu – Final Warning

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/sh0826.gif

North and South Indian Ocean:   

South Indian Ocean:

Tropical Cyclone 07S (Bakung)…is located approximately 226 NM west of the Cocos Islands

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/sh0726.gif

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: New Window Insulation Blocks Heat, but Not Your View

Physicists at CU Boulder have designed a new material for insulating windows that could improve the energy efficiency of buildings worldwide—and it works a bit like a high-tech version of Bubble Wrap.

The team’s material, called Mesoporous Optically Clear Heat Insulator, or MOCHI, comes in large slabs or thin sheets that can be applied to the inside of any window. So far, the team only makes the material in the lab, and it’s not available for consumers. But the researchers say MOCHI is long-lasting and is almost completely transparent.

That means it won’t disrupt your view, unlike many insulating materials on the market today,

“To block heat exchange, you can put a lot of insulation in your walls, but windows need to be transparent,” said Ivan Smalyukh, senior author of the study and a professor of physics at CU Boulder. “Finding insulators that are transparent is really challenging.”

Read More: University of Colorado at Boulder

Image: Abram Fluckiger holds up a sample panel square that has five sandwiched layers of a new material nearly transparent insulation material called MOCHI, which was designed buy CU Boulder researchers in physics professor Ivan Smalyukh’s lab.