The latest update to this website was at 955am Thursday (HST)

 

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

0.01  Kilohana, Kauai
0.01  Luluku, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.40  Waikamoi Treeline, Maui
0.57  Kaiholena, Big Island

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

10  Lawai, Kauai
14  Kuaokala, Oahu
09  Anapuka, Molokai
15  Lanai 1, Lanai 
25  Na Kula, Maui
22  South Point, Big Island

 

Hawaii’s MountainsHere’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

Cold front northwest…thunderstorms far south 

 

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

 Variable low clouds over the islands…high clouds north and south 

 

 

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 

 

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 here in Corte Madera (Marin County, CA) at my friend Linda’s place

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s cloudy early this morning…with a low temperature of 41 degrees.

This is my last day in California for this working vacation, as I fly back to Maui Friday morning.

Weather Wit of the day: Indecisive Forecast – One that’s under the whether

>>> Highest Temperature Wednesday, November 26, 2025 – 88 near Escondido, CA
>>> Lowest Temperature Thursday, November 27, 2025 – minus 4 near Poplar, MT

 

KEY POINTS: Extra Large Swell

  • An extra large west-northwest to northwest (300-320 degree) swell is expected to rapidly fill in Saturday evening and peak Saturday night into Sunday, and will likely produce giant surf along north facing shores and along west facing shores. This could lead to coastal and harbor impacts across exposed north and west facing shores, especially during the high tides.

  • Expect ocean water surging and sweeping across beaches creating the potential for impacts to coastal properties and infrastructure, including roadways. Powerful long shore and rip currents will be present on most beaches.  Large breaking waves and strong currents may impact harbor entrances and channels causing challenging boat handling.

     

CONFIDENCE AND DETAILS

Kauai, Oahu, and Maui County

HIGH Confidence

High Surf Warning along north and west facing shores of Kauai and Oahu and north facing shores of Maui. Surf heights of 40 to 50 feet with occasional larger sets along north facing exposures.

25 to 35 feet along west facing exposures.

MODERATE Confidence

Waves washing across roads near the shoreline that are exposed to the west-northwest to northwest swell at high tide.

Details: An extra large west-northwest to northwest (300-320 degree) swell will rapidly build Saturday evening and peak Saturday night into Sunday and gradually decline Sunday afternoon through the middle of next week. High tides will occur near midnight and noon Saturday night and Sunday.

Swell Direction: 300-320 degrees.

Peak Swell Height: 15 to 20 feet Saturday night into Sunday.

Peak Swell Period: 16 to 20 seconds.

Onset: Forerunners arriving as early as Saturday afternoon and rapidly building through Saturday night.

Peak: Late Saturday night into Sunday morning with wave heights of 40 to 50 feet with occasional higher sets along north facing shores and 25 to 35 feet along west facing exposures.

Duration of event: Warning level surf expected late Saturday afternoon through possibly Monday along north and west facing exposures.

 

Big Island

High Confidence

High Surf Warning for west facing exposures. Surf heights of 12 to 18 feet with higher sets along select Kona shores.

Details: An extra large west-northwest to northwest (300-320 degree) swell will rapidly build Saturday night and peak during the day Sunday and gradually decline Sunday evening through the middle of next week. High tide will occur around noon on Sunday.

Swell Direction: 300-320 degrees.

Peak Swell Height: 6 to 7 feet on Sunday.

Peak Swell Period: 16 to 20 seconds.

Onset: Forerunners arriving as early as late Saturday afternoon and building through the night Saturday.

Peak: During the day Sunday with wave heights of 12 to 18 feet along west facing shores of the Big Island. The high tide is expected just around noon on Sunday.

Duration of event: Warning level surf expected Saturday night through possibly Monday.

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview: Weak winds due to a ridge of high pressure will continue into next week. Stable air and relatively low inversion heights will help keep the state fairly dry through the weekend and into early next week. A cold front will approach the area in the middle of next week, potentially bringing an increase in rainfall and humidity.

Hawaii’s Weather Details: Latest satellite images show mostly clear skies, while radar shows very few light showers, mainly over the eastern parts of the Big Island and Maui.

Weak surface ridging extending in from the northeast will remain over the islands through at least early next week. Both upper level and surface troughing will stay well to our north. This will leave us with weak southeast surface winds through Wednesday. It looks like typical northeast to east trade winds will not be back with us for quite a while. This weak southeast flow will allow for sea and land breeze formation and above-normal cloudiness in leeward areas.

Showers will be scarce, with stable inversions down in the 5,000 to 6,000 foot range. There will most likely be a few light showers, favoring the eastern and southeast side of the highest peaks. Vog from the recent eruption of Kilauea will persist over much of the area in coming days.

Latest guidance suggests that the approach of an upper level trough next week will come later than earlier runs, so we can expect it to come near the western end of the state towards the middle of next week. It does not appear that it will reach us, but could lead to increased low level moisture after Tuesday. As always, later model runs will shed more light on things.

Fire weather:  Even though we will see relative humidity levels fall heading into the weekend, weak winds will preclude reaching critical fire weather conditions for the next few days. Temperature inversion heights near Big Island and Maui will range between 5,000 to 6,000 feet.

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 surface ridge, parked just north of the state, will allow for mainly gentle to moderate east to east-southeast flow across the waters through the end of this week. Winds are forecast to ramp up a bit for the typical windy areas around Maui and the Big Island Friday. Waters located in the lee of the islands will be more sheltered, and thus lighter flow with a nocturnally driven land/sea breeze pattern close to the coasts. Similar conditions will prevail through the weekend as a frontal system stalls north and west of the islands.

The current large long-period northwest swell will peak then gradually decline over the next few days. A reinforcing northwest to north-northwest swell generated by a compact low passing north of the islands should arrive tonight and could help maintain advisory level surf through parts of the day Friday. The current High Surf Advisory is in effect through early Friday morning for select north and west facing shores, but that may need to be extended depending on this reinforcing swell.

Over the next few days, models rapidly deepen a low in the north Pacific, roughly 1,500 to 2,000 NM northwest of Kauai. A significant fetch of gale to storm force winds associated with this low will be pointed down the great circle route towards the island chain and will produce XL surf late this weekend. Long-period forerunners should start arriving around mid-day Saturday, then quickly ramp up Saturday evening into the night.

The peak of the event currently appears to be Saturday night into Sunday with the potential for giant surf along north facing shores Saturday night into Sunday out of the 300-320 degree swell direction. Surf heights will easily exceed High Surf Warning thresholds for select north and west facing shores, in addition to a SCA for rough seas.

Surf along east facing shores will remain small through the weekend due to the lighter winds. Select south facing shores could see some westerly wrap from the extra large northwest swell on Sunday.

The #1 best Oahu Instagram Spot belong to the Eden-esque Lanikai Beach.



World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

 

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.

 

Northeastern Pacific:  There are no active tropical cyclones

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

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 National Hurricane Center (NHC)

 

Northwest Pacific Ocean:  

Tropical Cyclone 33W (Koto)…is located 373 NM east-southeast of Da Nang, Vietnam

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/wp3325.gif

Southwest Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

North and South Indian Ocean:  

Tropical Cyclone 05B (Ditwah)…is located 980 NM south-southwest of Kolkata, India

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/wp3325.gif

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: Over Half of Global Coastal Settlements are Retreating Inland Due to Intensifying Climate Risks

For centuries, coastlines have attracted dense human settlement and economic activity. Today, more than 40 percent of the global population lives within 100 kilometers of the coast, where facing accelerating sea-level rise, coastal erosion, flooding, and tropical cyclones.

Although moving away from the coast – known as “retreat” – is often viewed as an adaptive strategy, its global extent and drivers have remained unclear. A new study published in Nature Climate Change fills this gap by providing the first global evidence that coastal retreat is driven more by social and infrastructural vulnerability than by historical exposure to hazards.

The study was conducted by an international team led by researchers from Sichuan University and included remote sensing experts from the University of Copenhagen (Alexander Prishchepov and Shengping Ding, IGN). It maps settlement movements across 1,071 coastal regions in 155 countries. By integrating nighttime light observations with global socioeconomic datasets, the researchers found that 56% of coastal regions have retreated from the coast from 1992 to 2019, and 16% of regions, including the Copenhagen area in Denmark, have moved closer to the coast, while 28% have remained stable.

Read more at: University of Copenhagen