Photo Credit: Tyler Rooke

West Side

Today: Mostly sunny. Highs 74 to 82. Southwest winds up to 10 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy with isolated showers. Lows 65 to 72. South winds up to 10 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Friday: Mostly sunny. Isolated showers in the morning. Highs 76 to 84. Light winds. Chance of rain 20 percent.

South Side

Today: Mostly sunny. Highs around 83. Southwest winds around 10 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows 64 to 73. South winds up to 10 mph.

Friday: Mostly sunny. Highs around 85. Light winds.

North Shore

Today: Mostly sunny. Highs 75 to 83 near the shore to around 65 near 5000 feet. Light winds.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows around 68 near the shore to 47 to 53 near 5000 feet. Light winds.

Friday: Mostly sunny. Highs 75 to 83 near the shore to around 66 near 5000 feet. Light winds becoming south up to 10 mph in the afternoon.

Central Maui

Today: Mostly sunny. Highs around 83. South winds up to 10 mph in the morning becoming light.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows 64 to 69. South winds 10 to 15 mph decreasing to up to 15 mph after midnight.

Friday: Mostly sunny. Highs around 83. Light winds.

Upcountry

Today: Mostly sunny. Highs around 58 at the visitor center to around 52 at the summit. Southwest winds up to 15 mph.

Tonight: Breezy. Partly cloudy with isolated showers. Lows around 44 at the visitor center to around 39 at the summit. Southwest winds up to 10 mph increasing to up to 20 mph after midnight. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Friday: Mostly sunny. Breezy. Isolated showers in the morning. Highs around 59 at the visitor center to around 53 at the summit. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

East Maui

Today: Mostly sunny. Highs 75 to 83 near the shore to around 65 near 5000 feet. Light winds.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows around 68 near the shore to 47 to 53 near 5000 feet. Light winds.

Friday: Mostly sunny. Highs 75 to 83 near the shore to around 66 near 5000 feet. Light winds becoming south up to 10 mph in the afternoon.

Lanai City

Today: Mostly sunny in the morning then becoming partly sunny. Highs 70 to 76. Light winds.

Tonight: Partly cloudy with isolated showers. Lows around 63. Light winds. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Friday: Mostly sunny. Isolated showers in the morning. Highs 70 to 77. Light winds. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Kaunakakai

Today: Mostly sunny in the morning then becoming partly sunny. Highs 66 to 83. South winds up to 10 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy with isolated showers. Lows 56 to 71. South winds up to 10 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Friday: Mostly sunny. Isolated showers in the morning. Highs 66 to 84. Light winds. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Detailed Forecast

Synopsis

Light winds will persist into next week with limited rain expected over western slopes. Light to moderate trade winds should begin to return by late next week as the subtropical ridge shifts back north of the islands.

Discussion

Weak ridging remains south of the main Hawaiian Islands, keeping our pressure gradient slack and our winds light southwesterlies this morning. Overnight soundings continue to show a dry and stable airmass, with less than 1.3 inches of PW and positive lifted index values. A strong inversion persists near 4500 feet, capping vertical cloud development. Satellite loop shows broken to overcast stable low clouds moving across western portions of Kauai. However, the rest of the state appears to have scattered low clouds to clear skies. Radar shows isolated light showers within scant cloud cover over coastal waters around the smaller islands.
Models show southwesterly flow will keep dry and stable air across the area through the week. Expect limited shower coverage over western slopes, with further drying and increased stability to follow. Benign weather will prevail into next week as flow remains westerly over the western end of the state. Flow will be light enough to allow development of land/sea breezes and modest interior afternoon cloud build-ups. Weak and rapidly decaying fronts will occasionally approach Kauai, falling apart in an environment hostile to rainfall. By next Wednesday, the subtropical ridge should drift just far enough north of the islands to allow light trade winds to reach the state.

Aviation

Light winds will give way to increasing southwesterly winds today as a front approaches from the northwest, although sea breezes may still develop in the more sheltered areas. VFR conditions are expected to prevail statewide.
No AIRMETS are in effect. Moderate to perhaps severe upper level turbulence in the layer between FL250 and FL350 will spread from northwest to southeast down the island chain later today. AIRMET Tango will likely be required with the 22/1600Z AIRMET package.

Marine

A weak high pressure ridge will settle in over the Hawaii region with two cold fronts passing by north of the state into the weekend. This pressure pattern will produce light to moderate breezes with shifting wind directions each day into early next week. The declining NW swell will maintain a Small Craft Advisory (SCA) for high seas for most Kauai waters into the afternoon hours. The SCA was dropped this for all other Hawaiian waters and channels this morning as swell heights fall below SCA thresholds.
The current declining northwest (320 degrees) swell pushing through the islands continues to produce High Surf Advisory level surf heights today along north and west facing shores of Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, along north facing shores of Maui. This swell will likely decline below HSA thresholds by late this afternoon to evening. Meanwhile, a fresh overlapping northwest (310 degrees) swell will slowly build into the Hawaii region today, surf heights from this swell peak at HSA levels from Friday through Saturday. HSA level surf heights should continue through Sunday for north and west facing shores as yet another similar northwest swell arrives this weekend. A downward trend in surf heights along north and west facing shores will develop by early next week as this swell energy slowly declines.
Smaller surf heights remain in the forecast this week for south and east facing shores.

HFO Watches/Warnings/Advisories

High Surf Advisory until 6 PM HST this evening for Niihau, Kauai Leeward, Waianae Coast, Oahu North Shore, Olomana, Maui Windward West, Kauai North, Molokai Windward, Molokai North, Molokai West, Maui Central Valley North, Windward Haleakala.
Small Craft Advisory until 6 PM HST this evening for Kauai Northwest Waters, Kauai Windward Waters, Kauai Leeward Waters.

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Data Courtesy of NOAA.gov