West Side

Today: Windy. Sunny with isolated showers. Highs 77 to 82. Northeast winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Windy. Isolated showers in the evening. Lows 67 to 73. Northeast winds 15 to 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Friday: Sunny and breezy. Highs 76 to 82. Northeast winds 20 to 25 mph.

South Side

Today: Sunny and windy. Highs around 83. Northeast winds 10 to 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Windy. Lows 65 to 75. Northeast winds 15 to 30 mph.

Friday: Sunny and windy. Highs around 83. North winds 15 to 30 mph.

North Shore

Today: Breezy. Partly sunny with scattered showers. Highs 79 to 85 near the shore to around 64 near 5000 feet. East winds 10 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent.

Tonight: Breezy. Mostly cloudy with scattered showers. Lows 68 to 76 near the shore to around 52 near 5000 feet. East winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent.

Friday: Breezy. Mostly sunny with scattered showers. Highs 78 to 84 near the shore to around 63 near 5000 feet. East winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent.

Central Maui

Today: Breezy. Sunny with isolated showers. Highs 77 to 84. Northeast winds 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Breezy. Isolated showers in the evening. Lows 64 to 70. Northeast winds 15 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Friday: Sunny and breezy. Highs 77 to 83. Northeast winds 15 to 20 mph.

Upcountry

Today: Breezy. Mostly sunny with scattered showers. Highs around 59 at the visitor center to around 68 at the summit. East winds 10 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent.

Tonight: Windy. Partly cloudy with scattered showers. Lows around 47 at the visitor center to around 49 at the summit. East winds 10 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent.

Friday: Breezy. Sunny with isolated showers. Highs around 58 at the visitor center to around 67 at the summit. East winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

East Maui

Today: Breezy. Partly sunny with scattered showers. Highs 79 to 85 near the shore to around 64 near 5000 feet. East winds 10 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent.

Tonight: Breezy. Mostly cloudy with scattered showers. Lows 68 to 76 near the shore to around 52 near 5000 feet. East winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent.

Friday: Breezy. Mostly sunny with scattered showers. Highs 78 to 84 near the shore to around 63 near 5000 feet. East winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent.

Lanai City

Today: Windy. Sunny with isolated showers. Highs 72 to 80. Northeast winds 15 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Windy. Lows around 67. Northeast winds 20 to 30 mph.

Friday: Sunny and windy. Highs 70 to 78. Northeast winds 20 to 30 mph.

Kaunakakai

Today: Windy. Sunny with isolated showers. Highs 69 to 84. Northeast winds 15 to 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Tonight: Mostly clear. Windy. Isolated showers in the evening. Lows 58 to 72. Northeast winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.

Friday: Sunny and breezy. Highs 67 to 83. Northeast winds 15 to 25 mph.

Detailed Forecast

Synopsis

Trade winds will steadily strengthen today and a wind advisory remains in effect for areas of Maui County and Big Island through tonight. Passing showers will continue to move in on breezy to windy trade winds through next week. As usual, these showers will be most frequent during the nights and early morning hours across windward and mauka areas.

Discussion

This morning's radar and satellite imagery shows scattered showers riding in with the breezy to windy trade winds mainly over windward and mauka areas. Rainfall totals over the past 24 hours have varied quite a bit of rainfall amounts of up to 1 to 2 inches at the wettest areas. 12Z soundings from Lihue and Hilo continues to show an elevated inversion, which explains the higher rainfall amounts. As we go through the day today and into tonight, drier air aloft should really fill in tonight, which should cause the trade wind inversion to strengthen and lower. This will result in the winds becoming more gusty later this afternoon into tonight. Wind gusts in the 50 mph range has been measured at the windier areas of Maui County and the Big Island, where we have a Wind Advisory in effect through tonight. The Wind Advisory may have to be extended through Friday. While we don't have a Wind Advisory for Oahu, we could see wind gusts near advisory thresholds later this afternoon into tonight for select valleys downwind of terrain such as Manoa Valley.
While the drier air aloft should help lower rainfall amounts later tonight, strong orographic lifting from the windy trade winds will continue to produce scattered showers over windward and mauka areas.
For the weekend, windy conditions will likely continue through Saturday. Trade winds could drop a notch on Sunday, but nonetheless breezy to strong trades will likely continue through early next week. Passing showers will continue to ride in with the strong trades especially during the night and early morning hours. Shower coverage could slightly increase towards the first half of next week as we see a subtle increase of low level moisture.

Aviation

High pressure north of the area will allow fresh to windy trade winds to prevail today and tomorrow. Stability will increase through the day as drier air fills in later this morning, leading to lighter intensity and less frequent showers. However brief showers could still impact windward and mountain areas, especially during the evening and early morning hours.
AIRMET Sierra is in effect for mountain obscuration across windward portions of the Big Island, Kauai, Molokai, and Maui. This AIRMET will likely be canceled later this morning as conditions are expected to improve. AIRMET Tango is in place for low level turbulence over and downwind of terrain. With winds building and stability increasing, this AIRMET will remain in place for at least the next couple of days.

Marine

The strong high pressure ridge north of the Hawaiian Islands will maintain easterly trade winds in the strong to gale range through Friday morning. A Gale Warning remains in effect for the Alenuihaha and Pailolo Channels, and Maalaea Bay and a Small Craft Advisory (SCA) for all remaining island waters. Expect SCA to continue into the first half of next week.
Small, short to medium period north-northwest (330 degree) swell energy will decline today. The next small north-northwest (330 degree) swell will move into the Hawaii region on Saturday, increasing surf heights along north and west-facing shores through the weekend.
A series of small, long-period south swells will support near- average surf along south-facing shores over the next several days. Meanwhile, strengthening trades will maintain elevated surf along east-facing shores into next week. Surf heights could approach advisory levels later today along east facing shores.

HFO Watches/Warnings/Advisories

Wind Advisory until 6 AM HST Friday for Big Island North, Big Island South, Big Island Southeast, Kahoolawe, Kohala, Lanai Leeward, Lanai Mauka, Lanai South, Lanai Windward, Maui Central Valley North, Maui Central Valley South, Maui Leeward West, Maui Windward West, Molokai Leeward South, Molokai North, Molokai Southeast, Molokai West, Molokai Windward, South Haleakala.
Small Craft Advisory until 6 AM HST Friday for Big Island Leeward Waters, Big Island Southeast Waters, Big Island Windward Waters, Kaiwi Channel, Kauai Channel, Kauai Leeward Waters, Kauai Northwest Waters, Kauai Windward Waters, Maui County Leeward Waters, Maui County Windward Waters, Oahu Leeward Waters, Oahu Windward Waters.
Gale Warning until 6 AM HST Friday for Alenuihaha Channel, Maalaea Bay, Pailolo Channel.

Data Courtesy of NOAA.gov