A band of showers currently over Oahu this morning will expand towards Maui County during the day today and over the Big Island on Saturday. Our moderate to locally breezy northeasterly trade winds will focus the showers over windward and mauka areas with brief downpours possible. A drier airmass will return over the western half of the state by Saturday afternoon, while showery conditions could persist over the windward areas of the eastern half of the state. Our north-northeast to northeast trade winds will strengthen this weekend and become locally strong by Saturday evening. Gusty winds are expected over leeward areas this weekend.
Issued at 400 AM HST Fri Mar 27 2026
Light to moderate trade winds are expected to prevail across the islands, however a system to the northeast will push some moisture across the islands today, making for periodic windward showers and even some lee side showers at times today, mainly during the first half of the period. VFR is generally expected to prevail, however localized MVFR conditions are possible under showers.
AIRMET Tango remains in effect across the islands for moderate turbulence between FL270 and FL350. These conditions are expected to improve throughout the day today.
AIRMET Sierra is in effect for windward Kauai and Oahu due to shower activity. Conditions are expected to improve later today, however other islands may need to be considered for expansion depending on where moisture from the aforementioned system tracks.
Issued at 400 AM HST Fri Mar 27 2026
A low pressure system northeast of the islands and a high pressure system to the far northwest of the Hawaii region will keep northeasterly trade winds in the forecast through early next week. Wind speeds for much of the coastal waters will be moderate to fresh this morning, though strong winds in the vicinity of Kauai have necessitated the issuance of a Small Craft Advisory (SCA) for the Leeward and Northwest Waters of Kauai, as well as the Kauai Channel. By this afternoon, a tightening pressure gradient across the islands is expected to spread Small Craft winds to the majority of the leeward waters and channels, with the exception of the Big Island. Winds are likely to increase to fresh to strong speeds and become more widespread by Saturday afternoon as a cold front sweeps southward across the islands. SCA criteria are likely to be sustained into early next week as high pressure builds to the north of the islands.
A small bump in surf is forecast today as another small medium- period northwest swell arrives. The bump in surf sustains through Saturday before gradually fading through the rest of the weekend.
For east facing shores, short-period wind wave energy from northeasterly trade winds will fade today, then build back in this weekend. A large short- to medium-period north-northeast (010-020 degrees) swell will build into the region Saturday night through Monday, likely bringing advisory-level surf to north- and east-facing shores late this weekend into early next week.
Along south-facing shores, small background pulses will keep surf heights above flat conditions through early next week.
Small Craft Advisory until 6 PM HST Saturday for Kauai Channel- Kauai Leeward Waters-Kauai Northwest Waters.
Small Craft Advisory from noon today to 6 PM HST Saturday for Alenuihaha Channel-Kaiwi Channel-Maalaea Bay-Maui County Leeward Waters-Oahu Leeward Waters-Pailolo Channel.
