Light southeast winds will continue through Sunday, with showers mainly on the southern and eastern ends of the islands. Trades are forecast to return Monday afternoon into Monday night. Surface winds will become southeasterly late Wednesday, and bring warmer air into the region through the end of next week. An upper trough may push a boundary into the area Friday/Saturday next week, but confidence is low at this time.
Issued at 307 PM HST Sat Feb 28 2026
Satellite shows mostly cloudy skies mainly on the southern and eastern sides of the islands owing to the southeast winds, with a good amount of cloud cover also over the higher terrain. Showers were seen on radar impacting the same areas. Surface winds were relatively light, averaging 5 to 15 mph with gusts 20-25 mph.
Southwest flow aloft is expected to continue through Sunday night, at which time a very weak upper low will form over the state. An upper level ridge will then form north of the state, in a weak form of a "high over low" pattern. This will result in light winds aloft and at the surface through early Monday. Showers will continue to be light and mainly over southern and eastern portions of each island, as well as mauka. At the same time, as moisture drawn northward, along with weak winds allowing a sea- and land- breeze setup, showers are in the forecast for all areas on each island through Sunday night.
As the ridge aloft expands over the eastern Pacific, a large surface high will strengthen to our northeast. This will bring a return of trade winds, most likely late Monday into Monday night. Trades will stay with us through Wednesday, but Wednesday night our winds will turn southeast again as a weak upper level trough moves in from the west. Models disagree on the strength and exact position of this upper trough late next week. It may be strong enough to push a boundary into the area, but confidence is low at this time.
Issued at 307 PM HST Sat Feb 28 2026
A light to moderate ESE wind regime will prevail through the weekend as a front continues its approach from the west. Light winds will continue to allow daytime seabreezes and nighttime land breezes to occur. Chances for showers over the western half of the state increase tomorrow due to lingering moisture from the stalled front. Showers will continue over windward sections of the Big Island and Maui at least through tonight. Primarily MVFR conditions will occur within showers, while VFR prevails elsewhere.
No AIRMETs are in effect.
Issued at 307 PM HST Sat Feb 28 2026
Moderate to locally fresh east to southeast winds will continue through the weekend as a cold front stalls and diminishes near the western end of the state. This will allow localized land and sea breeze conditions to develop near sheltered coasts over the weekend, particularly over Kauai and Oahu. Fresh to strong easterly trades will return early next week as the surface ridge strengthens to the north.
Surf along north and west-facing shores will trend up tonight as a fresh west-northwest swell arrives from a broad gale that was located south of the Aleutians near the Date Line. This swell will peak early next week before gradually lowering into midweek.
Surf along exposed east-facing shores will trend up slightly by Sunday as a fresh, short-to medium- period northeast swell from a gale centered around 1200 nautical miles northeast of the state arrives. Short-period and choppy conditions are expected to return by midweek as fresh trade winds redevelop and expand upstream of the state.
Surf along south-facing shores will remain near the seasonal average into March.
None.
