A strong high pressure system far north of the Hawaiian Islands will continue to produce moderate to breezy trade winds through Monday with periods of showers favoring windward mountain areas in the overnight to early morning hours. Hurricane Fausto remains on track near the Hawaiian Islands early next week. The latest forecast for Fausto shows a weakening trend to tropical storm strength as it moves closer to the island chain. The trade wind weather pattern will return from Thursday night onward as Fausto drifts westward away from the Hawaiian Islands.
Issued at 345 PM HST Fri Jul 24 2026
Breezy trades through the forecast period. Low cigs and SHRA expected over windward and mauka locations. MVFR conds possible in heavier SHRA, otherwise VFR prevails.
AIRMET Tango remains in effect for lee turb.
Issued at 345 PM HST Fri Jul 24 2026 Robust high pressure far north of the state continues to produce fresh to strong trade winds, but winds drop down a notch tonight. The Small Craft Advisory (SCA) has been trimmed back to just the typically windy waters around Big Island and Maui County due to slight easing of the trades as the high drifts westward. Trades may decline slightly Sunday into Monday, but wind trends become less clear Tuesday due to uncertainty in the eventual track and strength of Hurricane Fausto. Generally speaking, expect winds to veer northeast and strengthen ahead of the cyclone, while winds will actually diminish somewhat south of the storm at a distance from the center. This appears more favored for an area south of the islands. The current National Hurricane Center forecast calls for Fausto to be a tropical storm by Monday with continued weakening as it passes near the islands Tuesday and Wednesday.
The current south-southwest swell continues to produce advisory level surf this afternoon. With a slow decline expected through at least the first part of the night, the High Surf Advisory has been extended through Saturday. Surf along south facing shores may briefly dip below advisory thresholds late tonight or early Saturday, but this will be followed by another pulse of swell that will likely push surf above the advisory level for Saturday and Sunday. The south-southwest swell will then slowly decline early next week, with a smaller south- southwest swell possible during the middle of the week.
Rough east shore surf will remain a notch above seasonal average into Saturday as a result of fresh to strong trade winds. Long-period swell from Hurricane Fausto arrives tonight into Saturday and builds through early next week. The Fausto swell will likely produce advisory- level surf along east facing shores by Sunday or Monday, with the largest surf expected Tuesday or Wednesday depending on the eventual track of the tropical cyclone.
Surf along north-facing shores will remain at flat to tiny levels through the weekend. Some increase is expected as Fausto or its remnants pass over the area Tuesday and Wednesday.
High Surf Advisory until 6 PM HST Saturday for Big Island South- Big Island Southeast-East Honolulu-Ewa Plain-Honolulu Metro- Kahoolawe-Kauai South-Kauai Southwest-Kona-Lanai Leeward-Lanai South-Maui Central Valley South-Maui Leeward West-Molokai Leeward South-Niihau-South Haleakala-South Maui/Upcountry- Waianae Coast.
Small Craft Advisory until 6 AM HST Sunday for Alenuihaha Channel-Big Island Leeward Waters-Big Island Southeast Waters- Maalaea Bay-Pailolo Channel.
