Breezy to locally windy trade winds will persist through Thursday. Pockets of moisture embedded with the trade wind flow will focus showers over windward and mauka areas with some showers spilling over leeward areas. Trades winds will increase in strength tonight into Saturday due to a tropical disturbance passing well to the south of the area and a strong high building in from the northwest. Enhanced trade wind showers are also anticipated for windward areas tonight into the weekend as tropical moisture surges in from the south.
Breezy trades expected for next few days. Low cigs and SHRA will continue over windward and mauka locations with some spillover into leeward areas at times. MVFR conds in SHRA, otherwise VFR prevails. An area of enhanced moisture will likely affect windward portions of the Big Island and to a lesser extent, the rest of the islands tonight into tomorrow morning, bringing more widespread MVFR with pockets of IFR for windward areas.
AIRMET Sierra is in effect for mtn obsc for windward portions of all smaller islands except Lanai. Conds should improve by noon.
AIRMET Tango remains in effect for mod turb lee of terrain and should remain in effect for next few days.
Issued at 423 AM HST Thu Nov 5 2026 Fresh to strong trade winds with periods of near gales will remain in place throughout the week as a broad area of high pressure remains in place north of the state. Small Craft Advisory (SCA) is in effect for all Hawaiian Waters and the SCA conditions will likely persist across the state through the weekend due to a combination of winds and seas. Additionally this weekend, a tropical cyclone could pass far south of the state. According to National Hurricane Center, there is a high chance of formation during the next 48 hours. Latest satellite imagery is starting to show better organization during the past 6 hours.
Surf along north and west-facing shores will quickly build this morning as a new long-period north-northwest swell arrives. Buoy readings at buoy 51001 has ranged from 7 to 9 ft and 16 to 19 seconds over the past several hours. Long-period energy is starting to arrive at the Waimea buoy this morning and we should see surf quickly rising throughout the morning hours across north and west facing shores. High Surf Advisory is in effect for most north and west facing shores of the smaller islands through tonight. This swell is expected to peak during the day today then fade over the next few days. Surf will likely be at borderline High Surf Advisory thresholds on Friday as the north-northwest swell declines. A wide fetch of gales seen on the ASCAT pass overnight near 40N180W, should send reinforcing medium period energy out of the north-northwest late Saturday into Sunday. Surf could approach advisory thresholds during its peak early Sunday morning. Another large northwest to north-northwest swell is possible towards the middle of next week.
A compact fetch of gales passing east of New Zealand last week Friday should produce some waves slightly above average around Friday into Saturday along south facing shores. Surf along east- facing shores will stay elevated and choppy through much of the week due to the strong trades. Select northeast exposures should see long-period energy from the large north-northwest swell today into tonight.
High Surf Advisory until 6 AM HST Friday for Kauai North-Kauai Southwest-Maui Central Valley North-Maui Windward West-Molokai North-Molokai West-Molokai Windward-Niihau-Oahu North Shore- Waianae Coast-Windward Haleakala.
Small Craft Advisory until 6 AM HST Saturday for Alenuihaha Channel-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- Maalaea Bay-Maui County Leeward Waters-Maui County Windward Waters-Oahu Leeward Waters-Oahu Windward Waters-Pailolo Channel.
