A ridge to the north of the islands will weaken slightly the rest of the week, allowing trade winds to diminish briefly to moderate levels Thursday night into Friday before gradually restrengthening back to locally breezy over the weekend. Clouds and showers will remain focused mainly along windward and mauka areas into early next week. A drier airmass moving in from the east is expected to limit shower activity into the weekend.
Moderate to locally breezy trades will continue through the holiday weekend. Limited showers will favor windward and mountain areas. Expect MVFR conditions in showers, and VFR elsewhere.
AIRMET Sierra is in effect for mountain obscuration for windward areas of Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island due to ongoing and upstream showers.
AIRMET Tango is currently in effect for moderate turbulence downwind of terrain due to breezy trade winds.
Surface high pressure far north of the islands will maintain moderate to locally strong trade winds through Thursday before slightly declining, becoming moderate to fresh through the rest of the forecast period. A Small Craft Advisory (SCA) is in effect through Thursday afternoon for the typical windy waters and channels around Maui County and the Big Island.
A small, medium-period south swell will linger through Thursday just below the summertime average. This fading swell combined with a series of small, medium- to long-period south- southwesterly swells, will deliver below-average surf along south-facing shores through Friday. Over the holiday weekend and into early next week, a moderate, long-period south-southwest swell will arrive, boosting surf heights to near High Surf Advisory levels Sunday into Monday.
Surf along east facing shores will remain rough and choppy through Thursday as trade winds remain locally strong. Surf along north facing shores will remain tiny through the forecast period, with a minor uptick possible Friday into the holiday weekend as a small, medium-period northwest swell arrives.
Small Craft Advisory until 6 PM HST Thursday for Alenuihaha Channel-Big Island Leeward Waters-Big Island Southeast Waters- Maalaea Bay-Pailolo Channel.
