Volcano
81° F

Kailua-Kona
82° F

Kapoho
81° F

Honoka’a
66° F

Summer will start Thursday evening at 705 pm HST. This is usually the driest time of year for most areas of the main Hawaiian islands. Satellite and radar loops and surface observations show typically quiet weather this morning. There are patchy broken low clouds over windward areas and scattered low clouds over leeward areas. Low clouds are scattered to broken upstream to the east of the islands and radars show scattered, light to moderate showers are moving over the islands from the east in the locally breezy tradewind flow. The computer models show the atmosphere becoming drier and the low-level moisture getting shallower over the next 24 hours. Rainfall is likely to be quite sparse tomorrow through Friday. With trade winds continuing, what rainfall we do get will be concentrated over windward areas. Climatology shows a summertime peak in rainfall over south Kona, but it looks as if the leeward side of the Big Island will remain quite dry. The computer models all show a big, deep low developing up near the Aleutians over the next couple of days and show the subtropical ridge weakening and shifting south. That should weaken the pressure gradient over the islands and cause trade-wind speeds to drop off a bit Wednesday through Friday. The ridge will re-build by the weekend and trades will likely become locally breezy again.