Photo Credit: James Grenz

Hilo

Today: Scattered showers, mainly after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 82. Light and variable wind becoming east northeast 5 to 9 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Tonight: Scattered showers, mainly before 8pm. Cloudy, with a low around 66. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming light and variable in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Friday: Isolated showers. Cloudy, with a high near 82. Light and variable wind becoming east northeast 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Kona

Today: Isolated showers after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 80. Light and variable wind becoming west 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Tonight: Isolated showers before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 64. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Friday: Isolated showers after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. Light and variable wind becoming west 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Waimea

Today: Isolated showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 76. Breezy, with a northeast wind 16 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Tonight: Isolated showers before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53. Breezy, with an east northeast wind 14 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Friday: Isolated showers after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 76. Breezy, with a northeast wind 12 to 17 mph decreasing to 6 to 11 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Kohala

Today: Isolated showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 62. Breezy, with an east northeast wind 11 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Tonight: Isolated showers. Cloudy, with a low around 51. Breezy, with an east wind 10 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Friday: Isolated showers. Cloudy, with a high near 62. Breezy, with an east wind 7 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

South Big Island

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 82. Breezy, with an east wind 18 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 71. Breezy, with an east northeast wind 16 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 82. Breezy, with an east wind 17 to 22 mph decreasing to 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph.

Puna

Today: Scattered showers, mainly after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 79. Northwest wind 7 to 13 mph becoming east northeast in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Tonight: Scattered showers, mainly before 8pm. Cloudy, with a low around 63. Northeast wind 5 to 8 mph becoming northwest in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Friday: Scattered showers, mainly after noon. Cloudy, with a high near 79. North northwest wind 7 to 10 mph becoming east northeast in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Waikoloa

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Breezy, with an east wind 7 to 15 mph becoming north northeast in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 21 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 65. East wind 9 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.

Friday: Increasing clouds, with a high near 83. East wind 8 to 13 mph becoming light and variable in the afternoon.

Detailed Forecast

Synopsis

A weak high pressure ridge north of the islands will produce light to moderate trade winds through Friday. A low pressure system passing far north of the region will break down the ridge this weekend, producing light winds with land and sea breezes from Saturday through Memorial Day. Expect hot and humid conditions into next week. A high pressure system building in from the west on Tuesday will allow moderate trade winds to return lasting through the end of the week.

Discussion

Dry and stable conditions prevail under a light to moderate trade wind flow pattern. A weakened ridge north of the islands will keep trade winds in place through Friday. Stable conditions aloft will produce only isolated shower activity across the region.
A low pressure system passing from west to east across the Central Pacific basin will weaken the ridge north of the islands, producing light and variable winds from Saturday through Memorial Day. These light large scale winds will allow local scale land and sea breezes to develop across the state. An upper level ridge moving over the island chain will limit clouds and showers through the Memorial Day weekend. Expect hot and humid weather conditions during this light wind period.
A high pressure system moving in from the west will build the ridge north of the Hawaiian Islands on Tuesday. Expect strengthening trade winds from Tuesday through next Friday with clouds and a few showers favoring windward and mountain areas. A stable high pressure ridge aloft will remain anchored over the islands during this period limiting shower activity. Summer has arrived.

Aviation

Dry trades will support prevailing VFR through the forecast period as they hold firm in the light to moderate range. Afternoon convection can be expected over leeward Big Island, but thunderstorms are not anticipated due to increasing stability.
No AIRMETs in effect.

Marine

Moderate to locally fresh trade winds will continue into Friday, supported by a surface ridge to the N. A large surface low will develop NW of the islands over the weekend, forcing the surface ridge S to near Kauai. This will lead to diminishing and veering winds, with winds lightest and most southerly over the W end of the island chain. A new high will build N of the area as the low departs on Tuesday, allowing the ridge to move N to a more climatological position, thereby driving more seasonable fresh to strong trade winds.
Surf will be below High Surf Advisory (HSA) levels along all shores for the foreseeable future, but there will be a steady pulse of small to moderate swells from both the S and NW. Several swell sources in the S hemisphere will keep some semblance of surf along S facing shores through the holiday weekend. Long travel distances reduces confidence in the details of the timing of larger pulses. Surf along N facing shores will trend higher today, downward on Friday and Saturday, then back up again with a larger swell Sunday and Monday that will likely linger into the middle of next week.
See the Coastal Hazard Message (CFWHFO) for information regarding minor coastal flooding during the time of peak high tides the next couple of afternoons.

HFO Watches/Warnings/Advisories

None.

Data Courtesy of NOAA.gov