Fire Weather Watch issued ahead of a dry and gusty Aloha Friday
Nov 13, 2024
HONOLULU (KHON2) - A strong 1037 mb high far north of the state will produce windy trade winds through the weekend.
A Wind Advisory remains in effect for the windier areas around Maui County and the Big Island and will likely remain windy through Saturday as a strong high remains anchored far north-north east of the state.
Latest satellite and radar imagery shows drier conditions than this morning, but another band of moisture will be moving into the state tonight.
Showers should once again be on the increase, especially over windward Big Island and Maui, where a line of showery cumulus clouds are seen upstream of the state.
Starting Friday, a drier air mass should move into the state which should decrease shower coverage.
With the windy trade winds in place through Saturday, the wind speeds will be at or near Red Flag thresholds, but the limiting factor is the relative humidity.
With bands of moisture moving through Thursday, humidities should not be low enough to reach Red Flag Warning through Thursday.
A slot of drier air moving in on Friday could bring Red Flag conditions during the day on Friday.
Due to this possibility, a Fire Weather Watch has been issued for all leeward areas of all islands during the day Friday.
Note, the winds do not look nearly as strong and humidities do not look as dry as the historical Aug 8th event. Nonetheless, critical fire weather conditions will still be possible on Friday.
A broad band of moisture will move in on Saturday, which should decrease any fire weather concerns over the weekend.
On Saturday, the remnants of an old frontal boundary will move in with the windy trades and will produce showery weather across the state with the greatest shower coverage expected over windward and mountain areas.
An upper level trough moving in on Saturday should help enhance shower activity with some brief downpours also possible over leeward areas.
With the added instability, heavier showers are expected over windward and mountain areas, which could increasing flooding concerns.
At this time, the greatest combination of moisture and instability looks to be over windward Big Island and windward Maui on Saturday.
A drier air mass should move in on Sunday, which should decrease shower coverage.