Puna Weather
Sunday 5th April 2026
Today decreasing easterly winds becoming light from the southeast. Mostly dry. VOG is possible.
Monday light southeast winds and mostly dry. VOG is possible.
Tuesday humid with light to moderate southerly winds. Periods of rain and thunderstorms. Rain could be heavy at times.
Wednesday and Thursday very humid with light to moderate southerly winds and periods of heavy rain.
Friday and Saturday very humid with moderate to breezy southerly winds and frequent heavy rain with strong thunderstorms. Widespread flooding is possible.
On Tuesday a mid-level trough passes by our island chain. Models shows the jet stream nearby helping to create lift. Moisture riding in on southerly flow nearer the surface (moisture anomaly chart) brings precipitable water values up to 1.7". These conditions are capable of producing heavy rain and thunderstorms.
As the trough to our north moves away, some decrease in rain and thunderstorm is likely, but moisture continues to increase through the day on Wednesday, so continued periods of heavy rain are possible.
Thursday moisture reaches 2" and hovers around that level through next weekend possibly longer. Enough to support periods of heavy rain even without a trough nearby.
Friday and Saturday models indicate a stronger Kona low sets up to our west (500mb anomaly chart) adding colder air aloft, low level converging winds and upper level diverging winds. With deep moisture already in place and soils likely saturated, there is the risk of widespread flooding. Despite this being many days away, it is a relatively high confidence event for some or all of our island chain.
At this point, it looks like the highest winds will be closer to Kauai and Oahu.
There is very warm waters to our southwest, this region is the source for the abundant tropical moisture we will see over the next week or two. Also within this region and farther west models continue to forecast the formation of an unusually early in the season typhoon. Ensamble tracks take it west towards Japan (Pacific basin moisture anomaly chart). This is interesting because there are also warm waters to our southeast and this could lead to a more active hurricane season this summer and fall.
