Strong winds to diminish rapidly into the weekend

Very strong and gusty winds will continue overnight as a cold front continues to sweep through the islands. The winds will weaken Friday and become light and variable for the weekend.

Drier conditions are moving in from west to east, with little rainfall expected for the remainder of the holiday weekend.

Looking ahead, there’s a first alert for an upper disturbance that will shift the winds from the southeast and draw increased tropical moisture over the islands and increase rainfall again Monday through Wednesday. Most of that rain will likely fall for southeast slopes of the island of Hawaii, which may block most of the showers from reaching the smaller islands due to the southeasterly winds.

Now, to surf, where a high surf warning will continue into Friday afternoon for north-facing shores, with waves to 20 to 30 feet still possible in the morning. This will once again coincide with the seasonal high tides during the early-morning hours, which could cause some coastal flooding from wave overwash. Another large north-northeast swell could keep the warning up into the weekend.

Most west-facing shores are under a high surf advisory through 6 p.m. Friday.

Surf on east shores will be elevated and rough due to the strong trade winds, while south shores will see a small bump for Friday.

For mariners, a gale warning remains posted overnight for the waters around Kauai County and leeward waters around Maui County and Hawaii Island, with a small craft advisory for remaining coastal waters.

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