First Alert Forecast: High Surf and a Hurricane

News admin July 24, 2026 0 Comments

First Alert Forecast: High Surf and a Hurricane

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The top weather story today isn’t the approaching hurricane. It’s the big surf rolling in along our south shores. Generated by a storm in the South Pacific last week, the swell has pushed waves to advisory levels along all south-facing shores across the state. The National Weather Service is peaking the waves at 8-12 feet overnight tonight. A reinforcement swell could keep the waves at 10 feet or more through tomorrow. A Fausto swell is expected along east shores late Sunday.

Before we get to Fausto, a quick look at weather in the short-term. It should be very nice tomorrow through Saturday and into Sunday. Plan on breezy trades with lots of sunshine and just a few passing showers. Afternoon highs will be in the upper 80s in many neighborhoods, but the natural AC (trade winds) should be strong enough to cool you down. Overnight lows will be in the mid to upper70s.

Now to Fausto… the hurricane is still about 1800 miles to the east of Honolulu with the forecast models now placing the storm’s track pretty close to the island chain by early next week. Fausto has strengthened some in the past 24 hours. At last check it had sustained winds of 85mph. The system is moving due west at about 14mph.

The computer models are pretty much in agreement, bringing the storm to the Central Pacific (140W) as a Tropical Storm (winds 39-73mph) this weekend and maintaining that intensity as it approaches the Hilo side of the Big Island on Tuesday.

Much could change over the next few days. Make sure you have downloaded the Hawaii News Now First Alert Weather app on your phone, and you will have access to the very latest weather information in the palm of your hand.

View the latest weather conditions here.

Download the HNN Weather app from the Apple App Store or Google Play for the latest updates from your First Alert Weather Team: chief meteorologist Jennifer Robbins, meteorologist Drew Davis, and weather anchors Guy Hagi, Ben Gutierrez, and Billy V.