Despite an incoming cold front, meteorologists predict that the weather over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend will be “typical” on the Big Island.
National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Clark told the Tribune-Herald on Tuesday that the approaching cold front is not expected to significantly impact Big Island weather until Sunday.
Until then, Clark said, windward residents can expect much the same weather throughout the long weekend as in the last few days: scattered showers throughout the week, particularly in the evenings, with high temperatures in the low 80s and low temperatures in the high 60s.
“They’re just going to be garden-variety showers,” Clark said. “I don’t know how else to describe them other than ‘typical.’”
In West Hawaii, the weather also will continue as it has gone over the last few days, with only a low chance of isolated showers throughout the week.
On Thanksgiving Day, showers are likely in East Hawaii, with the NWS currently predicting a 60% chance of rain prior to noon before tapering off into scattered showers as the day goes on. On the other side of the island, the holiday is expected to be sunny.
The cold front, if it reaches the Big Island, is expected to bring a period of heavier showers to the windward side, with stronger trade winds behind them. Clark said the front could usher in a period of “more active weather” after Sunday, but added that it’s far enough in the future that more specific predictions are needed.
Clark said the front might also bring some welcome rain to West Hawaii, which remains in a drought.
Meanwhile, a lone tropical disturbance looms in the Eastern Pacific Ocean as the hurricane season draws to an end.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration anticipated Tuesday afternoon that the disturbance, located southwest of the Baja Peninsula, has a 30% chance of forming a tropical cyclone within the next two days.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.