948  
FXHW40 KWBC 211231  
PMDHCO  
PROGNOSTIC DISCUSSION FOR LONG-LEAD HAWAIIAN OUTLOOKS  
NWS CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER COLLEGE PARK MD  
830AM EDT THU AUG 21 2025  
 
MONTHLY FORECAST DISCUSSION VALID SEPTEMBER 2025  
 
SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE (SST) ANOMALIES IN THE RANGE OF 0 TO +1 DEGREES CELSIUS  
(C) WERE OBSERVED AROUND THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS (KAUAI, OAHU, MAUI AND THE BIG  
ISLAND) DURING THE PREVIOUS WEEK.  
 
FROM JANUARY THROUGH JULY 2025, RAINFALL TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS WERE:  
 
LIHUE AIRPORT 10.85 INCHES (55 PERCENT OF AVERAGE)  
 
HONOLULU AIRPORT 8.97 INCHES (103 PERCENT OF AVERAGE)  
 
KAHULUI AIRPORT 6.61 INCHES (68 PERCENT OF AVERAGE)  
 
HILO AIRPORT 33.89 INCHES (53 PERCENT OF AVERAGE)  
 
MOST CLIMATE MODELS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN MULTI-MODEL ENSEMBLE (NMME) AND THE  
INTERNATIONAL MULTI-MODEL ENSEMBLE (IMME/C3S) PREDICT POSITIVE SST ANOMALIES  
AROUND MOST OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS IN SEPTEMBER 2025. MOST MODELS PREDICT WEAK  
OR NEAR ZERO SST ANOMALIES NEAR THE SOUTHEASTERN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS IN SEPTEMBER  
2025. BASED ON MODEL SST AND SURFACE AIR TEMPERATURE FORECASTS, ABOVE NORMAL  
TEMPERATURES ARE FAVORED FOR KAUAI (LIHUE), OAHU (HONOLULU) AND MAUI (KAHULUI)  
WITH GREATER PROBABILITIES FOR THE NORTHWESTERN ISLANDS OF OAHU AND KAUAI.  
EQUAL CHANCES (EC) FOR ABOVE, NEAR OR BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES ARE INDICATED  
FOR THE BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII (HILO) IN SEPTEMBER 2025, WHERE TOOLS ARE LESS  
CONSISTENT.  
 
FOR THE SEPTEMBER 2025 PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK, THE PROBABILITY OF BELOW NORMAL  
PRECIPITATION IS ELEVATED FOR ALL ISLANDS OF HAWAII, WITH GREATER PROBABILITIES  
FOR THE SOUTHEASTERN ISLANDS COMPARED TO THE NORTHWESTERN ISLANDS. THE OUTLOOK  
IS CONSISTENT WITH MOST MODELS OF THE NMME AND IMME.  
 
TEMPERATURE PRECIPITATION  
FCST AVE LIM FCST BLW MEDIAN ABV  
HILO EC 76.4 0.5 B55 8.0 9.3 11.0  
KAHULUI A45 79.3 0.4 B50 0.1 0.2 0.5  
HONOLULU A55 81.8 0.4 B45 0.4 0.6 0.8  
LIHUE A60 79.4 0.3 B40 1.7 1.9 2.6  
 
SEASONAL FORECAST DISCUSSION VALID SON 2025 - SON 2026  
 
REFER TO THE PROGNOSTIC DISCUSSION OF THE LONG-LEAD SEASONAL OUTLOOKS FOR THE  
CONTIGUOUS U.S. (CONUS) AND ALASKA FOR FURTHER DESCRIPTION OF THE EL NIñO  
SOUTHERN OSCILLATION (ENSO) OUTLOOK AND OTHER CLIMATE CONDITIONS RELEVANT TO  
THE SEASONAL OUTLOOK.  
 
ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS CONTINUED INTO AUGUST. EQUATORIAL SEA SURFACE  
TEMPERATURES (SSTS) ARE NEAR-TO-BELOW AVERAGE ACROSS MUCH OF THE CENTRAL  
TROPICAL PACIFIC OCEAN. SST ANOMALIES WERE SLIGHTLY NEGATIVE IN RECENT WEEKS  
OVER THE EAST-CENTRAL EQUATORIAL PACIFIC, WITH NIñO 3.4 ANOMALIES RANGING  
BETWEEN 0.0 AND -0.5 C SINCE MID-JULY. POSITIVE SST ANOMALIES ARE OBSERVED OVER  
THE WESTERN AND FAR EASTERN EQUATORIAL PACIFIC OCEAN. ABOVE-AVERAGE SUBSURFACE  
OCEAN TEMPERATURES PERSIST ACROSS MOST OF THE WESTERN EQUATORIAL PACIFIC OCEAN  
TO DEPTHS AS GREAT AS 200 METERS, WHILE BELOW-AVERAGE SUBSURFACE OCEAN  
TEMPERATURES EXPANDED SINCE JULY ACROSS MUCH OF THE EASTERN EQUATORIAL PACIFIC.  
ABOVE-AVERAGE OUTGOING LONGWAVE RADIATION (OLR), ASSOCIATED WITH SUPPRESSED  
CONVECTION AND PRECIPITATION, ARE OBSERVED IN THE WESTERN EQUATORIAL PACIFIC  
OCEAN. LOW-LEVEL (850-HPA) WIND ANOMALIES ARE EASTERLY OVER THE EAST-CENTRAL  
AND EASTERN EQUATORIAL PACIFIC, WHILE UPPER-LEVEL (200-HPA) WIND ANOMALIES ARE  
WESTERLY OVER THE EASTERN EQUATORIAL PACIFIC.  
 
MOST DYNAMICAL AND STATISTICAL MODELS PREDICT A CONTINUATION OF ENSO-NEUTRAL  
CONDITIONS THROUGH THE END OF BOREAL SUMMER INTO THE BEGINNING OF AUTUMN. SOME  
MODELS, SUCH AS THE NCEP CLIMATE FORECAST SYSTEM (CFSV2), THE CPC SST CANONICAL  
CORRELATION ANALYSIS (CCA), AND CPC MARKOV MODELS, PREDICT THE LIKELY  
DEVELOPMENT OF A LA NIñA IN AUTUMN THROUGH FORECASTS OF SST ANOMALIES BELOW  
THE -0.5 C THRESHOLD AVERAGED FOR THE NIñO 3.4 REGION. THE CPC ENSO OUTLOOK  
FORECASTS ENSO-NEUTRAL CONDITIONS WITH A 56% CHANCE IN THE THREE-MONTH  
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER SEASON. HOWEVER, LA NIñA CONDITIONS ARE MORE LIKELY  
THAN ENSO-NEUTRAL IN AUTUMN AND EARLY WINTER 2025-26. THE PROBABILITIES OF  
ENSO-NEUTRAL AND LA NIñA CONDITIONS ARE NEARLY EQUAL IN THE  
DECEMBER-JANUARY-FEBRUARY WINTER SEASON WITH INCREASING CHANCES OF ENSO-NEUTRAL  
CONDITIONS THEREAFTER. THE INCREASING LIKELIHOOD OF LA NIñA CONDITIONS ALTERS  
PRECIPITATION PROBABILITIES IN THE HAWAII SEASONAL OUTLOOK, INCREASING THE  
PROBABILITY OF ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION IN BOREAL WINTER. HOWEVER THE STATE  
OF ENSO AT LONGER LEAD TIMES IS UNCERTAIN, SUCH THAT PRECIPITATION FORECASTS  
ARE SOMEWHAT UNCERTAIN AFTER ABOUT FIVE MONTHS LEAD TIME.  
 
ENHANCED PROBABILITIES FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES ARE PREDICTED IN THE  
OUTLOOK FOR LIHUE, HONOLULU, AND KAHULUI BEGINNING IN  
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER-NOVEMBER (SON) AND FOR HILO IN OCTOBER-NOVEMBER-DECEMBER  
(OND) 2025, THROUGH JANUARY-FEBRUARY-MARCH (JFM) 2026, SUPPORTED BY NEARLY ALL  
DYNAMICAL MODEL FORECASTS FROM THE NMME AND C3S. PROBABILITIES FOR ABOVE NORMAL  
TEMPERATURES ARE GREATER FOR NORTHWESTERN ISLANDS OF HAWAII IN EARLY SEASONS,  
EXCEEDING 65 PERCENT FOR LINUE, FOLLOWING CALIBRATED MODEL GUIDANCE FROM THE  
NMME. DUE TO INCREASING UNCERTAINTY IN THE STATE OF ENSO AND WEAKENING SIGNALS  
IN FORECAST GUIDANCE AT LONGER LEADS, EQUAL CHANCES (EC) FOR ABOVE, NEAR OR  
BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES ARE INDICATED FOR HAWAII BEGINNING IN JFM 2025-26 AND  
EXTENDING THROUGH LONGER LEADS.  
 
ENHANCED PROBABILITIES FOR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION ARE FORECAST OVER THE  
SOUTHEASTERN ISLANDS, MAUI AND THE BIG ISLAND FOR SON 2025, CONSISTENT WITH  
MOST DYNAMICAL MODEL FORECASTS. ENHANCED PROBABILITIES FOR ABOVE NORMAL  
PRECIPITATION ARE FORECAST FOR THE ISLANDS OF OAHU AND KAUAI BEGINNING IN OND  
2025 AND FOR MAUI AND THE BIG ISLAND BEGINNING IN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER-JANUARY  
(NDJ), CONTINUING THROUGH JFM 2026, CONSISTENT WITH MOST DYNAMICAL MODEL  
FORECASTS, AS WELL DECADAL TIMESCALE PRECIPITATION TRENDS. EQUAL CHANCES (EC)  
FOR ABOVE, NEAR OR BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION ARE INDICATED FOR SOME EARLY  
SEASONS WITH UNCERTAINTY IN THE TRANSITION FROM DRIER CONDITIONS IN BOREAL  
SUMMER AND AUTUMN TO WETTER CONDITIONS IN BOREAL WINTER. BEGINNING IN  
FEBRUARY-MARCH-APRIL (FMA) 2026 AND EXTENDING THROUGH LONGER LEADS, EC IS  
INDICATED IN THE SEASONAL PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK, DUE TO UNCERTAINTY IN THE  
STATE OF ENSO AND WEAKER SIGNALS IN FORECAST TOOLS.  
 
HILO  
TEMPERATURE PRECIPITATION  
FCST AVE LIM FCST BLW MEDIAN ABV  
SON 2025 EC 76.2 0.4 B45 24.3 30.2 40.8  
OND 2025 A40 75.5 0.4 EC 28.3 34.5 42.0  
NDJ 2025 A40 74.2 0.4 A40 26.4 36.6 43.0  
DJF 2026 A40 72.8 0.4 A45 19.6 30.2 33.3  
JFM 2026 A40 71.8 0.4 A45 22.0 32.0 44.5  
FMA 2026 EC 71.7 0.4 EC 24.6 34.1 45.5  
MAM 2026 EC 72.0 0.5 EC 22.5 28.4 34.0  
AMJ 2026 EC 72.9 0.5 EC 21.4 23.7 29.0  
MJJ 2026 EC 74.0 0.4 EC 20.2 27.5 29.1  
JJA 2026 EC 75.2 0.4 EC 19.4 27.2 31.4  
JAS 2026 EC 76.1 0.4 EC 25.2 28.6 33.4  
ASO 2026 EC 76.4 0.4 EC 26.1 28.8 33.3  
SON 2026 EC 76.2 0.4 EC 24.3 30.2 40.8  
KAHULUI  
TEMPERATURE PRECIPITATION  
FCST AVE LIM FCST BLW MEDIAN ABV  
SON 2025 A50 79.1 0.4 B40 2.1 3.3 4.8  
OND 2025 A45 77.8 0.4 EC 4.2 5.3 8.1  
NDJ 2025 A45 75.9 0.4 A40 5.2 7.6 9.5  
DJF 2026 A40 73.8 0.4 A45 4.6 6.9 8.7  
JFM 2026 A40 72.5 0.4 A45 4.2 6.2 8.2  
FMA 2026 EC 72.3 0.4 EC 3.2 4.1 6.4  
MAM 2026 EC 73.0 0.4 EC 2.5 3.5 4.6  
AMJ 2026 EC 74.3 0.5 EC 1.2 1.6 2.2  
MJJ 2026 EC 76.0 0.5 EC 0.7 1.1 1.8  
JJA 2026 EC 77.7 0.4 EC 0.7 1.1 1.5  
JAS 2026 EC 79.0 0.4 EC 0.8 1.1 1.6  
ASO 2026 EC 79.4 0.4 EC 0.8 1.6 2.5  
SON 2026 EC 79.1 0.4 EC 2.1 3.3 4.8  
HONOLULU  
TEMPERATURE PRECIPITATION  
FCST AVE LIM FCST BLW MEDIAN ABV  
SON 2025 A60 81.4 0.4 EC 2.5 4.0 5.6  
OND 2025 A55 80.0 0.4 A40 4.4 6.4 8.5  
NDJ 2025 A45 77.7 0.5 A45 3.9 5.6 8.8  
DJF 2026 A40 75.3 0.5 A50 3.7 5.6 8.6  
JFM 2026 A40 73.9 0.4 A50 2.1 4.6 7.8  
FMA 2026 EC 73.8 0.4 EC 1.9 3.2 4.7  
MAM 2026 EC 74.8 0.4 EC 1.8 2.6 3.0  
AMJ 2026 EC 76.3 0.4 EC 1.2 1.6 1.8  
MJJ 2026 EC 78.2 0.4 EC 0.8 1.4 1.6  
JJA 2026 EC 79.9 0.4 EC 0.7 0.8 1.3  
JAS 2026 EC 81.3 0.4 EC 1.0 1.4 1.7  
ASO 2026 EC 81.7 0.4 EC 1.6 2.4 3.1  
SON 2026 EC 81.4 0.4 EC 2.5 4.0 5.6  
LIHUE  
TEMPERATURE PRECIPITATION  
FCST AVE LIM FCST BLW MEDIAN ABV  
SON 2025 A65 79.1 0.3 EC 9.2 10.0 11.2  
OND 2025 A55 77.8 0.3 A40 9.2 11.7 15.6  
NDJ 2025 A45 75.7 0.3 A45 8.6 12.1 16.9  
DJF 2026 A40 73.6 0.4 A50 7.5 8.4 14.0  
JFM 2026 A40 72.2 0.4 A50 6.5 8.8 13.8  
FMA 2026 EC 72.1 0.5 EC 5.8 8.4 9.9  
MAM 2026 EC 72.8 0.5 EC 5.3 6.6 8.0  
AMJ 2026 EC 74.2 0.5 EC 4.7 5.5 6.0  
MJJ 2026 EC 76.0 0.5 EC 4.9 5.4 5.9  
JJA 2026 EC 77.7 0.4 EC 4.4 5.3 6.9  
JAS 2026 EC 79.0 0.3 EC 5.3 6.1 7.8  
ASO 2026 EC 79.4 0.3 EC 6.2 7.9 8.4  
SON 2026 EC 79.1 0.3 EC 9.2 10.0 11.2  
FORECASTER: DAN COLLINS  
 
ANOMALIES ARE BASED ON THE 1991-2020 MEANS.  
 
CLARIFICATION: EC INDICATED EQUAL CHANCES THAT THE PREDICTED PARAMETER WILL  
FALL INTO ANY ONE OF THE THREE CATEGORIES, WHOSE BOUNDARIES ARE SPECIFIC IN THE  
TABLES ABOVE. A FORECAST SPECIFICATION OF EC MEANS THERE IS NO PARTICULATE TILT  
OF THE ODDS TOWARD ABOVE NORMAL OR BELOW NORMAL CONDITIONS IN THE OUTLOOK. FOR  
EXAMPLE A40 MEANS A 40% CHANCE THAT THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OR TOTAL  
PRECIPITATION WILL BE IN THE ABOVE NORMAL CLASS, B40 MEANS A 40% CHANCE THAT  
THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OR TOTAL PRECIPITATION WILL BE IN THE BELOW NORMAL  
CLASS, AND N35 MEANS A 35% PROBABILITY THAT THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OR TOTAL  
PRECIPITATION WILL BE IN THE NEAR NORMAL CLASS. WHEN EC IS SPECIFIED, ALL  
CATEGORIES ARE EQUALLY LIKELY.  
 
NOTE - THESE OUTLOOKS ARE INTENDED FOR USE PRIOR TO THE START OF THE VALID  
PERIODS. WITHIN ANY VALID PERIOD, OBSERVATIONS AND SHORTER RANGE FORECASTS  
SHOULD BE CONSULTED. ALSO, THIS SET OF OUTLOOKS WILL BE SUPERSEDED BY THE  
ISSUANCES OF THE NEW SET NET MONTH, ON THU SEP 18, 2025.  
 

 
 
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