Maya: Good morning, Honolulu! It's Monday, October fifth, twenty twenty-six, and this is your Honolulu Morning Briefing. I'm Maya.
Devon: And I'm Devon. Aloha kakahiaka to everyone waking up on Oahu this Monday — the coffee's hot, the trades are moving, and we've got your week ahead.
Maya: Let's start with the forecast, because the weather's got a story to tell this week. Today is about as classic as Honolulu gets: a high of eighty-three, a low of seventy-three, only a fourteen percent chance of rain, and light breezes around twelve miles per hour. Sunscreen weather, for sure — the UV index is up around eight.
Devon: But heads up for the middle of the week. Tuesday warms to a high of eighty-five with a low of seventy, and rain chances climb to thirty-seven percent. Wednesday: high eighty-two, low seventy-two, with the chance of rain up to fifty-one percent. Thursday looks like the wettest day of the bunch — high eighty-one, low seventy-one, and a seventy-three percent chance of rain. Friday brings a high of eighty-three and low of seventy-three with a sixty-seven percent chance of showers.
Maya: Then the weekend dries things right back out. Saturday: high eighty-five, low seventy-four, only a twenty-nine percent chance of rain. Sunday: high eighty-one, low seventy-three, twenty percent. So the pattern is warm all week long — highs in the low to mid eighties, lows near seventy — with a rainy stretch Wednesday through Friday and plenty of sunshine on either end.
Devon: On the water, conditions are about as friendly as they get. Waves are running about one point one meters — roughly four feet — gentle enough for the harbors and easy harbor hops. Water temperature is a balmy eighty-one degrees Fahrenheit, so whether you're swimming, paddling, or just riding the ferry, it's boardshorts weather.
Maya: Now, look up tonight, because the sky's putting on a show. The moon is a waning crescent, only twenty-seven percent lit, and it sets by mid-afternoon — which means the evening sky will be nice and dark after sunset. The headliner tonight is Saturn, glowing in the southeast and riding high at about fifty-one degrees above the horizon once it gets truly dark. With that slim crescent moon out of the picture, it's a great night for planet gazing.
Devon: Sunset tonight is at six fifteen, and it's astronomically dark by about seven twenty-nine. No space station passes on the schedule for tonight, so tonight's all about the ringed planet. Grab a spot away from the brightest lights, look southeast, and you can't miss it.
Maya: Time for what's on around town. First, the Hawaii Theatre has a big weekend ahead. Smooth jazz star Brian Culbertson plays two nights — Friday and Saturday, October ninth and tenth — at the Hawaii Theatre in downtown Honolulu.
Devon: And jazz lovers get a double shot this week. Hiromi, the piano phenomenon, brings her Trio Project to Blue Note Hawaii for three nights, Thursday through Saturday, October eighth through tenth. If you know her playing, you know those shows sell out — tickets run about thirty-five to forty-five dollars.
Maya: Then looking a little further out — Broadway royalty is coming to town. Lea Salonga takes the stage at the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall on Saturday, October seventeenth at seven thirty in the evening. That's one to put on the calendar now.
Devon: On to the local news, and we're starting with the Big Island. The famous Holei Sea Arch — a roughly ninety-foot-tall sea arch in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park — has collapsed into the Pacific. The National Park Service says it came down sometime between September twenty-third and twenty-seventh, when the park was temporarily closed during Hurricane Nolo. They're warning visitors that the coastline there is unstable and the cliffs are dangerous. It was one of the park's most photographed landmarks, and its collapse is a reminder of just how fast that rugged coast changes.
Maya: Staying with the storm, Hawaii families are still picking up the pieces after Hurricane Nolo moved past the islands on Saturday. On Hawaii Island, the National Guard's Task Force Hawaii ran five high-water rescue missions that day, pulling nineteen civilians out of flooded areas and getting them to a shelter in Naalehu. More than four hundred fifty Guard members were positioned statewide ahead of the storm. Families on the Big Island are still recovering from the Kona low storms back in March and Hurricane Lala in August — this is the third weather disaster to hit them in seven months, and the rebuilding continues.
Devon: And a big courtroom story out of Honolulu. A First Circuit Court jury has awarded more than five hundred thousand dollars in damages to Isaac Choy, the former Hawaii Tourism Authority executive who said he was subjected to whistleblower retaliation. The jury found he was wrongfully placed on unpaid leave and later terminated, and the award includes punitive damages against the governor's chief of staff, Brooke Wilson. It's a significant verdict with real implications for state government, and we'll be watching what comes next.
Maya: That's your Monday, Honolulu. Warm and classic today, rainy midweek, sunshine by the weekend — plan accordingly.
Devon: Saturn in the southeast tonight, Brian Culbertson and Hiromi lighting up the jazz scene this week, and a reminder to treat that coastline with respect. We'll be back tomorrow morning with a fresh briefing.
Maya: Have a great Monday, everyone. Aloha!
Devon: Aloha!