Live conditions · Kohala to Kaʻū
The coast, right now.
Weather, surf, tides, volcano and park status for the eight ahupuaʻa chapters, pulled every ten minutes from NWS Honolulu, NOAA, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the National Park Service.
Alerts & closures
What would change your plans.
NWS watches and warnings that touch the trail coast, tropical cyclones within reach of the island, and closures posted by the four national parks. Tap an alert for the full text.
Along the trail · north to south
Eight chapters, eight readings.
Each card is the NWS forecast point nearest that chapter's shoreline, with the next tide at the nearest NOAA station, the modelled swell just offshore, and the day's UV. The tide curve is 26 hours from now; the dashed line is the current time.
Tides · 36 hours
Five stations, west and south.
NOAA CO-OPS predictions, feet above mean lower low water. Hawaiʻi's tides are small (a couple of feet) but on this coast they decide whether tide pools, fishpond walls and the shoreline sections of trail are walkable, and whether the wave-cut shelves are safe to stand on. Shaded bands are night.
Kawaihae Chapter 2
Kailua-Kona Kaʻūpūlehu · Kaloko-Honokōhau · Chapters 3–4
Nāpōʻopoʻo, Kealakekua Bay Kealakekua · Hōnaunau · Chapters 5–6
Honuʻapo Manukā · Kamāʻoa · Chapters 7–8
Ocean
Surf, seas and the offshore buoy.
The trail's shoreline faces west from Kohala to Hōnaunau and south from Manukā around Ka Lae. Winter north-west swells reach the west-facing shores; summer south swells and passing storms reach the south. Warning-level surf closes parks and puts wave-cut shelves under water.
Surf forecast · leeward shores
Coastal waters · Big Island leeward
Offshore buoy · NDBC 51004
The nearest open-ocean buoy sits south-east of the island; it reads the trade-wind seas and the water temperature the whole coast shares.
Pele · the volcanoes
Kīlauea, Mauna Loa, Hualālai.
The trail's southern chapters cross Mauna Loa's south-west rift; Kaʻūpūlehu was buried by Hualālai in 1801. Kīlauea's summit sends vog west on southerly winds. Alert levels and daily updates are from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Alert levels
Earthquakes · 7 days
Air · vog
The parks
Closures, cautions and hours.
Managed sections of the trail sit inside four national park units and one state trail. Park alerts below are live; hours are the posted standard hours and can change on storm days.
Park alerts
Hours & fees
| Unit | Hours | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Puʻukoholā Heiau NHS | 8:30–4:30 daily · gate closes 4:00 | Free |
| Kaloko-Honokōhau NHP | Shoreline open daily; visitor center hours posted by NPS | Free |
| Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau NHP | 8:15 to sunset | $20/vehicle |
| Hawaiʻi Volcanoes NP | 24 h · eruption closures vary | $30/vehicle |
| Nā Ala Hele Ala Kahakai Trail (state) | Daylight · beach-park gates vary | Free; parking fees at Hāpuna for non-residents |
| Kealakekua Bay SHP | 7:00–8:00 pm daily | Free |
| Manukā State Wayside · Kohala Historical Sites | Daylight hours | Free |
NPS API and DLNR State Parks, checked Sep 2026. Confirm before you go.
Sky & season
Sun, moon and the storm track.
Sunset on the Kona coast is the day's turning point: the sea breeze drops, the heat goes, and the trail is at its best. Hurricane season runs June to November; anything in the central or eastern Pacific is listed with its distance from Ka Lae.
Sun · UV · moon
Tropical cyclones
Sources & caveats
- Forecasts are not observations. Temperatures and winds are NWS gridpoint forecasts for the current hour; there are no weather stations on most of this coast.
- Tides are NOAA CO-OPS predictions at the nearest harmonic station, which can be many miles from the chapter shoreline. Kaʻū has one station, Honuʻapo, on the east side of Ka Lae.
- Swell is the Open-Meteo WW3 model at a point just offshore; the NWS surf table is the forecast for the shore itself and is the one to trust for safety.
- Vog is shown as SO₂ and PM2.5 from the CAMS global model. The State of Hawaiʻi's monitors at air.doh.hawaii.gov are the authority.
- Volcano alert levels are the USGS HVO codes: Normal/Green, Advisory/Yellow, Watch/Orange, Warning/Red. Kīlauea has been erupting episodically since December 2024; check the HVO update before visiting the summit.
- When a source fails, the last good reading is kept and the page says so in the timestamp. Emergencies: 911. County alerts: hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts. Forecast office: NWS Honolulu.