Major Hurricane Lowell 2026

Live tracking map, satellite, radar, and forecasts of Major Hurricane Lowell 2026 near Hawaii. Current wind speed 115mph. Max 160mph.

Lowell's center is forecast to pass just west of Kauai County late Monday into early Tuesday. A Hurricane Warning is now in effect for Kauai County, including Kauai and Niihau, where hurricane conditions are possible are expected to begin Monday afternoon and continue through Tuesday morning. Enhanced wind gusts are possible atop mountains and on windward and leeward slopes.

Periods of heavy rainfall associated with Hurricane Lowell will increase in coverage over the Hawaiian Islands tonight and continue through Wednesday. This may produce significant flash flooding and mudslides, especially across Kauai county and portions of the Big Island.

Large swells from Lowell are expected to produce life-threatening surf and rip current conditions across portions of the Hawaiian Islands during the next several days. Surf along exposed portions of Kauai County could produce coastal flooding and inundation of low-lying areas Monday through Monday night.

In satellite imagery, Lowell remains well organized with a well-defined eye and cooling cloud tops in the eyewall. However, reports from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft show that the storm has multiple concentric wind maxima around the eye and that the central pressure has slowly risen to near 950 mb. The maximum 700-mb flight-level winds reported by the plane were 125 mph (107 knots) east of the center. Based on the aircraft reports, the initial intensity is set at 115 mph (100 knots).

The initial motion is now north-northeastward or 020/8 knots. The synoptic reasoning of the first part of the forecast track is unchanged from the previous advisory. A cutoff mid- to upper-level low sliding west-southwest north of Hawaii is beginning to capture Lowell, and this, combined with mid-level ridging to the hurricane's southeast should generally impart a faster north-northeastward to northward motion to the storm for the next 24–48 hours. The track guidance envelope has shifted a little farther to the east, and the first 36 hours or so of the new forecast track has been again nudged eastward. After 48 hours, the cut-off low is forecast to weaken and lift out, with Lowell turning westward as a ridge builds to the north. This portion of the forecast track lies a little south of the previous forecast.

Lowell is starting to encounter increasing shear, and this, combined with gradually cooling sea surface temperatures along the forecast track, should cause weakening. However, Lowell is likely to remain a hurricane until after its closest approach to the Hawaiian Islands. After passing Hawaii, the intensity forecast becomes more uncertain, as the global models are in poor agreement on how the cyclone may interact with one or more new mid- to upper-level troughs that are forecast to form nearby. For now, this part of the intensity forecast is little changed from the previous forecast.

Given another eastward shift in the track guidance and the forecast close approach of hurricane-force winds to Niihau, a Hurricane Warning has been issued for Kauai County.