What to Expect from Winter Maui Weather

December 2, 2016
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Discussions about the weather can get a whole lot more riveting when it comes to your vacation. After all, these plans often include spending quite a bit of money, taking time off work, and sometimes even brainstorming for months on activities, sights and accommodations to experience. That's why checking into the weather at your destination is such an important step.

As a Maui ocean tour company, the weather matters to us as much as it matters to you. That's because we're happy when you're happy, and if you aren't very familiar with Maui's winter weather patterns, that's where we can help. We operate on the vast majority of days out of the year, because the weather tends to be calm enough to do that. Our tours include Molokini and Lanai Snorkeling Trips, Whale Watching Tours, and Sunset Dinner Cruises. As you might imagine, outings like these wouldn't be possible in rough weather. Fortunately, there are advantages to operating here in Lahaina.

On Maui, the prevailing winds, known as the Trade Winds, come from a northeasterly direction. That means North Shore and East Maui tend to get the most rain and the highest winds, while the opposite side of the island, including South Maui and West Maui, are much more sheltered. The West Maui Mountains and Haleakala both do a lot to break up small storms and slow the wind. This is considered to be one of the main reason why humpback whales tend to congregate in their thickest number on this side of the island. Not only is the weather calmer above the surface of the water, but below the surface as well. Naturally, mother whales tend to prefer the calmest possible waters when they are giving birth to their calves here in Hawaii, so we see a lot of the youngsters in our area.

A rule of thumb that's worth keeping in mind is that the weather on Maui tends to be calmest in the early hours of the morning, with the wind and waves picking up more toward the end of the day. On the really good days, things are mild from sunrise to sunset, but it's still a good idea to plan to take advantage of the early morning calm. That's why most of our tours operate in the morning, with a few in the early afternoon.

As for the winter months, you can generally expect temperatures in the mid to high 70's and sometimes up into the 80's, if you're at sea-level. Although Hawaii is often referred to as a tropical paradise, we are technically in a sub-tropical latitude, which means we're further from the equator than some might assume. For that reason, we do get some seasonal weather variation. The big tropical storms tend to form around the month of August, when the ocean's surface is particularly warm and able to feed big storms. By the winter, the waters cool off enough to make those storms less likely. Instead, the winter months tend to see smaller but more frequent storms. Luckily, they tend to come and go quickly. In fact, at one point or another, most long-term Maui residents have noticed it raining on one side of the house and not on the other.

Of course these are just the general trends in terms of Maui weather, and it helps to keep them in mind. However, it's worth checking various weather reports when you make your plans, or at the very least, you can benefit from keeping an eye on the sky. If you book a tour with us, we'll let you know what we expect from the weather, as long as you ask. We hope we'll see you onboard soon! Mahalo!

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