Wildfire in Hawaii, July 24 to 25, 2010

Name: Wildfire in Hawaii, July 24 to 25, 2010
Start: 2010-07-24T14:00
End: 2010-07-25T20:00
Location: Hawaii

July 24 to 25, 2010 · NWS HFO · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A fire burned about 300 acres of very dry brush in Makua Valley in West Oahu on the 24th and 25th of July. The blaze was in the Army's Makua Military Reservation.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS HFO wrote it up.

A fire burned about 300 acres of very dry brush in Makua Valley in West Oahu on the 24th and 25th of July. The blaze was in the Army's Makua Military Reservation. The fire did not threaten any structures, and there were no serious injuries reported. The cause of the fire was unknown.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Honolulu, HI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 24, 9:25 AM HST, 4 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 24, 9:25 AM HST, 4 hours 35 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
925 AM HST SAT JUL 24 2010

.SYNOPSIS...
RIDGING ALOFT WILL KEEP THE ATMOSPHERE DRY AND STABLE...SO RAINFALL
WILL REMAIN LIGHT. RIDGING AT THE SURFACE WILL KEEP TRADE WINDS
BLOWING OVER THE ISLANDS. LOW PRESSURE FAR NORTH OF THE AREA WILL
WEAKEN THE RIDGE AND KEEP THE TRADES SLIGHTLY WEAKER THAN NORMAL
THROUGH THURSDAY. THE RIDGE WILL RE-BUILD LATE NEXT WEEK AND THE
TRADE WINDS MAY BECOME LOCALLY BREEZY.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
AUTOMATED OBSERVATIONS FROM HIGH ELEVATION SITES ON MAUNA KEA ARE
SHOWING WINDS BELOW 30 MPH...SO WE ARE CANCELLING THE WIND ADVISORY
FOR THE BIG ISLAND. WINDS ON THE SUMMIT OF HALEAKALA REMAIN NEAR 30
MPH SO WE WILL CONTINUE THE ADVISORY FOR MAUI.

RIDGING...AT THE SURFACE AND ALOFT...IS BRINGING DRY AND STABLE
TRADE-WIND WEATHER TO THE ISLANDS. SUBSIDING AIR ASSOCIATED WITH
THE RIDGING ALOFT HAS PRODUCED A STRONG TEMPERATURE INVERSION. THE
200 AM BALLOON SOUNDING FROM HILO SHOWED THE BASE OF THIS INVERSION
AT 5500 FEET. MOISTURE UNDER THE INVERSION SPREAD OUT OVERNIGHT
RESULTING IN LOTS OF CLOUDINESS OVER WINDWARD AREAS...BUT THE
INVERSION IS KEEPING THE CLOUDS FROM BUILDING UP HIGH ENOUGH TO
PRODUCE MUCH RAINFALL. SINCE THE CLOUDS ARE RELATIVELY SHALLOW...
SOME OF THEM WILL DISSIPATE BY THIS AFTERNOON...SO THE SKIES WILL
BECOME MUCH SUNNIER OVER MANY AREAS. THE STABLE CONDITIONS MAY HELP
THE CLOUDS PERSIST OVER CENTRAL OAHU.

RIDGING AT THE SURFACE WILL KEEP TRADE WINDS BLOWING OVER THE
ISLANDS. THERE ARE STRONG SURFACE HIGHS FAR NORTHEAST AND NORTHWEST
OF THE ISLANDS WITH A RIDGE CONNECTING THE TWO. LOW PRESSURE FAR
NORTH OF THE ISLANDS WILL WEAK THIS RIDGE AND KEEP TRADE WINDS
SLIGHTLY LIGHTER THAN NORMAL OVER THE ISLANDS THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF
NEXT WEEK.

RIDGING ALOFT WILL KEEP THE ATMOSPHERE DRY AND STABLE. UPPER AIR
ANALYSES SHOW A STRONG 500 MB ANTICYCLONE NORTHEAST OF THE ISLANDS
WITH A RIDGE ALOFT EXTENDING WESTWARD ALONG 25N. COMPUTER MODELS
SHOW LITTLE CHANGE IN THE HIGH AND RIDGE THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT
WEEK. A LOW ALOFT 500 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF HILO WILL MOVE
WESTWARD ALONG THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE RIDGE AND WILL PASS SOUTH OF
THE MAIN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS ON SUNDAY. SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS THIS
FEATURE HAVING LITTLE EFFECT ON WEATHER AT THE SURFACE AND WHEN THE
LOW PASSES SOUTH OF THE ISLANDS IT WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE LITTLE
IMPACT.

THE 500 MB ANTICYCLONE NORTHEAST OF THE AREA WILL MOVE WEST
STARTING ON WEDNESDAY AND WILL PASS NORTH OF THE MAIN HAWAIIAN
ISLANDS FRIDAY NIGHT. THIS ANTICYCLONE ALOFT WILL HELP STRENGTHEN
THE SURFACE RIDGE NORTH OF THE ISLANDS. TRADE WINDS WILL STRENGTHEN
STARTING NEXT THURSDAY AND MAY BECOME LOCALLY BREEZY NEXT WEEKEND.

&&

.HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND ADVISORY FOR THE SUMMIT OF HALEAKALA ON MAUI THROUGH EARLY
SUNDAY MORNING.

&&

DONALDSON

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Waianae Coast

When: July 24, 2:00 PM HST to July 25, 8:00 PM HST
Where: Waianae Coast forecast zone
Reported by: Newspaper
Coordinates: 21.455, -157.961 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Hawaii in 2010 Every state in 2010 This day in weather history Warnings in Hawaii, July 2010

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 240760.