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Rule Fire Sky

Princeville - Fire Sky - Hawaii

Princeville, Hawaii, United States

Those rare, intensely red and orange sunset skies

No opportunities right now
Here’s what usually blocks matches

No Fire Sky opportunities in the next 14 days

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Rule requirements (key thresholds)
Golden Hour · Any Fiery Red Sky Potential · ≥ 65.0% Precipitation Chance · ≤ 15.0% Visibility · ≥ 8000.0m

Tip: Scroll down to the 72-hour table to see exactly which condition fails hour by hour.

Most common blockers (next 72 hours)
Fiery Red Sky Potential 100% failing
Precipitation Chance 100% failing
Golden Hour 83% failing

Currently

Real-time conditions
Low Cloud Cover57%
Mid Cloud Cover0%
High Cloud Cover0%
Aerosol Optical Depth0.1
Sun Elevation-24.5° (Astronomical night)

Upcoming Opportunities

When all conditions match, PhotoWeather marks an opportunity window.

Times shown in Pacific/Honolulu

No opportunities in the next 10 days

See the blocker timeline below to understand which conditions are preventing matches.

What this forecast looks for

Plain-language explanation from the rule

This forecast tracks the spectacular sunset conditions that transform Hawaii's tropical skies into blazing displays. We combine cloud coverage patterns, volcanic haze levels, and atmospheric clarity to predict when Hawaiian sunsets will ignite with dramatic color.

Hawaii offers some of the Pacific's most dramatic fire-sky conditions, particularly when volcanic haze (vog) from Kilauea adds atmospheric particulates that scatter light into intense oranges and reds. The tropical location means the sun sets quickly at a steep angle, creating brief but intense color displays.

What makes Hawaii special for fire-sky photography:

  • Volcanic haze advantage - Vog from Kilauea volcano scatters light into intense sunset colors
  • Maui and Big Island drama - Leeward coasts receive the most dramatic vog-enhanced sunsets
  • Tropical intensity - Quick sunset at steep angle creates brief but fierce color
  • Ocean reflections - Calm leeward waters mirror fire skies perfectly

The Big Island's Kona coast offers Hawaii's most reliable fire-sky conditions, particularly when vog from Kilauea volcano drifts southwest. The volcanic particulates scatter light dramatically, creating sunsets of unusual intensity. Maui's western coast benefits from similar conditions when vog crosses the channel. The steep volcanic slopes provide dramatic foreground silhouettes—palm trees and volcanic peaks profiled against blazing skies. During periods of volcanic activity, vog levels increase and sunset colors become even more intense. The leeward (western/southern) coasts of islands offer the calmest water for reflections. Trade winds typically die down at sunset, creating mirror-like ocean surfaces that double the impact. Tropical sunsets happen quickly—the entire show from first color to darkness takes about 30 minutes, with peak color lasting only 5-10 minutes. Scout locations beforehand and be ready before the sun touches the horizon.

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72-hour requirements breakdown

What passed or failed, hour by hour
0matching hours in the next 80 hours
AND logic: all conditions required
Meets requirement
Misses requirement
Time
Pacific/Honolulu
Golden Hour
Any
Fiery Red Sky Potential
≥ 65.0%
Precipitation Chance
≤ 15.0%
Visibility
≥ 8000.0m
Tue, Jul 7
18:0029%100%24135m
19:0030%100%24134m
20:0031%100%24135m
21:0029%94%22612m
22:0029%88%18195m
23:0032%82%16657m
Wed, Jul 8
24:0012%88%13900m
01:009.1%94%12824m
02:0011%100%16580m
03:0012%99%16696m
04:0015%98%18604m
05:0016%98%19819m
06:0026%98%19610m
07:008.4%99%23477m
08:0011%100%22753m
09:005.9%99%17638m
10:006.9%98%24134m
11:009.2%98%16747m
12:009.6%98%15917m
13:007.3%99%22925m
14:0011%100%17737m
15:0012%100%11067m
16:0017%100%11354m
17:0013%100%7657m
18:0012%100%13402m
19:0012%100%22052m
20:009%100%24135m
21:004.7%100%24029m
22:004.7%100%18022m
23:005.8%100%17675m
Thu, Jul 9
24:0016%100%16268m
01:0013%100%16123m
02:0016%100%15530m
03:0017%99%15847m
04:0018%99%14293m
05:0016%98%7950m
06:0019%98%19457m
07:0022%99%16688m
08:0021%100%17965m
09:0019%98%12407m
10:0031%96%21873m
11:0023%95%14936m
12:0025%96%18106m
13:0031%98%14678m
14:0029%100%14309m
15:0030%99%16248m
16:0030%99%10704m
17:0030%99%13682m
18:0029%99%12994m
19:0030%100%17537m
20:0030%100%11104m
21:0029%100%16992m
22:0013%99%23327m
23:0013%99%24135m
Fri, Jul 10
24:0020%99%16082m
01:0032%100%18877m
02:0032%100%18809m
03:0028%100%17580m
04:0030%99%16372m
05:0030%99%16377m
06:0029%99%8351m
07:0029%99%20151m
08:0018%99%18712m
09:000%99%19502m
10:000%99%20291m
11:000%99%21081m
12:000%99%19809m
13:000%99%18536m
14:000%100%17263m
15:000%97%17223m
16:000%95%17182m
17:000%93%17141m
18:000%94%17124m
19:000.1%95%17107m
20:000.2%97%17089m
21:000%92%17266m
22:000%87%17443m
23:000%83%17619m
Sat, Jul 11
24:000%83%19791m
01:000%84%21963m
How to read: colored cells show whether each predicate requirement is met; highlighted rows mean the full rule matched (an opportunity).

What does Fiery Red Sky Potential mean?

Inputs that drive the score

This derived score summarizes multiple raw weather signals. The table below shows the supporting inputs hour by hour, so you can see what's pushing the score up or down.

Time
Pacific/Honolulu
Aerosol Optical Depth (550nm)
Clear Sky Probability (Ensemble)
%
Cloud Cover Uncertainty (Ensemble)
%
Dust AOD (550nm)
Golden Hour
High Clouds
%
Low Clouds
%
Mid-Level Clouds
%
RH @ 700 hPa
%
Smoke AOD (550nm)
Solar Elevation
°
Sunshine Duration
seconds
Wed, Jul 8 Sunrise 06:00 Sunset 19:25
04:00
0.09 47% 14% 0.002 - 0% 57% 0% 20% 0.006 -24° 0seconds
05:00
0.09 71% 16% 0.002 - 0% 47% 0% 20% 0.006 -13° 0seconds
06:00
0.09 64% 16% 0.002 - 0% 50% 0% 20% 0.005 -0.53° 0seconds
07:00
0.1 57% 17% 0.002 - 0% 48% 0% 19% 0.005 12° 0seconds
08:00
0.09 50% 17% 0.002 - 0% 55% 0% 19% 0.005 25° 0seconds
09:00
0.09 35% 18% 0.002 - 0% 63% 0% 19% 0.005 39° 3600seconds
10:00
0.09 21% 18% 0.001 - 0% 47% 0% 19% 0.004 52° 3600seconds
11:00
0.09 6% 19% 0.001 - 0% 48% 0% 20% 0.004 66° 3600seconds
12:00
0.1 5% 17% 0.001 - 0% 62% 0% 21% 0.005 80° 3600seconds
13:00
0.11 3% 15% 0.002 - 0% 33% 0% 22% 0.005 86° 3600seconds
14:00
0.11 2% 13% 0.002 - 0% 42% 0% 22% 0.005 72° 3600seconds
15:00
0.12 9% 14% 0.002 - 0% 72% 0% 22% 0.005 58° 3600seconds
16:00
0.12 16% 15% 0.002 - 0% 55% 0% 21% 0.005 45° 3600seconds
17:00
0.12 23% 16% 0.002 - 0% 52% 0% 21% 0.005 31° 3600seconds
18:00
0.11 24% 16% 0.002 - 0% 42% 0% 19% 0.005 18° 3600seconds
19:00
0.11 26% 16% 0.002 - 0% 38% 0% 17% 0.005 4.8° 3600seconds
20:00
0.11 27% 16% 0.002 - 0% 42% 0% 14% 0.005 -7.9° 3600seconds
21:00
0.11 32% 15% 0.002 - 0% 20% 0% 15% 0.005 -20° 0seconds
22:00
0.12 38% 13% 0.002 - 0% 46% 0% 16% 0.005 -30° 0seconds
23:00
0.13 43% 12% 0.002 - 0% 58% 0% 17% 0.005 -39° 0seconds
Thu, Jul 9 Sunrise 06:00 Sunset 19:25
24:00
0.12 37% 12% 0.002 - 0% 44% 0% 19% 0.005 -44° 0seconds
01:00
0.12 30% 12% 0.002 - 13% 62% 0% 21% 0.005 -45° 0seconds
02:00
0.1 24% 12% 0.002 - 27% 66% 0% 22% 0.005 -42° 0seconds
03:00
0.11 18% 15% 0.002 - 5% 53% 0% 32% 0.005 -34° 0seconds
04:00
0.11 12% 17% 0.002 - 5% 83% 0% 42% 0.005 -25° 0seconds
05:00
0.11 6% 20% 0.002 - 5% 89% 0% 51% 0.005 -13° 0seconds
06:00
0.1 4% 18% 0.002 - 5% 59% 0% 57% 0.005 -0.64° 0seconds
07:00
0.11 3% 16% 0.002 - 21% 64% 0% 63% 0.005 12° 0seconds
08:00
0.12 1% 14% 0.002 - 7% 54% 0% 70% 0.006 25° 0seconds
09:00
0.11 1% 14% 0.002 - 5% 53% 0% 73% 0.006 39° 3600seconds
10:00
0.11 0% 15% 0.002 - 99% 65% 0% 77% 0.005 52° 3600seconds
11:00
0.11 0% 15% 0.002 - 100% 67% 0% 81% 0.005 66° 3600seconds
12:00
0.11 0% 14% 0.002 - 100% 53% 0% 75% 0.005 80° 3600seconds
13:00
0.12 0% 14% 0.002 - 100% 37% 0% 69% 0.005 86° 3600seconds
14:00
0.13 0% 13% 0.002 - 100% 35% 0% 63% 0.005 72° 3600seconds
15:00
- 0% 12% - - 100% 47% 0% 63% - 58° 3600seconds
16:00
- 0% 12% - - 100% 48% 0% 63% - 45° 3600seconds
17:00
- 0% 11% - - 100% 56% 0% 63% - 31° 3600seconds
18:00
- 0% 12% - - 100% 65% 0% 63% - 18° 3600seconds
19:00
- 0% 12% - - 100% 66% 0% 62% - 4.8° 3600seconds
20:00
- 0% 13% - - 100% 80% 0% 62% - -7.9° 3600seconds
21:00
- 1% 16% - - 99% 97% 0% 55% - -20° 0seconds
22:00
- 3% 19% - - 99% 99% 0% 47% - -30° 0seconds
23:00
- 4% 22% - - 97% 99% 0% 40% - -39° 0seconds
Fri, Jul 10 Sunrise 06:01 Sunset 19:25
24:00
- 3% 20% - - 100% 32% 0% 39% - -44° 0seconds
01:00
- 2% 19% - - 97% 25% 0% 38% - -45° 0seconds
02:00
- 1% 17% - - 78% 12% 0% 37% - -42° 0seconds
03:00
- 1% 17% - - 90% 30% 0% 38% - -34° 0seconds
04:00
- 2% 18% - - 86% 29% 0% 39% - -25° 0seconds
05:00
- 2% 18% - - 68% 30% 0% 40% - -13° 0seconds
06:00
- 2% 18% - - 18% 44% 0% 43% - -0.75° 0seconds
07:00
- 1% 17% - - 44% 22% 0% 46% - 12° 0seconds
08:00
- 1% 17% - - 29% 37% 0% 49% - 25° 0seconds
09:00
- 1% 16% - - 43% 38% 0% 55% - 39° 1200seconds
10:00
- 1% 16% - - 57% 39% 0% 60% - 52° 2400seconds
11:00
- 1% 15% - - 71% 41% 0% 66% - 66° 3600seconds
12:00
- 1% 14% - - 74% 45% 0% 59% - 80° 3600seconds
13:00
- 0% 14% - - 78% 50% 0% 53% - 86° 3600seconds
14:00
- 0% 13% - - 81% 54% 0% 47% - 72° 3600seconds
15:00
- 0% 14% - - 87% 56% 0% 38% - 58° 2400seconds
16:00
- 1% 14% - - 94% 58% 1% 30% - 45° 1200seconds
17:00
- 1% 15% - - 100% 59% 1% 22% - 31° 0seconds
18:00
- 1% 15% - - 100% 65% 18% 24% - 18° 0seconds
19:00
- 1% 16% - - 100% 71% 34% 26% - 4.8° 0seconds
20:00
- 1% 16% - - 100% 76% 50% 28% - -8° 0seconds
21:00
- 2% 18% - - 100% 80% 65% 31% - -20° 0seconds
22:00
- 2% 19% - - 100% 84% 80% 34% - -30° 0seconds
23:00
- 3% 21% - - 100% 87% 95% 38% - -39° 0seconds
Sat, Jul 11 Sunrise 06:01 Sunset 19:25
24:00
- 3% 20% - - 100% 83% 64% 35% - -44° 0seconds
01:00
- 2% 19% - - 100% 78% 32% 32% - -46° 0seconds
02:00
- 2% 18% - - 100% 74% 0% 30% - -42° 0seconds
03:00
- 3% 20% - - 100% 62% 19% 33% - -35° 1200seconds
How to read: these inputs help produce the derived score; they are not requirements by themselves.

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