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The Maui News and The Associated Press
This week is starting off just like the last, with record days of heat, the National Weather Service reported.
Monday's temperature of 94 degrees tied the record for Kahului Airport set in 1993.
On Sunday, the 94-degree temperature broke the old record of 92 degrees set in 2015.
Last week, records were set from Sunday to Thursday with a high of 97 degrees on Sept. 16 -- tying the highest temperature ever recorded in Kahului by the National Weather Service.
Weather service forecasters have blamed rising ocean temperatures, which also warm the land, and interruptions in the trade wind flow.
"In 2015, we hit temperatures that we've never recorded ever in Hawaii," said Jamison Gove, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "What is really important -- or alarming, probably more appropriately -- about this event is that we've been tracking above where we were at this time in 2015."
June, July and parts of August all experienced the hottest ocean temperatures ever recorded around the Hawaiian Islands. So far in September, oceanic temperatures are below only those seen in 2015.
Forecasters expect high temperatures in the North Pacific will continue to pump heat into Hawaii's waters well into October.
"Temperatures have been warm for quite a long time," Gove said. "It's not just how hot it is. It's how long those ocean temperatures stay warm."
NOAA's Kahului station was not reporting Monday, but the water temperature at other state sites show hotter waters. At Kawaihae on Hawaii island, the water temperature was 85.1 degrees Monday; the average temperature for the month is 80 degrees. Honolulu reported 83.5 degrees with the average being 81 degrees.
Ocean temperatures are not uniformly warm across the state, Gove noted. Local wind patterns, currents and even features on land can create hot spots in the water.
According to NOAA, the heat wave's causes include a persistent low-pressure weather pattern between Hawaii and Alaska that has weakened winds that otherwise might mix and cool surface waters across much of the North Pacific. What's causing that is unclear: It might reflect the atmosphere's usual chaotic motion, or it could be related to the warming of the oceans and other effects of human-made climate change.
Beyond this event, oceanic temperatures will continue to rise in the coming years, Gove said. "There's no question that global climate change is contributing to what we're experiencing," he said.
Another hot day is forecast for the central valley today with high temperatures of between 87 and 92 degrees. Northeast winds are expected to blow 10 to 15 mph. There is a 20 percent chance of rain.
The overnight low temperatures are expected to be between 69 and 75 degrees.
The winds should become light Wednesday night through Saturday with high temperatures reaching into the 90s.
Tropical Storm Kiko, meanwhile, seems reluctant to disappear. It was churning with 60 mph winds about 1,265 east-southeast of Kahului at 5 p.m. Monday. The system was moving northwest at 12 mph.
Kiko, which had strengthened, is expected to weaken today, become a tropical depression Wednesday and a remnant low pressure system by Thursday.