Drought conditions across Upcountry Maui have prompted the county to update its water shortage status for the unforeseeable future. Demand for water in the area currently exceeds supply by 20% — which moves its status from Stage 1 to Stage 2, county officials said Thursday.

More than 271 structures have been impacted by the Lahaina fire, the U.S. Civil Air Patrol and Maui Fire Department reported after flyovers of Lahaina town on Wednesday..

Federal and state officials are monitoring a sperm whale carcass in the nearshore waters of Lanai.

From Jan. 1 through Friday, Hawaii has set or tied 281 record high temperatures at official Weather Service stations located at four island airports ― in Honolulu, Hilo, Lihue and Kahului.

A blob menacing Hawaii is now visible from space. A massive heatwave in the Pacific Ocean is killing off coral. Satellites are capturing the destruction so that scientists can learn how to rebuild the reefs.

KIHEI — Called a “rare” occurrence that hasn’t happened in 40 to 50 years, the second mass stranding of pygmy killer whales at the same South Maui beach

Snow on Haleakala?

Halobacteria thrive in bodies of water with high levels of salt. The salinity inside the Kealia Pond outlet area is currently greater than 70 parts per thousand, twice the salinity of seawater. Maui's drought is likely contributing to the situation. Normally Waikapu Stream feeds into Kealia Pond and raises water levels there, but Wolfe said that hasn't happened in a long time.

Researchers from the Coral Reef Ecology Lab at the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology documented the third global bleaching event as it occurred from 2014 to 2016 at the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve (HBNP) on the island of O'ahu, Hawai'i. Their findings, published in the international journal PeerJ, show that temperature is by far the most influential factor in coral bleaching at this well-managed location where corals, fish, and all other organisms are protected.