Hawaii
Dangerous Hawaii river lures visitors to their deaths
One of the deadliest places on the island of Hawaii is also a state park. The Wailuku River State Park in Hilo includes the state’s second longest river, where visitors and locals take in the natural beauty at two lookouts: the 80-foot-tall Rainbow Falls and an area about 1.5 miles farther upstream known as “Boiling Pots,” where there are more waterfalls and pools.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors per year frequent the picturesque area to see the different falls, while locals will sometimes spend afternoons there picnicking. But Wailuku, which translates to “waters of destruction,” refers to how dangerous this river can be. Warning signs discourage locals and visitors from stepping beyond the trail and railings; however, some people choose to ignore them.
Over the past 29 years, 27 people have died in these waters. In November 2017, a San Diego couple died after being swept away by a current above Rainbow Falls. In March 2022, the body of a Hilo man was found floating at the bottom of the falls.
The last fatality occurred at Boiling Pots in September when witnesses saw a Florida man “enter the water and immediately be pulled under the rapids,” according to a Hawaii News Now report. The Hawaii Fire Department recovered his body about 30 feet underwater.
Despite its name, Boiling Pots is not hot. It’s in reference to its large terraced pools created by the erosion of old lava flows. On calm days, it looks like individual pots of water, but when the water is turbulent, the water appears to be boiling.
Even on calm days, swimmers have drowned. Strong currents, coupled with the underwater geology of tunnels, ridges and shelves, can trap them and make it impossible to resurface.
“We are quite used to the helicopters and other emergency personnel spending hours and days searching for people and often for bodies at Boiling Pots,” Hawaii County Councilmember Jennifer Kagiwada, who lives in the neighborhood, told SFGATE in an email.
She recently proposed that new signs be installed, which would list the dates of when people have died in this section of the Wailuku River, as a way of discouraging visitors from bypassing the other warning signs already there.
“Since about half the deaths in this part of the river were visitors and half locals, it is important that everyone becomes aware of the dangers here. Some very strong swimmers have died, along with visitors with fewer water skills,” she said.
This strategy has worked on hiking trails, such as at Olomana Trail on Oahu, where six hikers fell to their deaths within a 13-year time span. Since its sign was posted two years ago, there have been zero fatalities on the windward trail. On Kauai, the Kalalau Trail also has handmade signs counting deaths, which instruct visitors to pause and assess the waters before deciding whether or not to cross the stream.
Although an additional sign may help, Hawaii Fire Department Chief Kazuo Todd told Hawaii News Now that it can’t be placed at every point of the river, so sharing information about the dangers is important. “Educating friends, family, relatives that are visiting, or even just people getting off of various ships that are coming to port as part of the tour operations,” he said.
Kagiwada, who held a community meeting about the new sign proposal in November, said she is in contact with the Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources, which manages the state park, and is providing feedback from constituents.
The state department told SFGATE that community input is being considered. “After any revision process, the sign may take up to three weeks (or more) to receive depending on materials in stock, and the installation date and location is to be determined,” the department said.
Editor’s note: SFGATE recognizes the importance of diacritical marks in the Hawaiian language. We are unable to use them due to the limitations of our publishing platform.
Forecast for Big Island Windward and Southeast
| Shores | Tonight | Wednesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| North Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| East Facing | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly cloudy. Occasional showers. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | ||||
| Winds | North winds 5 to 10 mph. | ||||
|
|||||
| Weather | Partly sunny. Scattered showers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | Around 80. | |||||
| Winds | Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. | |||||
|
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| Sunrise | 5:52 AM HST. | |||||
| Sunset | 6:43 PM HST. | |||||
Forecast for Big Island Leeward
| Shores | Tonight | Wednesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| West Facing | 0-2 | 0-2 | 0-2 | 1-3 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly cloudy until 12 AM, then partly cloudy. Scattered showers. |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | ||||||||
| Winds | East winds around 5 mph. | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Weather | Mostly sunny. Isolated showers. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the lower 80s. | ||||||||
| Winds | South winds around 5 mph. | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Sunrise | 5:56 AM HST. | ||||||||
| Sunset | 6:47 PM HST. | ||||||||
Surf along north and west facing shores will remain small tonight before a small bump is possible on Wednesday. An upward trend is then expected during the second half of the week as another northwest swell arrives as early as Wednesday night. This swell originates from a storm-force low that tracked into the Bering Sea this past weekend, as confirmed by scatterometry. Therefore, this swell appears more likely to materialize. Looking further ahead, a storm-force low east of Japan will send a moderate, longer-period northwest swell toward the islands for Friday and Saturday, with surf heights potentially approaching advisory levels along exposed north and west facing shores.
Surf along south-facing shores will remain small through much of the week, with mainly background south to southwest swell expected. Another south-southwest pulse may arrive by this weekend from recent activity within our swell window east of New Zealand, providing a small increase in surf.
Surf along east-facing shores will remain relatively small and choppy through midweek, with a slight rise possible Thursday and Friday as trades strengthen.
NORTH EAST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Semi choppy with ESE winds 5-10mph in the morning increasing to 10-15mph in the afternoon.
NORTH WEST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Clean in the morning with ESE winds less than 5mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting W 5-10mph.
WEST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Light sideshore texture in the morning with NNW winds 5-10mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting to the WNW.
SOUTH EAST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Sideshore texture/chop with NE winds 10-15mph.
Data Courtesy of NOAA.gov and SwellInfo.com
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (KHON) — A strange glow in the night sky over Hawaiʻi Island is raising eyebrows – and questions – after a Kona resident captured unusual green lights on camera over the weekend.
Jake Asuncion says he was filming sunset near Keahole Point when he unknowingly recorded the phenomenon. It wasn’t until he got home and reviewed the footage that he noticed a faint green glow appear in the sky.
“I got home, I was going to post it, and then towards the end of the video I saw the green come out—I said, what was that?” Asuncion said. He said he enhanced the color to show the movement.
Curious, he returned the following night—and saw it again.
“I wanted to go back the next night and see if I could capture the same thing—and it came out even more the second night,” he said.
He said the glow appeared roughly 15 to 20 minutes after sunset, looking northwest toward Maui. While faint to the naked eye, the green hue was more visible through his phone camera.
The sightings have caught the attention of local astronomers, including Nick Bradley with Stargazers of Hawaiʻi, who says the color resembles aurora, but likely isn’t.
“It looked very interesting. The green color looks like aurora, but honestly, we don’t really get that in Hawaiʻi,” Bradley explained.
Data from the weekend shows no significant geomagnetic storm activity that would produce aurora visible in the islands. The KP index—a measure used to track aurora strength—was only between 3 and 4. By comparison, a rare aurora visible in Hawaiʻi in 2024 required a KP index of 8.
Bradley says other common explanations don’t seem to match what was captured either.
“Satellites look like small pinpoint lights moving across the sky, we see them every night. This doesn’t look like that,” he said.
He also ruled out meteor showers, lasers, and the well-known “green flash” that sometimes occurs at sunset, noting the lights appeared well after the sun had already set and higher in the sky.
The Army said there were no lasers being used or any training in that area.
The Hawaii Department of Transportation said Kona airport used to have a laser bird hazing gun, but it was red and would not come close in scale to what is shown in the photos. Standard airport rotating beacons also would not have the scale as shown in the photos.
Keck Observatories suggest it could be STEVE or ‘strong thermal emissions velocity enhancement,’ which is similar to aurora but seen further south than aurora. But not as much is known about STEVE and it’s typically seen with aurora present.
Astronomers note that smartphone cameras can enhance colors in low-light conditions, meaning the green glow may appear brighter on video than in real life.
Still, the exact cause remains unknown — and experts are asking the public to keep an eye out and capture the moment if they can.
“I would love more eyes on it — more data, the better,” Bradley said.
As for Asuncion, he plans to keep watching the skies.
“I just appreciate the beauty of nature and whatever comes,” he said.
Forecast for Big Island Windward and Southeast
| Shores | Tonight | Tuesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| North Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| East Facing | 3-5 | 3-5 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly cloudy. Occasional showers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | |||||
| Winds | Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph, becoming north after midnight. |
|||||
|
||||||
| Weather | Mostly cloudy. Numerous showers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | Around 80. | |||||
| Winds | Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. | |||||
|
||||||
| Sunrise | 5:53 AM HST. | |||||
| Sunset | 6:42 PM HST. | |||||
Forecast for Big Island Leeward
| Shores | Tonight | Tuesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| West Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly cloudy until 12 AM, then partly cloudy. Scattered showers. |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | Around 70. | ||||||||
| Winds | Northwest winds around 5 mph, becoming east in the evening, then becoming southeast after midnight. |
||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Weather | Mostly sunny. Scattered showers. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the lower 80s. | ||||||||
| Winds | Southwest winds around 5 mph. | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Sunrise | 5:57 AM HST. | ||||||||
| Sunset | 6:46 PM HST. | ||||||||
Surf along north and west facing shores will remain small through midweek. A small bump in surf is expected with the arrival of a northwest swell on Tuesday. An upward trend is expected during the second half of the week as another northwest swell arrives. This is likely to be followed by a larger northwest swell over the weekend, with surf heights nearing advisory level.
Surf along south-facing shores will remain small through much of the week, with mainly background south to southwest swell expected. Another south-southwest pulse may arrive by this weekend from recent activity within our swell window east of New Zealand, providing a small increase in surf. Surf along east-facing shores will remain relatively small and choppy through midweek, with a slight rise possible later in the week as trades strengthen.
NORTH EAST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Semi choppy with ESE winds 5-10mph in the morning increasing to 10-15mph in the afternoon.
NORTH WEST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Clean in the morning with ESE winds less than 5mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting W 5-10mph.
WEST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Light sideshore texture in the morning with NNW winds 5-10mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting to the WNW.
SOUTH EAST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Sideshore texture/chop with NE winds 10-15mph.
Data Courtesy of NOAA.gov and SwellInfo.com
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