Rainy. Probably cold and probably windy. Nothing to see, nothing to do. You'll wish that you'd stayed in your nice, warm, confortable bed. The best memory you'll have will be seeing a slew of cold people huddled together, wrapped in slickers, hoping beyond all reason that they might catch a glimmer of the sun rising. Doesn't sound too good, does it? That's what you'll be experiencing. It reminds me of winter in Portland, Maine. Do almost anything else on Maui instead.

Cloudy, with nothing much to see. Maybe some partial or occassional visibility. Maybe just a lot of gray. Nothing to write home about, but at least you're not getting (too) wet. The mountain is beautiful, but you're most likely not going to appreciate it much. You'll be tired, disappointed, and generally underwhelmed. Better than a "1", but I can't think of that many other things I'd like doing less than getting up really early and driving two hours for the privilege of seeing a gray sky.

Average. A blanket of clouds below, and otherwise pretty much completely clear. Clouds, stars, the sun, maybe some planets, maybe the moon, and the surreal mountain crater. This is a very nice experience, and happens most often. It's plenty good enough to have brought more and more people to the summit every year. Generally heart-warming unless it's brutally cold and/or windy. The blues of the first light start turning orange and yellow, the sky changing hue over the course of an hour or so. But you've got to pay attention to get the full impact.

Clear, with at least a few near-by overhead clouds to light up here and there in bright bursts of orange and yellow. Very beautiful, with at least enough going on to make the show quite a bit more dynamic and memorable than a plain "3".

Awe-inspiring magic! One of the most beautiful sights of your life. Lots of overhead clouds which change color every 30 seconds for an hour or more. Truly spectacular, and definitely something to write home about. Many parts of the sky lit up. It's as if the universe is coarsing with life, love, and intelligence. I, a grown man, weep when I see one of these! They're awesome and the reason I started Haleakala Sunrise Forecast. I hope you get to see one! These don't happen very often but when they do, you do not want to miss it!

If the rating is followed by a '?', then there are clouds passing over the summit, covering and uncovering it at various intervals. Your view will be obscured at times. You may only catch fleeting glimpses of the sunrise between the clouds. The quality of the sunrise seen through the clouds, though, will match that morning's rating number. While this might seem like a cop-out, we use it very sparingly. Sometimes there's just no way of knowing what you'll be able to see from the summit.