Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / February 1-2, 2014

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday:

81  Lihue, Kauai
77  Honolulu, Oahu
78  Molokai
84  Kahului, Maui
85  Kona, Hawaii
82  Hilo, Hawaii

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops on Maui and the Big Island…as of 743pm Saturday evening:

Kailua Kona  – 78
Lihue, Kauai – 70

Haleakala Summit –  37 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit –28  (13,000+ feet on the Big Island)

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. This web cam is available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon shining down during the night at times. Plus, during the nights you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise and sunset too… depending upon weather conditions.

Aloha Paragraphs

We’ll see showers over Oahu, Maui County and the Big Island

Winds picking up from the south and southwest…
followed by somewhat cooler north to northeast
breezes in the wake of the cold front

A cold front will bring showers – with off and on
showers, some locally heavy through the middle
of the new week ahead…perhaps longer

High Surf Advisory…for north and west shores of
Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, north shore of Maui, and
the west shore of the Big Island

Small Craft Wind Advisory…coastal and channel
waters around Kauai through the Big Island

The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions…as of Saturday evening:

20  Poipu, Kauai – NE
21  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – SE
24  Molokai – SW
30  Lanai – SW 
21  Kahoolawe – SW
29  Kapalua, Maui – SE
23  PTA Kipuka Alala, Big Island – SW

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Saturday evening (545pm totals):

0.93  Puu Lua, Kauai
1.95  Schofield South, Oahu
1.24  Molokai
0.80  Lanai
0.01  Kahoolawe
0.76  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.28  Kealakomo, Big Island

We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean. Here’s the latest NOAA satellite picture – the latest looping satellite image… and finally the latest looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands.

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

Our winds will blow from the southeast to southwest, locally gusty…as a cold front moves into the state. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. Here’s a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…centered on the Hawaiian Islands. ~~~ We find a storm low pressure system to the northwest of Kauai. This low and its associated cold front, are prompting southeast through southwest winds, which are locally quite strong and gusty…ahead of this cold front. The winds in the wake of the front will be cooler from the north, and then gradually swing around to the northeast into Monday. As the next low pressure system advances in our direction Tuesday, there will be more southerly winds blowing ahead of a new system arriving into the middle of the week. It appears that we’ll finally get back into a trade wind flow by Thursday or so…into next weekend.

Satellite imagery shows a cold front moving through the state…becoming fragmented in the process. There are patchy low clouds scattered over the state, although there are clear areas here and there too. There are also several of those brighter white areas at the time of this writing, along the frontal cloud band…which are towering cumulus. Here’s the looping radar image, showing most of the showers falling over the ocean, offshore from the islands. More and more of these light to moderately heavy showers, although a few are turning quite heavy, are making their way to our islands, carried along on the south to southwesterly wind flow. Looking at this larger satellite image, which is in the looping mode, we can see clouds being pulled northward across our area, up into the circulation of the low pressure system to our northwest. At the same time, we see the cold front steadily moving into our area.

The current south and southwest winds will carry showers over the state into Sunday…as the cold front moves down the chain. This weekend’s cold front has pushed into the state, passing over Kauai first, with Oahu and Maui County next in line…bringing a round of showers with it. This front is expected to stall at some point on its journey through the state…likely over or around Maui County. This stalled front will act as a focus for off and on showers into Monday. This mildly unsettled weather pattern will stick around into Tuesday or so. As we get into the middle of the new week ahead, another low pressure system will approach the state, and bring increased showers. This new week’s low pressure system should be more of a rainfall producer than the one we’ll be dealing with this weekend, with possible flooding and thunderstorms not out of the question. There will need to be fine tuning to all of the above, as we move forward. As we get into the end of the new week ahead, the trade winds will return, although may be on the wet side. ~~~ I’ll be back Sunday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui early this morning, at the 3,100 foot elevation, at my upper Kula, Maui weather tower, the outdoor air temperature sensor was reading 56.8F degrees at 630am this morning. It was calm, with generally clear skies, as the skies are just beginning to get light enough to see what’s happening this morning. My neighbor and I are just getting ready to drive down to Pukalani, to the farmers market there, I’ll catch up with you again I get back. By the way, as we can see from the satellite image, and the radar image as well, we have showers moving up into the state from the south. Here’s the looping radar image, which will help you visual this.

~~~ It’s now 140pm, and since I wrote last, I came back from the farmers market, where I bought a wheat grass juicer, along with four days worth of organic wheat grass. Each time I go down to this market I end up buying a small cup of this juice, and always enjoy how it tastes and feels. I decided to just buy on, its a manually operated device, which is easy to use, and easy to clear as well. I came back here briefly, before meeting a long term friend of mine, he’s a local doctor, and his attractive girlfriend. We had an extended breakfast in Makawao, which ended up being almost two hours of great conversation. We all know the owner of this Bistro, and the four of us had a good talk about wine too. Then I drove down to Paia for my weekly shopping, and am now back eating lunch. It’s sunny here in Kula, although pretty windy too, with the air temperature a nice warm 71.1 degrees.

~~~ We’re now pushing into the early evening hours, at 530pm, with cloudy skies, and patchy fog starting to roll through on the Kona winds. The air temperature was fairly mild, being 65.5 degrees. My neighbors and I were out in the garden for a few hours late this afternoon, and finally, the light rain arrived, as retreated for cover. I wish you could see/smell the Narcissus flowers that I have on my desk here in the weather tower. I grew it from seed, and it just recently started to pop its small white flowers. Oh boy, there’s the rain, it just arrived, I just love it! Now, it’s totally pea soup foggy, which is another of my favorite weather types.

Friday Evening Film: This time around I’m going to see a war movie, and since I’m a Vietnam Veteran, it will be interesting. Yes, I was drafted into the army a long time ago, and what’s worse, was in the infantry…can you imagine! At any rate, this film is called Lone Survivor, starring Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch, Taylor Kitsch, Eric Bana and Alexander Ludwig…among others. The synopsis: the story of four Navy SEALs on an ill-fated covert mission to neutralize a high-level Taliban operative, who are ambushed by enemy forces in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan. The critics are being pretty good to this film, and the trailer makes it look interesting…albeit on the intense side. I’ll let you know what I thought Saturday morning, and until then, here’s the trailer. ~~~ There were four of us who saw this film, and we all came out of the theater in shell shock! It was a very well done film, but oh so heavy and intense. Violence during the film was at a high pitch throughout, it just wouldn’t stop coming at you, as you sat in your theater seat…being pounded down by it! I can’t say that I greatly enjoyed this film, although it was seriously good. This week I’m going to have to skip the grade, as I’m not sure what to say.

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Atlantic Ocean: The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th.
Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

Caribbean Sea:

Gulf of Mexico:

Here’s a satellite image of the Caribbean Sea…and the Gulf of Mexico.

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

Eastern Pacific: The Eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15th through November 30th. Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary

Here’s a wide satellite image that covers the entire area between Mexico, out through the central Pacific…to the International Dateline.