Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / March 11-12, 2015

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday…along with the minimum temperatures Wednesday:

78 – 62  Lihue, Kauai
75 – 66  Honolulu, Oahu
71 – 64  Molokai AP
71 – 57  Kahului, Maui
76 – 65  Kailua Kona
76 – 65  Hilo, Hawaii

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Wednesday evening:

0.82  Princeville AP, Kauai
0.23  Kahuku, Oahu
0.11  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.06  Lanai
0.35  Kahoolawe
1.16  Kaupo Gap, Maui
0.23  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Wednesday evening:

17  Port Allen, Kauai – SW
23  Waianae Valley – SW
27  Molokai – SW
18  Lanai – SW
13  Kahoolawe – SW
29  Kahului AP, Maui – SW
38  Nene Cabin, Big Island – NW

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



The swath of thick clouds, oriented more or less northeast
to southwest…continues to push over the entire state / the
different shades of blue are precipitation


There are showery clouds stretching over the islands

Most of the showers are located over the central islands…
although elsewhere locally / blue is light, green is heavier,
and yellow is a bit heavier than that…in terms of rainfall

Here’s the looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

The Mauna Kea Summit…on the Big Island of Hawaii

Blizzard Warning…on the Big Island summits – snow and ice
accumulations, and freezing fog / 2-4 inches of snow / west
winds 45-65 with gusts over 85 mph / temperatures mid 20’s

Wind Advisory…Haleakala Summit – west winds 30-50 mph
with gusts over 65 mph

Small Craft Advisory…all coasts and channels statewide

High Surf Warning…north and west shores of the smaller
islands starting this evening – High Surf Advisory…for
north and west shores of the Big Island

Winds will strengthen from the north Thursday, then become easterly trade winds later Friday into the weekend…briefly. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profiler of the central Pacific. We find high pressure systems far to the northwest and northeast of the islands. At the same time, we have gale low pressure systems well to the north and northeast of the islands. The placement of these low pressure areas, along with a nearby front and trough, will prompt stronger northerly breezes blowing Thursday. As we get into Friday and the weekend…a more easterly trade wind air flow will finally arrive. The longer range outlook suggests that those trades will be short-lived, as a couple more late winter cold fronts approach the state next week.

Partly to mostly cloudy skies will prevail statewide Thursday, with generally light showers…at least locally. The thick plume of multi-layered clouds remained firmly planted over the state today. This kept our sunshine very limited, and kept showers falling all day over Maui County. The bulk of this rainfall will continue to focus over the Big Island and Maui County, with fewer showers elsewhere across the state. The models suggest the return of more classic trade wind conditions Friday into the weekend, with drier conditions in general. As noted above, those trades will likely slip away early next week, as another cold front works its way into our area. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui: The skies are cloudy again over Maui early this morning, with a few showers falling here and there. These clouds helped to trap yesterday’s daytime heat, so that our overnight low temperatures weren’t as chilly as Tuesday mornings. The low temperature was 54 degrees here at my Kula weather tower, rather than the 39.7 degrees that I had yesterday morning at this same time! It was 65 degrees down at the Kahului airport, 68 at the Hana airport, and 36 degrees atop the Haleakala Crater well before sunrise. The warmest low temperature around the state was 71 degrees in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island…while the coolest was 63 at the Lihue AP on Kauai. / Now at 8am, its cloudy and foggy, with light drizzle and mist beginning to fall…with an air temperature of 56.7 degrees.

~~~ It’s now mid-afternoon, and I’m down at the PDC office in Kihei…where I’ve spent the last three days in meetings. It was just beginning to rain when I left Kula this morning, and its been raining all day across the island. Glancing at the radar image above, it looks like most of this precipitation is generally on the light side…with some almost moderately heavy showers here and there at times. The combination of the heavy clouds across much of the state, and the lightly falling showers, has made for another cool day. Case in point, the high temperatures at both the Molokai and Kahului airports barely made out of the 60’s…topping out at only 71 degrees. Looking at the Kahului AP, the record lowest maximum temperature was 70 degrees, back in 1979.

~~~ It’s now early evening here in Kula, under cloudy skies, like it was all day long. It’s lightly raining, with light winds, and a cool 55.9 degrees. As I noted above, I spent the day down in Kihei, although I’ll bet it didn’t get into the 60’s here today, hovering in the high 50’s at best. It was a classic winter day, cloudy, cool, and wet over most of the island. I’d bet again that no one saw even one minute of sunshine today, although Oahu and Kauai, and even parts of the Big Island might confirm that there’s still a sun up there! Interesting fact, there has been some snow reported atop the Haleakala Crater today! / Now at 645pm, its almost dark, cloudy, lightly raining…and becoming noticeably windier.

>>> Atlantic Ocean: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

>>> Gulf of Mexico: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

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

>>> Eastern Pacific: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 North Pacific hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

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

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

>>> Central Pacific: The central north Pacific hurricane season has officially ended. Routine issuance of the tropical weather outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, special tropical weather outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: Tropical Cyclone 03W (Bavi) remains active in the Northwest Indian Ocean, here’s the JTWC graphical track map…along with the NOAA satellite image

>>> South Pacific Ocean: Tropical Cyclone 17P (Pam) remains active in the Southwest Indian Ocean, here’s the JTWC graphical track map…along with the NOAA satellite image 

Tropical Cyclone 18P (Nathan) remains active in the Coral Sea, near Australia, here’s the JTWC graphical track map…along with the NOAA satellite image

>>> North and South Indian Oceans: Tropical Cyclone 19S (Olwyn) remains active in the South Indian Ocean, here’s the JTWC graphical track map…along with the NOAA satellite image

Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)

Interesting:  Warm Winter in Pacific Northwest means less snowpack and water worries – If it seemed like Oregon has had a lot of unseasonably warm days this winter, well, it’s because we have. Now the focus is on a very low snowpack – and the implications that may have later this year.

The meteorological winter – which is comprised of December, January and February – recently wrapped up and depending on where you live in Oregon, it was one of the warmest – if not the warmest – winters on record.

“It has been a very, very warm winter – almost historically so,” said Philip Mote, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Center at Oregon State University. “On one hand, the warm temperatures have made for a rather pleasant winter. On the other hand, the snowpack situation has been atrocious, and that really raises concerns for water levels in many streams later this summer.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s seasonal outlook calls for “significantly enhanced likelihood” for a warm spring – especially in western Oregon and western Washington – and a “somewhat reduced likelihood” for a wet spring.

“That’s not a hopeful outlook for the kind of late recovery of snowpack that we have seen in some previous low-snow winters,” Mote noted.

How warm has this winter been? Mote said that each winter month was warmer than average at almost every recording station in Oregon. More than a hundred high temperature records were broken in Oregon – just in December. Another 114 high temperature records were broken in February.

Overall, Mote said, this should go down as the second warmest winter for the Pacific Northwest behind 1933-34, according to data from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. That was the Dust Bowl era – and 2014-15 wasn’t far behind. NOAA reports that parts of eastern and southern Oregon were more than eight degrees warmer than average for the meteorological winter.