February 15-16 2006

Air Temperatures — The following maximum temperatures were recorded across Hawaii Wednesday:

Lihue, Kauai - 78F 
Honolulu, Oahu - 80
Kaneohe, Oahu - 79
Kahului,  Maui  - 82
Hilo, Hawaii -     77
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 79

Temperatures early Thursday morning ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at the 4 a.m. hour:

Kaneohe, Oahu- 72
Hilo airport  – 64

Precipitation Totals — The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals during the last 24 hours (as of Thursday morning) on each of the major islands, including:

4.88  HANALEI, KAUAI
1.92  BELLOWS AFS, OAHU
0.18  MOLOKAI
2.91  LANAI
0.01  KAHOOLAWE
0.68  WEST WAILUAIKI, MAUI
0.57  HILO AIRPORT, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart — Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing lots of low pressure troughs surrounding the islands, mostly at upper levels. At the surface, we’ll find mostly light east to SE winds blowing through Friday. Here’s a Weather Map Symbol page for clarification about what all those funny weather symbols mean.

Hawaii’s Mountains — Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two webcams are only available during the daylight hours here in the islands…that is unless there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two!

Satellite Images — To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with the Infrared Satellite Imageof the islands to see all the clouds around the state. This next satellite image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible satellite image. The next satellite image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean…out from the islands. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest radar image.

Aloha Paragraphs



Another beautiful Kauai Beach
Artwork: Pierre Bouret

The Hawaiian Islands remain in a slot between high pressure to our NW, and low pressure to our east Wednesday. The net result so far this week has been cool NE breezes, along with quite a few passing showers along the windward sides of the islands…and around the mountains in places too. This weather pattern has kept us somewhat cooler than usual, with a slight winter nip in the air.

Weather maps now show the low pressure trough to our east moving westward towards Hawaii. This will bring a couple of changes in our local weather picture. First of all, the winds will begin to get lighter, and come to us from an easterly direction. This in turn will help to bring back noticeably warmer weather. At the same time, with the trough moving over us, we will see some showers falling along our windward sides, with a few light showers in some leeward spots through Thursday.


The information above seems fairly straight forward, and will probably happen. However, as we get to Friday, and the upcoming weekend, things get a little tricky. The computer forecast models have continued to give us varying ideas of what will happen. There isn’t a clear cut outlook in terms of forecasts for the extended forecast period. Usually the models are more aligned in their prognosis, but this time around there is quite a bit of uncertainty.


Let me lay out the choices here: either dry or rainy…at least it’s quite clear in that regard! Cool The models describe a low pressure system to the west of the state. These are often called Kona low pressure systems. These Kona lows can bring lots of heavy rain, and even thunderstorms. Although, it all hinges on where they form, how far from the islands they are, etc. In this case, it’s still too early to know for sure. So I think we’d better just hold this prospect lightly, and give the models another day or two, before we say one way or the other.


It’s early Wednesday evening here in Kula, Maui. It wasn’t what I call a banner day in terms of sunshine today. There were those infrequent sunny periods, however they were rather brief, and far between. We might call such a day variably cloudy, and there were a few showers around too. I made it to the beach, although just took a walk, and skipped the ocean dip. I felt a little guilty with myself, in not taking the plunge. It was cool and breezy, and I just didn’t want to do it, so I didn’t. I’m always kinda of proud, when I can give myself a little slack here and there, as I’m quite heavily into my routine…as may be rather clear to you regular readers. I have a meeting with my web person tomorrow after work, and I’m looking forward to making this website even more crisp, and easier to use. By the way, thanks so much everyone for your comments, or replies to my commentaries, they help me to fine tune what you want to see…and they are encouraging! I’ll be back first thing Thursday morning, have a good night. Aloha for now…Glenn. 

p.s. if you like the pictures I use on this page, you may want to check out my other pages, as I change the pictures there too.