March 3-4 2006

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

Lihue, Kauai – 79F
Honolulu, Oahu – 77
Kaneohe, Oahu – 75
Kahului, Maui – 88 – tied record 
Hilo, Hawaii – 73
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 84

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

Lihue, Kauai – 73
Hilo airport – 66

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

4.01 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI
3.19 LULUKU, OAHU
0.05 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.19 WEST WAILUAIKI, MAUI
1.60 MOUNTAIN VIEW, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart — Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a 1032 millibar high pressure system to the north of the islands. This high pressure cell will keep the trade winds blowing through Monday. 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 animated radar image.

Aloha Paragraphs



Famous Waikiki Beach on Oahu
Photo: Douglas Peebles

Many areas around the state saw their first taste of sunny weather yesterday. This comes after a prolonged period of cloudy weather, much of which consisted of the sun dimming high cirrus clouds. The high clouds took a break, with sunshine pouring in for a change. I say many areas, although that left out other areas of course. The island of Oahu wasn’t so fortunate, with rain pouring in rather than that sunshine! The Gathering Place Island of Oahu has been catching copious rainfall, with major flooding in some of the wettest places. The windward sides of that island have received incredible amounts of heavy rains the last few days.

There are several factors which have kept some parts of Oahu under this virtual “waterfall” of rain. An over-simplified explanation would include: the rich tropical moisture being carried into the state on our SE winds; the orientation of the Koolau Mountains on Oahu, SE to NW; and the rainfall enhancing trough of low pressure to the west of Hawaii. This set of unusual conditions have continued to give soaking rainfall to that lovely island, one of my favorite in terms of natural beauty. I have many friends on that island, and I know for a fact, that they are ready for some dry sunny weather about now!

Elsewhere in the state, there have been other locally heavy showers too. The most common areas seem to be along the east and SE coasts and slopes, where this SE air flow has helped deposit lots of precipitation at times. Each of the islands have taken their turn in being wet, with Kauai having had many days recently with localized flooding rainfall. The Hana, Kipahulu, and Kaupo Gap areas here on east Maui, had a round of very heavy rainfall recently as well, with road closures noted there on Thursday. The windward side of the Big Island hve had their fair share of rain too, with many areas like, Piihonua, Glenwood, Mountain View, Waiakea Uka, and Pahala getting very wet at times.

It appears that we’ll have one more day with the threat of localized heavy rain. The trough of low pressure to our west will be moving further away soon. At the same time, our winds will be shifting from SE to more normal trade winds soon as well. Both of these facts will definitely help to stop this unusually long period of rain. I anticipate that the weekend will be looking a lot better from a weather perspective. The windward sides may continue to see some passing shower activity, although that is normal. The ground is totally saturated along that windward side of Oahu, so ideally we’d like to see a complete stop to the showers there! Meanwhile, the leeward sides of the islands will likely return to mostly sunny to partly cloudy weather, with great beach conditions…along with an out of season SSW swell for the local surf community.

It’s early Friday evening here in Kihei, Maui.  It was another sunny day for the most part here on the Valley Isle. The temperature at the Kahului airport reose to 88F degrees again today, while Kihei and Lahaina towns rose to near that very warm level too. When I went to the beach in Kihei at lunch, the sand was hot on the bottom of my feet, but didn’t cause me to sprint to the water. There were the first signs of a new south swell running, so that I was able to do some bodysurfing, which is always such a pleasure. I’m going to see a new film this evening, called Ultraviolet. The write up about it says: “Action babe Milla Jovovich heads the cast in this futuristic sci-fi action adventure. She’s one of the survivors of an epidemic that imbues certain people with super powers, dividing the world into those who have them and those who don’t. Her mission, should she decide to accept it, is to save the world. Cameron Bright, Nick Chinlund and William Fichtner co-star; Kurt Wimmer directs.” This is right down my alley, I like sci-fi a lot. I’ll be going surfing on the west side Saturda morning, although before I go I’ll be back here for more weather updates. I hope you have a great Friday night! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Doug Levin Says:
March 3rd, 2006 at 2:51 am e

Glenn, I’m interested in posting a link as you discussed. It’s a nice way of supporting your work and possibly getting a benefit too! Please let me know where to send the check, and whether or not you need any graphics or text to go with the link on your site. Thanks very much, Doug Levin, CPA

Hi Doug, thanks for being the first “customer” to have a link from my pages to your website! There’s nothing else you have to do, as you provided me with your website address. I’ll have your link on the left hand margin soon. I’ll send you the address of where to send the check offline. Aloha…Glenn

Hello Mr. James, I have been a big fan of your site and morning weather program for years. Like many of your readers I often look at your site when I am away from the island just to keep in touch with what is happening. (In fact one time you were kind enough to respond to my e-mail question about the Makena Cloud) I would like to take you up on your offer to post a link to my webpage on your site. I just fixed up a nice little condo in South Kiehi for vacation rentals and have a website at – www.mauilanikai.com. We have a pretty tasteful website with some nice photos of Maui and I think it would be a great addition to your site. I’m ready to sign up for 3 months as soon as you let me know how to pay. (I’m on Maui for another week, I can pay cash or check right away) Thanks, much Aloha! Rob Jenneve

Hi Rob, thanks for being the second website to sign up for a link from this website to your business! I’ll be back to you shortly, to confirm this arrangement. Aloha, Glenn


New Feature: This website receives between 6,000 and 10,000+ page impressions per day. If one does a google search for Hawaii Weather or Maui Weather, this site comes up number one on the list. I’ve created a way that I can have a link from this popular website, directly to yours. It may be a great way to increase traffic to your own webpage. I’ve decided to offer this for $50 per month, with a three month minimum. That makes three months of exposure to you for just $150…which is a great way to highlight your website to folks who are already interested in almost anything Hawaiian. Please email me, or leave a message in the reply box below, if you have some interest in this proposal. A link to your site will be displayed along the left hand margin of this page. There’s limited space on that left hand margin, so that availability will be on a first come, first serve basis.