Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs

March 15-16 2006

Lihue, Kauai – 78F
Honolulu, Oahu – 77
Kaneohe, Oahu – 77
Kahului, Maui – 80
Hilo, Hawaii – 74
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 81

1.95 MOLOAA DAIRY, KAUAI
1.53 SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, OAHU
0.04 MOLOKAI
0.02 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.02 KULA BRANCH STATION, MAUI
3.28 PAHALA, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a 1027 millibar high pressure system to the ENE of the islands. At the same time, we find a gale low pressure system to the NW….with troughing to our west. This will keep light and variable winds blowing today into 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 Image of the islands to see all the clouds around the state during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next 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



Don’t worry…we will see nice sunny weather again!

The threat of locally heavy rains continues across the entire Hawaiian Island chain. The island of Kauai has endured the most damage, with extensive flood problems…leading to loss of life! The islands of Oahu and the Big Island too, have seen heavy rains falling in places as well. The central islands of Maui County haven’t seen the heavy downpours, although it’s just a matter of time before they too get wetter. A flash flood watch remains active statewide through Friday.

All weather guidance, including computer models, weather maps, and satellite imagery, show more rain on the way. A trough of low pressure, the cause of all this rainy weather, remains to the west of the state Wednesday. However, this trough is expected to shift eastward, which will bring it even closer to Hawaii. The atmospheric dynamics remain very shower prone, with abundant moisture flooding towards, and over the islands…fueling the heavy precipitation.

The upper winds are carrying copious tropical cloudiness over Hawaii. We see a multi-layered canopy of high, middle, and low clouds streaming our way. The lower level clouds are stacked vertically, and when they get stuck over any one area, what we call anchored in the weather business, we see floods occurring. These incoming clouds, when they get hung up on physical terrain features, that’s where the heaviest and most prolonged rainfall occurs. This type of situation has contributed greatly to the flooding rains of late.

We will have to live with this off and on inclement weather through the end of this work week. There hasn’t been much winds at least, and with the breezes coming up from the deep tropics, it has been warm and rather muggy near sea level. There certainly hasn’t been much sunshine lately, although it hasn’t been totally cloudy…with some short sunny periods popping-out here and there at times. I think that’s about the best I can say in terms of any positive aspect to this late winter weather pattern. As I was saying in yesterday’s narrative, its difficult to put much of a bright spin to the current situation!

Looking further ahead, as we get into the weekend, we’ll find the trade winds likely back. This is somewhat good news, at least for folks along the leeward beach areas, where the visitor resorts are located. On the other hand, the folks who live out along the windward sides, will likely see continued showers falling. The long range computer forecast models are suggesting that we’d see off and on rainy weather continuing into the first half of next week. Although, before we get too overly serious about that somewhat depressing outlook, let’s wait another couple of days and see if the models change their mind about that.

It’s early Wednesday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I start this sunset commentary.  Today was yet another mostly cloudy day here on Maui. Once again we saw a minimum amount of showers, except out along the Kaupo Gap through Hana areas. There was an Urban and Small Stream flood advisory posted for that east through SE part of east Maui. There was a considerable amount of high and middle level clouds, which really didn’t let any sunshine through. The rest of the state saw heavier showers in places, although there really wasn’t all that much flooding overall. The dynamics remain in place though, for more heavy showers, and localized flooding through Thursday into Friday. The missing persons on Kauai, those unfortunate folks who got swept away by the floods on Kauai recently, have not been found yet. I suppose there is still hope, although the prospects are becoming dimmer and dimmer. The day is ending in an overcast way, statewide, which has become rather routine lately! Just like everything else in life though, nothing lasts forever, and so this prolonged spell of inclement weather will end its current regime eventually, don’t give up hope folks. I’ll be back early Thursday morning with the next new narrative, have a good night until then. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Added Feature: Fact: this website receives between 6,000 and 17,000+ page impressions per day, depending upon the weather and the season. As of Wednesday evening, March’s total count has been 155,682….which is an average 10,000+ a day! That’s a lot of folks looking at all the pages on this site, including the new and useful links on the left hand margin. There’s now a way that you can have a link go from this popular website, directly to yours. It may be a good way to increase traffic to your own website. This placement on the Links List is available for $50 per month, with a three month minimum. That brings with it three months of possible higher than normal visitors to your business, or your own personal website…for just $150. My hope is that it will provide an important way that you can increase the presence of your site to lots of internet viewers. It may be a good way to highlight your internet business to folks who may already be interested in most things 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 all the pages on this website, in alphabetical order.