April 11-12 2006

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across Hawaii Tuesday:

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

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

Kailua-kona – 73
Kahului airport – 69

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

0.92 MOUNT WAIALAELAE, KAUAI
1.23 SOUTH FORK KAUKONAHUA, OAHU
0.23 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
1.07 WEST WAILUAIKI, MAUI
0.95 GLENWOOD, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a high pressure system to the north of Hawaii. This pressure configuration will cause moderately strong trade winds to blow Tuesday through Wednesday…strong and gusty at times. 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
Hula Dancers


A routine trade wind weather pattern remains well established in the Hawaiian Islands now. A moderately strong high pressure system, far to the north of the Aloha state, is the source of the moderate to fresh trade wind flow. These breezy trade winds will keep moderate to fresh winds flowing across our latitudes of the central north Pacific well out into the future…at least through the end of this week. The NWS forecast office in Honolulu has a small craft advisory in force for all the channels, and most coastal waters.

These trade winds will remain the primary weather element influencing our weather. They may become quite strong and gusty over the next couple of days. As usual, there will be those spots that physical terrain features will enhance the wind speeds. We can think in terms of 10-25 mph in general, with the top gusts moving well up into the 30 mph range…even getting near 40 mph in those most gusty areas, on or around a few places on Maui and the Big Island. This is somewhat windier than usual, although nothing to worry about.

All this windy weather will carry some moist clouds to the north and east facing slopes and coasts at times. However, the overlying atmosphere is rather day and stable. This fact will limit precipitation coverage and intensity greatly. The south and west facing leeward beach areas will not see any of these showers. The Kona slopes may find a few afternoon showers, with a possible stray light shower spreading over into the leeward areas on the smaller islands at times. There may be an increase in windward showers Wednesday evening into Thursday, but again, all of this is common during the spring month of April…nothing to be concerned about.

It’s early Tuesday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I begin today’s sunset commentary. Despite the partly cloudy skies along the leeward sides today, there were enough breaks in the high clouds, that plenty of sunshine was able to grace the beaches at times. The windward coasts and slopes remained rather cloudy, with some light showers and drizzle in places. Back to the partly sunny beaches, they were quite lovely, with air temperatures zooming well up into the 80F’s. The sidewalks, and the sand leading down to the ocean were very warm on the bottom of my feet during my lunch break. The ocean was warm too, with exceptionally clear visibilities…reminding me of a fresh water swimming pool! Gosh I just love getting to the beach each early afternoon, it’s amazing how fresh and vitalized I come away feeling, after only 30-35 minutes or so. It’s just before sunset at the moment, with clouds covering this west facing slope of the Haleakala Crater. It’s not misting here, but there was lots of that towards Makawao and Haiku, as I drove through Pukalani on the way home from work. I hope you had a great day, and that you will have a peaceful Tuesday night as well. I’ll be back early Wednesday morning, with the next completely updated weather narrative. Aloha for now…Glenn.

P.S. As a way of thanking my link advertisers, and to draw your attention to their good services…I’m highlighting each of them individually now. They can be found on the left hand margin of all my webpages. Today’s business is Activities on Maui …owned by Kevin Ditamore. His website says: “Imagine how much better your vacation would be if you had a friend who lived here on Maui! They would give you advice about the best places to go to avoid the crowds. They would tell you the activities that were really worth doing. They would give you directions to hidden waterfalls. They would recommend restaurants that the locals know are good. Well, that is exactly why we are here! We don’t have customers … we have friends who come to visit. Let us share the spirit of ALOHA with you on your next vacation.”