May 13 – 14 2006

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

Lihue, Kauai – 80F
Honolulu, Oahu – 82
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Kahului, Maui – 82
Hilo, Hawaii – 80
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 83

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

Honolulu, Oahu – 72
Hilo, Hawaii – 67

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

1.12 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI
0.35 PUNALUU PUMP, OAHU
0.04 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.95 WEST WAILUAIKI, MAUI
0.33 LAUPAHOEHOE, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a strong 1038 millibar high pressure system located far to the NNW of the islands. The location and strength of this high pressure cells will keep light to moderately strong trade winds blowing Sunday….gradually turning north as a low pressure system develops to our NE on 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 available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon cloud conditions.

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

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Natural artwork on Molokai

The latest weather map shows a high pressure system far to the NNW of the Hawaiian Islands. The strength and placement of this high pressure cell will keep light to moderate trade winds blowing Sunday. A developing low pressure system to the NE will diminish the trade breezes to some extent after the weekend. The latest computer forecast model output suggests that the trade winds will gradually turn more northerly, blowing in the light to moderately strong category through mid-week coming up.

The low pressure system to our NE will develop NE of the state of Hawaii over the next several days. As the low becomes better established, the winds will be light from the north by Monday. These light north winds will keep our weather conditions quite nice, although here may be a few showers falling locally. The models then go on to show a very late season cold front being pushed down into the state later Tuesday into Wednesday, bringing some additional showers into the state, probably most notably along the windward sides.

As we move past the middle of next week, we’ll find a new high pressure system, the one that helps to push the cold front down into the state, moving into place NW of the islands. By the way, the arrival of next week’s cold front goes against the grain of the climatological norm. It wouldn’t be too surprising to see the models back down on the arrival of this unseasonably late frontal passage. At any rate, as this new high pressure swings into position, we’ll see the return of the trade winds by Thursday, with likely favorably inclined weather conditions sticking around through the remainder of next week.

It’s early Sunday morning here in Kula, Maui. The sun has already come up over on the east side, although hadn’t quite reached us here in Kula. It looks like another nice day, although there’s more clouds around today than there was on Saturdayin some places. It’s Mother’s Day, and I’m very happy that I had the presence of mind, to send off a package of Big Island cookies and candys to Dorothy Rae James…my loving Mom in Long Beach, California. Here’s sending the best wishes to all you Moms out there! I’ll be back later in the day with more weather updates, and a sunset commentary then too. Aloha for now…Glenn.