May 20 – 21 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 – 76
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 85

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

Kailua-kona – 74
Hilo airport – 66

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:

0.46 WAINIHA, KAUAI
0.69 SOUTH FORK KAUKONAHUA, OAHU
0.01 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.61 WEST WAILUAIKI, MAUI
1.33 GLENWOOD, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a strong 1037 millibar high pressure system located to the north of the islands. This pressure configuration will keep moderate to fresh and gusty trade winds blowing Sunday, then lighter 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

The image “http://static.flickr.com/53/150155858_7ae4e647a6.jpg?v=0” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
Peace


The trade winds will remain the dominate weather feature here in the islands Saturday and Sunday. A high pressure system is now well established to the north of Hawaii, which will be the source of these breezy conditions. Wind speeds will be moderately strong to fresh and gusty this weekend. We have small craft wind advisories now having been issued by the NWS forecast office in Honolulu…covering those windiest parts of the marine environment from Molokai to Maui and the Big Island.

The windward sides will continue to see showers riding in on the brisk winds. We may see a gradual decrease in those passing showers, although there will still some around both weekend days. I don’t see any organized rainmakers on the weather horizon, other than those occasional bands of clouds arriving along the north and east facing slopes and shores. The leeward sides will remain quite sunny, with dry conditions continuing through the weekend.

The forecast calls for these fresh trade winds to slack-off after the weekend. Thinking in terms of climatology, we would expect that the trade winds would continue at moderately strong levels through the rest of the month. However, the computer models are wanting to turn our winds SE, becoming lighter after the weekend. It certainly seems late in the season to have SE winds blowing, although this year is not what I would consider a normal year weatherwise! So we likely will see the winds tapering off, which would put us into a convective weather pattern, with afternoon clouds and showers over and around the moutains…with showers arriving from other various sources as well. The trade winds are expected to resume after mid-week.

It’s early Saturday evening here in Kula, Maui. The sun is just going behind some puffy clouds over the West Maui Mountains. Outside it’s 64.4F, and inside my weather tower it’s 76F degrees…with all windows open. The wind chimes are singing sweetly, accompanying the smooth piano music that I have playing on my laptop computer, coming from the windward side of Oahu. I’m sipping on a nice glass of Merlot red wine, which is rich and tasty…adding to the pleasure of the sunset. I have a friend coming over for dinner, I think she is bringing take-out Vietnamese food from Wailuku. Everyday is a good day, perhaps some people would see especially here in Hawaii. I hope you have a great Saturday night! Over and out…Aloha, Glenn.