May 30 – 31 2006

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

Lihue, Kauai – 82F
Honolulu, Oahu – 84
Kaneohe, Oahu – 81
Kahului, Maui – 86
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 85

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

Lihue, Kauai – 75
Hilo airport – 69

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

0.00 KAUAI
0.04 DILLINGHAM, OAHU
0.00 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.03 WEST WAILUAIKI, MAUI
0.18 KAMUELA UPPER, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a 1023 millibar high pressure system located far to the ENE of the islands. The high has a ridge extending SW, positioned north of Kauai, gradually moving southward. This pressure configuration will keep light to locally moderate trade winds blowing today into Thursday. 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.

Tropical Cyclone Activity – The eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 through November 30. The latest storm information for that area can be found by clicking here. A storm tracking map can be found by clicking here. For the central Pacific, the latest information can be found by clicking here.

Aloha Paragraphs


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Keanae…along the Hana coast of east Maui


A fairly normal trade wind weather pattern will continue to bring relatively dry weather to the Hawaiian Islands. A moderately strong high pressure system, located far to the ENE will remain in position through the next several days at least. This trade wind producing high pressure cell has a ridge of high pressure extending from its western flank, which extends west to a location about 350 miles north of Oahu early Tuesday morning. This ridge will bring us light to moderately strong trade winds, which will get stronger after mid-week into the weekend. Forecast charts show these trade winds extending well into next week.

Satellite imagery shows lots of low level stratocumulus clouds well upstream of the islands, over 1000 miles in fact. These clouds are of the more or less flat variety, which aren’t dropping many showers. As a matter of fact, with a rather low temperature inversion, which is capping vertical cloud growth…there will be very few showers, and most of those will be very light. Looking back during the last 24 hours, most rain gauges across the Aloha state remained dry as a bone. There were a couple of spots that received a light showering, but less than a .10” even there. These drier than normal conditions are expected to continue through much of the upcoming week.

It’s early Tuesday evening here in Kula, Maui. I know it’s not summer yet, but you could have fooled me today, as it sure seemed like a genuine summer day across Hawaii. It was about as close to being a summer day that you could find, while still being late spring! The official start of our 2006 summer season is still about three weeks away. Although all the pieces were in place for what we could call an unofficial summer day I suppose. We had our first tropical storm, named Aletta, form over in the eastern Pacific this past weekend…which has since dissipated into a tropical disturbance. Everything is warm now, certainly the air temperatures during days, and the ocean is warming quickly too, under the plentiful Hawaiian sunshine beaming straight down these days. When I left Kihei after work, it there was sunshine galore, although as I made my way home, I encountered fairly heavy duty clouds hugging the slopes of the Haleakala Crater. The overlying air mass is so dry though, that I didn’t have the pleasure of having the impact of even one small raindrop on my window the whole way. I hope you have a great Tuesday night, wherever you happen to be spending it. I’ll of course be back early Wednesday morning with the next weather narrative from paradise. I have to tell you this, as I’m a one man show, unlike the many folks who populate the National Weather Service forecast office in Honolulu, who work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Aloha for now…Glenn.