August 1-2 2006

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

Lihue, Kauai – 77F
Honolulu, Oahu – 84
Kaneohe, Oahu – 86
Kahului, Maui – 91
Hilo, Hawaii – 85
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 86

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

KAILUA-KONA – 78
KAHULUI AIRPORT – 67


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:

 

2.93 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI
1.04 SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, OAHU
0.00 MOLOKAI
0.01 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.00 MAUI
0.36 KAMUELA UPPER, BIG ISLAND

 

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a 1030 millibar high pressure system located far to the NNE of our islands. Meanwhile, the trough of low pressure that has kept our winds light from the SE the last couple of days, is moving away to the west Wednsday, allowing the trade winds to return now. Here’s a Weather Map Symbol page for clarification about what all those weather symbols mean on the map.

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…while the central Pacific (where Hawaii is) runs from June 1 through November 30. The latest storm information for the eastern Pacific can be found by clicking here. A storm tracking map for both the central and eastern areas can be found by clicking here . For the central Pacific, the latest storm information can be found by clicking here.

Aloha Paragraphs

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 Typical Windward Beach
 

Hawaii’s regular trade winds will be on hold Tuesday. This will have several influences in our Hawaiian Island weather picture…not the least of which will be to keep our overlying atmosphere quite sultry and humid. As this trough of low pressure passes across Hawaii, our winds will be much lighter than normal for the first day of August. This early August sunshine meanwhile will be beaming down diligently, making for hot and muggy weather conditions temporarily.

All that sunshine, combined with the humid air, will keep our air mass shower prone. The presence of the cold air aloft, in association the low pressure around now, will make for an unstable air mass. All of this will add up to an increased chance of afternoon cumulus cloud buildups over the interior sections of all the islands. Those localized towering clouds will drop showers locally, some of which will be locally heavy. As was the case yesterday, there could be some minor flooding taking place here and there.

These conditions are referred to as a convective weather pattern. Often we start off with slightly cooler than normal temperatures early on, then as the day progresses, we see that afternoon cloudiness described above. The expectation is that this rainfall inducing trough of low pressure will move away to the north by Wednesday. This in turn will make way for the return of a regular trade wind weather pattern…putting an end to the sultry conditions, and returning the bias for showers to the windward sides through the rest of the week.

The big news in Hawaii continues to be the larger than normal surf along our south and west facing beaches. These waves were generated by a deep winter storm in the southern hemisphere more than a week ago. It has triggered a high surf advisory along our leeward beaches, which means that folks here in the islands should exercise caution when entering the ocean. More SSW swells will continue to arrive, which will keep the larger than normal surf around through the rest of this week.

The eastern Pacific Ocean is active with tropical storms again now. We have tropical storms Fabio and Gilma spinning the waters over there. It appears that Gilma will remain in the eastern Pacific, and will be no worry for the Hawaiian Islands. Fabio has a track that brings it into our central Pacific as a tropical storm. It is then expected to weaken back into a tropical depression…and may bring an increase in showers next week. This doesn’t look like anything that the Hawaiian Islands has to worry about. Here’s a tracking map so that you can keep an eye on Fabio’s progress westward.

It’s early Tuesday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I begin writing this sunset commentary.  Let’s just put it this way: it was a scorcher here on Maui today! 93F in both Kihei and Lahaina, and 91F in Kahului. It was hazy too, what with the volcanic haze that was brought up on the SE winds, carried NW from the Big Island. I am so glad that I work in an air conditioned office, and that I got to the beach at lunch, which were life savers for sure. I glanced at my car thermometer when I turned right up the Haleakala Highway, from off the Hana Highway, and it read 88F degrees. By the time I got home, driving up the mountain about 3,000 feet, it had cooled off to 71F degrees, fortunately. The sun is just now setting, with the most beautiful high cirrus clouds lighting up a brilliant pink color, which is just gorgeous! The trade winds are expected back on Wednesday, which will give us some added measure of comfort, bringing their cooling and refreshing relief from the hot early August sunshine. It should help to ventilate most of the haze away too. I hope you have a great Tuesday night, and thanks for stopping by. I’ll be crawling out of bed at around 4am Wednesday morning, and will soon thereafter begin putting out the weather updates. Aloha for now…Glenn.

I want to highlight another of the advertisers on my website today, this time its Dozzizart of Maui.  His art has been well received in the art community, and can be found in One World Gallery in Lahaina, the Maui Ocean Center in Ma’alea, Maui Hands in Paia and Santa Monica, California, and numerous residences throughout the islands, the mainland, and abroad. Michael Nardozzi of Dozzizart would like to extend to you a very warm Mahalo Nui for visiting Dozzizart, and encourages you to send your questions and comments via the email address on his website.

By the way, you may notice that the activity pages on this website look renewed again, thanks to Bumpnetworks, who are both my friends, and also my valued website host! The team at Bump Networks provides custom software solutions, web solutions and hardware interfaces for a variety of clients. They’ve built software and web solutions for clients in many industries including high-tech, entertainment, travel, tour operator, GPS, disaster prevention and management, and government/DOD.