Weather Details and Aloha Paragraphs

August 31-September 1 2006

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

Lihue, Kauai – 83F
Honolulu, Oahu – 87
Kaneohe, Oahu – 85
Kahului, Maui – 88
Hilo, Hawaii – 83
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 87

KANEOHE, OAHU – 77
HILO AIRPORT – 70

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

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a 1027 millibar high pressure center located far to the NE of our islands. This high pressure cell will keep moderately strong trade winds blowing across our area through Saturday…strong and gusty during the afternoons locally.  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.

 

  A late summer evening on Maui
Photo Credit: flikr.com

The breezy trade winds will continue to bring their cooling and refreshing relief from the heat to the Hawaiian Islands. We find a large area of high pressure centered far to the NE of the islands Thursday. This trade wind producing high pressure system is providing moderately strong trade winds. Some of the windier areas around the Aloha state are finding strong and gusty conditions during the afternoons. These common trade winds will continue blowing through Friday…then mellow out a little over the weekend.

Other than a few local downpours over the mountains of Kauai, rainfall has been mostly light across the Aloha state.  The leeward sides have been mostly dry, except along the Kona slopes on the Big Island, where we find the typical afternoon or evening showers falling. The windward sides have had a few showers, but nothing unusual. This pleasant reality will continue through Friday, although with a trough of low pressure edging in our direction, we may see a modest increase in windward showers over the weekend.

It’s early Thursday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I start writing this just after sunset commentary.   It was another hot and locally windy day here on the island. Was it too hot or too windy, perhaps it was for some. My air conditioning is still out on my car, so that may have some bearing on my perspective in terms of the heat. Then, at lunch, I found the trade winds blowing in such a way that made the beach look a little less friendly than I sometimes like to see it. This may suggest that I’m a little spoiled perhaps, and maybe I am, as I can pick and chose which days that I like to get involved with all that gustiness. I’d say that out of a month, and this is pretty much year round, that I get in the ocean at least five days out of seven, regardless of the weather conditions…and often each day for weeks in a row. I must admit that I prefer the later fall through the winter seasons, for the most part because of the lighter wind conditions, and somewhat cooler temperatures that I find more often then. I’ve gone onto the beach, and into the ocean, on THE most windy days of the year, just for the fun of it, and then again, on those days when there isn’t a breath of air, and I find the ocean in a sheet glass condition. I love it all, and yet, at times I’ll just sit down there in my car and do a little people watching, which I dearly love too! I hope you have a great Thursday night. I’ll be back here whippin’ out the next narrative for you early Friday morning, until then, be well all you faithful readers, and you first timers as well. Aloha for now…Glenn.

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