Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs

October 11-12 2006

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

Lihue, Kauai – 84F
Honolulu, Oahu – 81
Kaneohe, Oahu – 85
Kahului, Maui – 90
Hilo, Hawaii – 85
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 86

KAILUA-KONA – 77
MOLOKAI AIRPORT – 71

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

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a ridge of high pressure now located over the island of Oahu. This will keep our winds on the light side…variable in direction through Friday.  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.

 

The Na Pali coastline on Kauai
Photo Credit: flikr.com

A high pressure ridge remains parked over the island of Maui Wednesday, which will keep our winds light on all the islands. This light wind regime will cause warm and muggy conditions to continue, especially near the beaches during the late mornings through the afternoons. Hazy conditions will continue off and on through the week too, with restricted visibilities due to intrusions of volcanic emissions from the Big Island of Hawaii over Maui County and possibly on up the chain of islands towards Oahu.

Clear mornings will give way to afternoon clouds over the mountains, with a few showers locally. The daytime heating of the islands will start air rising, which will cause afternoon cumulus clouds over and around the mountains. These convective cumulus clouds may let loose with some showers, some of which may be locally heavy, although for the most part restricted to the leeward slopes of the Big Island. Clouds will clear back after sunset, leaving mostly clear nights prevailing.

The cold front that recently threatened the islands has stalled, while a new front is expected this weekend…it too will likely skid to a halt before arriving.  It’s still a bit early for active cold fronts to sweep down all the way through the islands, although this first one came close enough to cause prefrontal showers to Kauai and Oahu. The most likely chance of showers for the time being will be from those afternoon clouds during the afternoon hours. One of these days however we will find a cold front strong enough to bring an increase in showers for a day or two…its getting to be that time of year.

There’s an interesting looking area of disturbed weather down to the SW of the Hawaiian Islands. This satellite image shows it quite well. The computer models have been trying all week to bring it NE towards our Hawaiian Islands. It’s still unclear about what will happen, although I will say that there’s a possibility of seeing some sort of weather coming towards us from that area over the next week. It will be interesting to wait and see what, if anything develops. There’s nothing to get all spun up about just yet, but it certainly bears monitoring.

It’s early Wednesday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I start this post sunset commentary.  Hi everyone, it was yet another day of light and variable winds, which kept the volcanic haze rather thick, obscuring the other islands offshore for the most part. The thickest haze occurs just before sunrise and around sunset, when it looks somewhat like a smoggy day in Los Angeles! It’s not all that bad though, as during the day, when the sun gets higher in the sky, it  seems to fade a little. This afternoon the clouds gathered around the Haleakala Crater again too, and when I got home I could see it had been raining. At the beach during my lunch break, it was a different story, with partly sunny skies prevailing during the afternoon, after a fairly sunny morning. Once again I found the whole beach scene so comforting, with warmth prevailing in the and out of the water. The beaches are not by any means crowded, and actually are fairly deserted compared to other parts of the year. There were red flags at the beach I go to, due to the wave action. Now, at 645pm, it’s essentially dark, although there’s still a faint pink in the sky to the east. I have less than a week left before leaving on vacation next Tuesday. If you’re wondering if I’m getting excited, well, yes of course! I can hardly wait to see my friends in California, not to mention my family too! I hope you have a restful Wednesday night, and that you will meet me back here on Thursday, when I’ll have your next narrative from paradise waiting right here. Aloha for now…Glenn.  

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