November 15-16 2006

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

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 beach near Makena, Maui
Photo Credit: flikr.com

  
The Hawaiian Islands can expect one more day of humid and hazy weather, before the trade winds return Thursday into Friday.  Recent moisture laden kona breezes, coming up from the south and SW directions, have kept the Aloha state shower prone the last couple of days. These showers, which have been locally heavy in places, have recently been concentrating their efforts most effectively over the island of Lanai, and into the Lahaina area of west Maui. The rain gauge at Lahainaluna, which is up above Lahaina, Maui, received 1.22" during the last 24 hours, making it the wettest spot in the state. The central islands will remain the most showery Wednesday, although other places around the state could see some isolated showers as well.

As we move into Thursday and early Friday, we’ll transition into a trade wind weather pattern, with a definite bias for showers to fall along the windward sides of the islands.  Whatever is left of the moist clouds carried into the state by the last cold front, will be fuel for the incoming showers arriving with the trade winds. As we move into the coming weekend, weather models bring in a second cold front. It’s expected to stall near Kauai briefly, but the kona winds that develop ahead of the frontal boundary may be able to carry moist clouds up from the deeper tropics, bringing some showers into our area again. The trade winds will then make another appearance late Monday or early Tuesday in stronger form, and as they do, this second cold front’s moisture will make the windward sides potentially quite wet.

It was a big day in the Pacific Ocean today, starting off with a major earthquake off the Kuril Islands of Japan! A local tsunami was generated there, with refracted swells bouncing around the Pacific basin throughout the day elsewhere. Here in Hawaii we had some form of withdrawing water in places, with up to 6 foot surges thereafter. I heard that Crescent City, in far northern California had big damage as tsunamigenic waves tore down two piers there. I haven’t heard of any deaths, which is good news! In the world of weather here on Maui, we had much less showery weather, although the thick volcanic haze certainly was around in places again. A northerly breeze kicked up along the windward sides this afternoon, which helped to clear the skies a little, although it compounded the already hazy skies along the Haleakala leeward slopes…all the way down to Kihei and Wailea. It was such a busy day at the Pacific Disaster Center (my day job) that I didn’t get to the beach during my lunch break, but oh well, there’s always tomorrow. We should see the trade winds return Thursday, which will help to ventilate the atmosphere of haze, hopefully that is! I hope you have a good Wednesday night, and that you will meet me back here again Thursday. Aloha for now…Glenn.

I want to recommend that you use the advertising links on the left hand side of this page, as they all offer great services or products!

November 14-15 2006

Tsunami Watch for the Hawaiian Islands…please click here for more information

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

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

Kailua-Kona – 77F
Hilo airport – 67F

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

0.20 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI
0.10 KAMEHAME, OAHU
0.62 MOLOKAI
0.96 LANAI
0.05 KAHOOLAWE
1.22 LAHAINALUNA, MAUI
0.49 KAPAPALA RANCH, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a 1024 millibar high pressure system far NE of the islands. At the same time we find a cold front just to the west through NW of Kauai…which has pushed our high pressure ridge south over the central islands. The result will be light SE winds Wednesday, then light to moderately strong trade winds Thursday as a fast moving high pressure center moves by to our north. 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 lovely windward side of Oahu…
Photo Credit: flikr.com

  
A warm and humid airflow continues to come up from the deeper tropics over Hawaii.  These moisture laden breezes, varying between SE and SW in direction, are keeping some parts of the Aloha state shower prone. The two islands that continue to be on the receiving end of most of the heavier showers continue to be Kauai and the Big Island. This "bookends" reality is apt to remain in place for the time being. There were reports of 2-3"+ precipitation totals on those eastern and western ends of the Hawaiian Island chain. The central islands of Oahu down through Maui County has escaped most of the showers thus far…although they too saw some heavy showers around Lanai and Lahaina, Maui Tuesday.

As we consider the rest of the week, it remains off and on shower prone.  It appears that from Tuesday through Wednesday, we’ll continue to see the threat of showers in a hit and miss fashion. We may see some temporary easing of that threat Thursday into Friday…although there will still be some showers around in places. As we move into the coming weekend, weather models are wanting to bring in a second active Pacific cold front. It’s still a bit too early to tell how much showery weather we’ll receive from it, or even how far it will push down into the island chain. Next week looks like it will start of in a more classic way, with the arrival of a fairly routine trade wind weather pattern by Tuesday.

As expected, Tuesday was a rather humid day, with cloudy periods…and localized showers. When I left the Pacific Disaster Center in Kihei this evening it was sultry, although Kihei had missed the nearby showers for the most part. The island of Lanai, and the area around Lahaina, Maui, stayed off and on wet though…where some of the showers turned out to be quite heavy at times. As I drove home this evening, I noticed how lush the grass had become in most areas, prompted by the several heavy downpours that occurred while I was on vacation. The fields around my work place in Kihei have thick 1-3 foot tall grass growing! The pasturelands between Pukalani and Kula are vividly green as well, and are exceptionally beautiful now! As I got home to Kula a little while ago, the clouds were hanging low, with very thick fog enveloping the whole area. I enjoy the muffled quiet that occurs during these moisture laden moments, very much in fact. The fog is being swirled around by the light south Kona breezes now, which have my wind chimes singing sweetly. All things considered, today was a good one, as I enjoyed all the weather work that came across my desk. As is often the case about this time in the week, I start to already look forward to my dancing in Paia Friday night, and then it’s the weekend already too. I hope you have a good Tuesday night, and that you will plan to drop by this website again Wednesday. Aloha for now…Glenn. 

I want to recommend that you use the advertising links on the left hand side of this page, as they all offer great services or products!