Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs

Brought to you by Maui Weather Today

May 22-23 2007

 

Air TemperaturesThe following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday:

Lihue, Kauai – 83F
Honolulu, Oahu – 85
Kaneohe, Oahu – 83
Kahului, Maui – 89
Hilo, Hawaii – 85
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 84

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

Lihue, Kauai  – 76F
Hilo, Hawaii – 67

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:

0.19 KOKEE, KAUAI
0.04
OAHU FOREST NWR, OAHU
0.00 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.13 OHEO GULCH,
MAUI
0.02
 PAHOA, BIG ISLAND


Weather Chart –
Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a moderately strong 1026 millibar high pressure system far to the NE of the islands, with its associated ridge stretched SW…to a point north of the Hawaiian islands. The trade winds will be light to moderately strong today, becoming moderately strong Thursday. Those windiest spots in the southern part of the state will be moderately strong today and Thursday…locally strong and gusty during the afternoons.  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. 

Aloha Paragraphs

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Along the Hana coast of east Maui
Photo Credit: flikr.com

A light wind producing high pressure ridge, which has been "camped out" over Hawaii, has now migrated just to the north of Kauai as of Tuesday afternoon. Light wind conditions during the night and early morning hours, have given way to light trade winds this afternoon…certainly in the coastal waters from Oahu down through the Big Island. The earlier than expected return of the trade winds will help to start ventilating the sultry and hazy conditions of late. Looping satellite imagery is now showing that the trade winds, which have been south of the islands, now gradually working their way up into the latitudes of our Hawaiian Islands…thank goodness!  

The presence of the high pressure ridge, now just north of the islands, will continue to limit the amount of showers that fall, with just a few light showers in those favored areas around the state. The returning trades will bring whatever showers that are around back around to the windward coasts and slopes over the next couple of days. There don’t appear to be any rainfall enhancing weather features in our immediate future. The computer forecast models have been suggesting that an upper level trough of low pressure would settle into place east of the state later this weekend into early next week. Whether this will have any influence on our local weather is still debatable. The main thing is that the convective weather pattern is now on the way out, with cooling and refreshing trade wind breezes back!  

It’s early Tuesday evening here in Kula, Maui as I begin writing this well before sunset commentary. The 2007 central Pacific hurricane season is expected to have less than the average amount of tropical cyclone activity. This is of course good news, with just 2-3 storms expected to form, or pass across our central Pacific waters…compared to an average of 4-5 storms. The season begins on June 1st, and runs through the end of November. We rarely see any signs of tropical storminess however until at least July, and more often during the months of August and September. ~~~ The trade winds returned one day earlier than expected, with no complaints from our local population, that’s for sure! The air is so much better looking now, at least compared to what we’ve seen since last week…as the trade winds ventilate the accumulated haze and humidity. There’s still some haze around the edges, although, and especially along the windward sides, where the trade winds are most active…the air is quite clear already. ~~~ As I drove home from Kihei, there wasn’t a cloud in sight along the Hana coast of east Maui. Here in Kula, there are some clouds, but they are much less dense, while the overall coverage is much less extensive than any evening over the last week. Wednesday will dawn to even less haze, and by the end of the day, it will be back to normal in terms of clarity of our overlying atmosphere. Weather conditions will remain nice through the rest of the week. I hope you have a great Tuesday night, and that you will meet me here again Wednesday morning, when I’ll have your next tropical weather narrative from paradise waiting here for you here. Aloha for now…Glenn. 

Hawaii Weather Today – TV program online now.  It’s not precisely like watching it on television, although it’s quite a close approximation. Each day’s new show will replace the previous days show (Monday through Friday) at some point between 10am and noon (HST) in Hawaii. If you click here, it will take you to the website where it can be viewed. I want to thank the folks at the Maui Media Lab, located in Paia, Maui for this opportunity to show what’s happening weatherwise here in Hawaiian Islands! By the way, you will need to have a quicktime viewer on your computer to receive the feed…you can get the free download here if it’s not already loaded on your machine.   

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