Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs
Posted by GlennSeptember 10-11 2007
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Monday:
Lihue, Kauai – 86F
Honolulu, Oahu – 89
Kaneohe, Oahu – 85
Kahului, Maui – 90
Hilo, Hawaii – 85
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 87
Temperatures early Tuesday morning ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at the 4 a.m. hour:
Kaneohe, Oahu – 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 Tuesday morning:
25.26 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI…not sure if that is a mistake yet?
0.22 LULUKU, OAHU
0.00 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.27 ULUPALAKUA, MAUI
2.04 KEALAKEKUA, BIG ISLAND
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a 1031 millibar high pressure system located far NE of Hawaii now…too far away to provide the strong trade winds closer to the high’s center. This high pressure system has a ridge of high pressure extending SW to the north of Hawaii. This pressure configuration will keep light to moderately strong trade winds blowing both Tuesday and Wednesday…somewhat stronger in those locally windiest areas 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.
Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean.
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.
Honolua Bay…upper west side of Maui
Photo Credit:: flickr.com
The light to moderately strong trade winds will continue to bring cooling relief from the hot late summer afternoons here in the islands. Weather maps show a 1031 millibar high pressure system located far to the NE of the islands…the source of our trade winds now. This high pressure system is far away, although its associated ridge swings down to our north. The placement of this ridge will keep light to moderately strong trade winds blowing across our tropical latitudes. The current computer forecast models suggest that we see these balmy trade winds remaining active through at least the rest of this week.
Despite the continued presence of an upper level low pressure system near the islands, our weather will remain generally fine for the most part. This low aloft is located just to the north of Kauai Monday evening. It doesn’t appear that this low will have too much of an influence on our local however…although we can’t rule out the chance of a few briefly heavy showers here and there. Otherwise, we can look for just the usual few passing showers along the windward sides, and a couple of afternoon showers over the interior sections locally.
It’s Monday evening here in the islands, as I update this last paragraph of today’s narrative. We’ve just moved through a perfectly lovely weekend, at least in terms of our local weather reality. As mentioned above, we still have that upper level low pressure system hanging around. This low hasn’t been able to do much in terms of dropping many showers. Although, with that said, I notice that Mount Waialeale on Kauai, received a remarkably generous 8.13" of the wet stuff during the last 24 hours! This amount was definitely a lone spike however, in contrast to everywhere else here in the islands. Mount Waialeale is not only the wettest place here in Hawaii, but also arguably the rainiest place in the world…so one expects to see these kinds of big numbers occasionally! Nonetheless, nowhere else in the Aloha state received even a 1/2 an inch of rain in comparison. ~~~ We are still in the active phase of the 2007 hurricane season here in the central Pacific, although I’m pleased to say there is nothing spinning, nor showing signs of any tropical storms at all. Glancing over towards the eastern Pacific (towards Mexico) there isn’t anything brewing there either. The western Pacific has one storm, named Danas (11W), although it is staying away from land and any islands, and was given its final warning Monday evening. So things are looking pretty good for the time being in regards to tropical storm activity. As most of you know tropical storm Gabrielle recently gave high surf, gusty winds, and rainy weather to the North Carolina coast over in the Atlantic Ocean. ~~~ I’ll be back early Tuesday morning with your next weather narrative, I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you may be reading from! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting story on NPR …Dan O’Connor of Papaikou, Hawaii, plays recordings he made of underwater volcanoes and visiting Humpback whales.
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