Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs
Posted by GlennNovember 5-6 2007
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Monday:
Lihue, Kauai – 81
Honolulu, Oahu – 80
Kaneohe, Oahu – 83
Kahului, Maui – 87
Hilo, Hawaii – 82
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 87
Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at 4 a.m. Tuesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 77F
Kahului, Maui – 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:
0.67 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI
1.46 OLOMANA FIRE STATION, OAHU
0.07 MOLOKAI
0.16 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.06 KAUPO GAP, MAUI
0.45 PIIHONUA, BIG ISLAND
Weather Chart – The low pressure system to our SW is keeping our winds on the light side, with the isobars still showing the wind flow out of the SE. However, as the low fills and moves away towards the SW, a high pressure system to the NE, with its associated ridge, will bring back the trade winds Wednesday. Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map. 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 and Radar 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.
Improving weather conditions in Hawaii
photo credit: flickr.com
There’s still the chance of more showers across the Aloha state Monday evening into the night. A Kona low pressure system is now located in the area southwest of Kauai Monday. The relatively close proximity of this surface low pressure system will keep our atmosphere still a little unstable for the time being. This unstable air mass may cause a couple more heavy showers, with the best chances over or near Kauai and Oahu. The NWS has continued the flash flood watch for only those western Islands Monday evening. The good news is that this low pressure cell is filling and moving away towards the southwest now, which will take the threat of heavy showers away with it.
Flash flooding occurred in some places this past weekend…most notably on the island of Oahu. All of the Hawaiian Islands had periods of heavy showers, ranging between 2-5 inches in general during the last 24-36 hours. The windward side of Oahu received over 14 inches of rain at one point, during a 24 hour period…which is a significant fall of water! Other than in those places where the rains came down in buckets, most of the precipitation fell in the light to moderately heavy category. We got a good soaking for our island vegetation, helping to push the drought conditions, that we saw during the summer months…back quite a bit.
It’s Monday evening here in the islands, as I write this last paragragh of this narrative update. As you can see from this looping satellite image, we have the counterclockwise circulating Kona low pressure center located to the southwest of Kauai. The relatively close proximity of this low pressure system, will keep tropical moisture coming up into the Hawaiian Islands for the time being. This of course will keep the threat of off and on showers in the forecast…although the threat is diminishing for Maui County and the Big Island. In addition, here’s the looping radar image (you need to refresh this image if you’ve already looked at it before), showing more showery clouds moving towards Kauai and Oahu. ~~~ The webcam atop the summit of the near 14,000 Mauna Kea on the Big Island, showed snow showers falling at times Sunday, mixed with rain. Here’s a link to that webcam, so that once the sun comes up, you will be able to see if there’s any of the white stuff sticking to the ground up there. It’s melting quickly, and as the sun goes down, the picture will only show darkness. ~~~ Looking ahead, we see further improvement in our weather circumstances Tuesday, with the trade winds dominating our Hawaiian Island weather picture, starting later Tuesday through the rest of the week. ~~~ I’ll be back early Tuesday morning with your next complete weather narrative, I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
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