Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs
Posted by GlennNovember 18-19 2007
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday:
Lihue, Kauai – 81
Honolulu, Oahu – 83
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Kahului, Maui – 85
Hilo, Hawaii – 79
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 83
Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at 4 a.m. Monday morning:
Kaneohe, Oahu – 74F
Hilo, Hawaii – 64
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Monday morning:
1.09 WAINIHA, KAUAI
0.54 ST. STEPHENS, OAHU
0.27 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.06 KAHOOLAWE
0.82 PUU KUKUI, MAUI
1.13 HONAUNAU, BIG ISLAND
Weather Chart – A trough of low pressure to the east of the state will keep light to locally moderate NE winds blowing across the Hawaiian Islands through Tuesday. 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.
Slightly cool north to NE breezes
photo credit: flickr.com
Our Hawaiian Island weather will be rather changable through the next week, although none of those various weather elements looks like too much of a big deal. The details include a lot of upper level troughing over, and offshore of the islands for the time being. These weather features will keep our overlying atmosphere somewhat unstable, and locally shower prone…especially along the windward sides. The following information is the most recent update as of Sunday evening:
Sunday evening – a feeble cloud band moved down the island chain only as far as Kauai, before totally falling apart. This band of clouds brought some showers with it, with the most generous amounts restricted to the windward sides of that northernmost island. Meanwhile, an area of cold air, a trough of low pressure aloft, is destabilizing our overlying atmosphere. This in turn, along with the brisk north to NE winds, will help to bring windward biased showers to the other islands down the chain at times. There was enough cold air aloft to bring some light snow flurries to the summits on the Big Island Sunday…this webcam will become black with night, and then light up again early Monday morning. Back down at the surface, our winds are north to NE, which has brought a slight chill to the air. This upper trough may trigger some locally heavy showers, or even a very random thunderstorm.
Monday through Wednesday – it appears that unsettled weather will prevail through this forecast period. "Unsettled weather" in this case, simply means that there will be a continued chance of scattered showers around. The winds will remain from the north to NE direction during the first half of this new week, with the best chance of showers focused over the windward sections. An upper level trough of low pressure may trigger a few heavy showers during this time period…with a continuation of this first slightly chilly weather of the autumn season. The leeward sides, other than along the Kona slopes, will likely have fine weather, although locally breezy and slightly cooler than usual. There looks to be sufficent moisture to feed showers at times, although there will be long periods of fine weather between showers.
Thanksgiving through Friday – it has been touch and go with this extended forecast period, and still isn’t clear about what will happen then. The truth is that it’s still too far out into the future to say for sure yet, although it would certainly be nice to have good weather for that important holiday. We’ll have to fine tune this outlook over the next few days.
It’s Sunday evening here in islands, as I start writing this last paragraph of today’s narrative. As you can see from reading down through the weather paragraphs above, we have some fairly interesting weather going on. This isn’t all that unusual for the deeper autumn month of November, as conditions change more often, at least compared to the more placid summer months. I still don’t see any overly serious weather problems through the next week however, although it will remain changable. ~~~ Here’s a link to an animated satellite image, so you can track where the cloudy areas are in the state now, even at night. In addition, here’s a looping radar image as well, so you can keep an eye on where the showers are falling too. ~~~ As noted above, the frontal boundary fell apart before getting very far into the state today. Here on Maui, I could see some towering cumulus to the north, although the showery clouds didn’t make it here. It’s just before sunset now, and glancing over towards Paia and Kahului, and then even further around in my chair to see the West Maui Mountains…there are cumulus clouds out there. A couple of these are trying to grow pretty tall, although there doesn’t seem to be quite enough atmospheric moisture, for these clouds to continue into much a shower bearing entity. The main term I would use to describe the weather today, that is if you weren’t under some showers, was the breezy north to NE winds. They were strong enough here at my house to lift a large umbrella, sitting over the downstairs outside eating table, lifted right up and over onto my large outside deck above! I’ll be back very early Monday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Sunday night! Aloha for now…Glenn.
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