Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs
Posted by GlennNovember 7-8 2007
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 84
Honolulu, Oahu – 86
Kaneohe, Oahu – 83
Kahului, Maui – 88
Hilo, Hawaii – 85
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 85
Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at 4 a.m. Thursday morning:
Kaneohe, Oahu – 78F
Kahului, Maui – 69
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Thursday morning:
0.10 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI
0.22 OAHU FOREST NWR, OAHU
0.00 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.66 ULUPALAKUA, MAUI
1.46 HAKALAU, BIG ISLAND
Weather Chart – A trade wind producing 1024 millibar high pressure system to the NE, with its associated ridge to Hawaii’s north, will bring back the trade winds now. They will start off on the light side, picking up a little more strength Friday. 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.
Hawaiian rainbow low on the horizon
photo credit: flickr.com
The Kona low pressure system, more or less to the west of Hawaii now, continues to move away, although very slowly. This departing low pressure trough still was close enough, that on the eastern flank of this weather feature, we saw a few heavy showers congregating around the Big Island. Here’s a looping satellite image to help you get a picture of what’s being described above. Many parts of the Aloha state will continue to see clearing skies now, which will increase as we move into the Thursday and Friday time frame…although the windward sides will likely see continued off and on showers, as the returning trade winds bring in showery clouds.
The trade winds will hold off filling back into the islands until later in the day or Thursday. The return of this easterly trade wind flow will bring us back into a more normal trade wind weather pattern soon. This simply means that we’ll see sunnier weather for the south and west facing leeward beaches. The north and east facing windward sides will see perhaps more than the usual passing showers into Thursday…then drier weather Friday into the weekend. The latest computer forecast model information suggests that the trade winds, once they begin blowing, will continue to do so through the rest of this week.
It’s Wednesday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I start writing this last paragraph of today’s narrative. This Kona low, which brought locally heavy rains, especially to the island of Oahu, this past weekend, continues to gradually fade away to our west. The computer forecast models had indicated it would take until Wednesday before finally losing its influence…which is turning out to be accurate…although some parts of the state remains a bit wet still. Since it started influencing our area this past weekend, which was five days ago now, it seems to be drawing out into quite a long time. I’m sure this is true for all those sun worshippers out there, not to mention the vacationers who want nothing but pure sunshine beaming down! There have been more than the ordinary cloudy skies lately, although it won’t be long now before sunshine will be much more abundant. ~~~ Now that we’re into the month of November, we enter into the heart of our wet season, which extends through February. This certainly doesn’t mean that it will be raining on a daily basis, which is far from the truth. Although it does imply that we will begin to see a few more cold fronts arriving, and a generally tendency for more showers to arrive…than during our long hot summer season. We have what we call a La Nina phase of the ENSO cycle active now, which suggests that we’ll see a tendency for a slightly wetter than normal winter coming up. ~~~ I’m up in Kula, after a very, very volcanically hazy drive home from Kihei. Here in the upcountry area, the clouds are hanging low, low enough in fact for the tree tops to be cut in half by fog. It’s a heavy atmosphere here on Maui, ripe for showers, although they aren’t falling here at the moment. ~~~ I’ll be back early Thursday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Wednesday night until then, wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
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