Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs
Posted by Glenn
January 31-February 1 2008
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday:
Lihue, Kauai – 75
Honolulu, Oahu – 80
Kaneohe, Oahu – 77
Kahului, Maui – 74
Hilo, Hawaii – 68
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 80
Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at 4 a.m. Friday morning:
Honolulu, Oahu – 72F
Molokai airport – 65
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Friday morning:
0.93 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI
0.98 MANOA LYON ARBORETUM, OAHU
0.16 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.09 KAHOOLAWE
7.98 PUU KUKUI, MAUI
3.28 HILO AIRPORT, BIG ISLAND
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map. High pressure systems, located far to the north-northeast and NE of the islands, will keep moderate to locally strong and gusty trade winds blowing across our area through the rest of this week. Here’s a Weather Map Symbol page for clarification about what all those weather symbols mean on the map.
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.
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.
Palm trees swaying to and fro in the gusty trade winds
photo credit: flickr.com
The never ending showers continue along the windward sides, making for pretty soggy conditions. These incoming showery clouds, carried by the trade winds, will be quite numerous…some of which may be briefly heavy along the windward sides of Maui and the Big Island. The cold air aloft over the eastern end of the Hawaiian Islands, which triggered the snow over the summits on Maui and the Big Island, will be warming. However, there is still enough cold air around that snow may fall over Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on the Big Island Thursday. Thursday was a transition day, with still a fair amount of instability around…which allowed a few briefly heavy showers to fall near Maui and the Big Island.
It’s Thursday evening as I begin updating this last paragraph of today’s narrative. It’s mid-winter in the northern hemisphere, what I’ve been calling the heart of winter recently. This reality came into sharp focus the last few days, with all the snowfall atop the summits on Maui and the Big Island! The lowlands, down near sea level too, are experiencing chilly temperatures. Case in point, the warmest temperature at sea level at any of the major airport weather stations Wednesday, reached only 78F degrees. The highest temperature at the Kahului airport yesterday was an unusually cool 70F degrees! Thursday was a little warmer, although not by much. Air temperatures were able however to reach at least 80F degrees at both Honolulu and Kona…although both readings barely made the grade! By the way, this afternoon it showered again in Kihei, not a major soaking, although the streets were all wet…as were the diehard sun bathers at the beach. ~~~ As noted in the paragraphs above, the windward sides will remain off and on wet through the rest of this week. Also, the trade winds will be part and parcel of our local Hawaiian Island weather picture through the remainder of this week as well. Looking at the first part of next week, it appears that we may see our winds get lighter and they may even turn to the warmer SE direction by mid-week. ~~~ I’ll be back with your next new weather narrative very early Friday morning, here’s wishing you a great Thursday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: The year 2005 – A female great white shark named " Nicole", tagged in waters of South Africa, traveled farther than any other shark known, more than 12,400 miles to the coast of Australia and back again in just under nine months. Although Nicole took frequent plunges to depths as great as 3,125 feet, she spent most of her time swimming along the surface, leading researchers to suspect that perhaps great white sharks use celestial cues for transoceanic navigation.
Interesting2: A water supply crisis is looming in the western United States thanks to human-caused climate change that already has altered the region’s river flows, snow pack and air temperatures, scientists said. Trends over the past half century foreshadow a worsening decline in water, perhaps the region’s most valuable natural resource, even as population and demand expands in western states, researchers led by a scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography wrote in the journal Science on Thursday. Up to 60 percent of changes in three key factors affecting the West’s water cycle — river flow, winter air temperatures and snow pack — are due to human-caused climate change, they determined using multiple computer models and data analysis. "Our results are not good news for those living in the western
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