Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs

January 29-30 2008

1.92 MOHIHI CROSSING, KAUAI
1.62 PALOLO FIRE STATION, OAHU
0.50 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.01 KAHOOLAWE
4.13 PUU KUKUI, MAUI
3.21 LAUPAHOEHOE, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map.  High pressure systems, located far to the north and NE of the islands, will keep locally strong and gusty trade winds blowing across our area through Thursday…and beyond. 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.

Aloha Paragraphs


This zoomed picture of the Haleakala Crater
on Maui, was taken from Kihei on Tuesday
Photo Credit: Rich Nezelek
 

This picture was taken from upper Kula, Maui
photo credit: Kevin Ditamore

This air in a hurry will continue to move across the Hawaiian Islands. The latest weather map shows the same 1034 millibar high pressure system located directly to the north of Hawaii Tuesday evening. This trade wind producing high pressure cell seems to like being just where it is, with only minor fluctuations in location and strength expected through the next week. The net result will be for moderate to locally strong and gusty trade winds to continue. As usual, those places sheltered from the gusty wind flow, will have lighter winds. 

There are more than the ordinary clouds stretched across the Aloha state now, many of which are shower producers. These incoming showery clouds, carried by the trade winds, will be quite numerous…some of which will be briefly quite heavy. These active showers will for the most part be restricted to the windward coasts and slopes. Although, with the trade winds blowing this strongly, there’s always the chance that some of these windward biased showers will be blown over into the leeward sides…especially on the smaller islands. There’s even the chance that we could see a random thunderstorm, due to the cold air aloft over the islands now.

It’s Tuesday evening as I begin writing this last paragraph of today’s narrative.  The two main ingredients of our local Hawaiian weather picture continue to be the blustery trade winds, and the numerous showers.  Meanwhile, we have colder than normal air high up, the freezing level of the air Tuesday hovered right around the 10,000 foo level. This has brought snow to the tops of the mountains on Maui and the Big Island. Here’s a link to the top of the near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea summit on the Big Island…where’s there lot of the white stuff. ~~~ The cold air aloft has made tall cumulus clouds build up over and around the islands of Maui and the Big Island. These towering cumulus clouds have even attained thunderstorm proportions at times. One such thunderstorm brought dime to quarter size hail to the Kona area on the Big Island! At lunch I sat at the beach for a while in Kihei, and saw anvil top thunderstorms looming just offshore from Paia and Haiku here on Maui. This looping satellite image shows these white bright clouds, meaning they have very cold tops, around Maui and the Big Island. We should probably add this looping radar image as well, so you can keep track of where those heavist showers are falling. This unsettled weather, along with the gusty trade winds, will persist through much of the rest of this week, and perhaps into the early part of next week. We’re in the heart of winter now! ~~~ I’ll be back very early Wednesday morning with the next new weather narrative for you. I hope you have a great Tuesday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn. 

Famous Quote: "Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers"