Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs

Brought to you by Maui Weather Today

February 4-5 2008

Air TemperaturesThe following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Monday: 

Lihue, Kauai – 75
Honolulu, Oahu – 78 
Kaneohe, Oahu – 75
Kahului, Maui – 75
Hilo, Hawaii – 75  
K
ailua-Kona, Hawaii – 81

Temperatures 
ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning:

Kailua-kona – 73F
Hilo, Hawaii – 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 Tuesday morning:

3.66 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI
1.63 KAHUKU TRAINING AREA
, OAHU
0.04 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
1.93 PUU KUKUI,
MAUI
4.81
WAIAKEA UKA, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map.  High pressure systems, two of them, are located far to the NE of the islands…with their associated ridge extending westward…to the north of Hawii. This pressure configuration will keep moderately strong trade winds blowing through Wednesday. 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


 

 Front row seat
photo credit: flickr.com

The trade winds will continue to blow through the week, although finally come back down into the moderately strong realms now.  The latest weather chart continues to show a hefty 1036 millibar high pressure system located to the northeast of Hawaii Monday night. As usual, those places sheltered from the gusty wind flow, will have lighter winds. Small craft wind advisories remain active in the windiest areas around the state. 

The heaviest rains have recently fallen on Kauai and the Big Island…with  perhaps one more day of this heavy rain threat.  The incoming showery clouds will be getting less frequent now, carried in our direction by the steady trade winds. There remains the chance that some of these showers will cause localized flooding…thus, the statewide flash flood watch remains in place Monday night. Looking further ahead, we should see some relief from these heavy rains by the time we reach mid-week and beyond.

It’s Monday evening as I begin updating this last paragraph of today’s narrative.  The combination of lots of moisture being carried our way on the gusty trade winds, and an upper level low pressure system, with its cold air aloft…has made our overlying atmosphere unstable and very shower prone the last several days. The upper low with its associated troughing, will be gradually moving away soon. This will take the threat of heavy showers with it, although, with the trade winds still blowing this week, we’ll continue to see at least some passing showers along those soggy windward coasts and slopes. ~~~ Monday remained on the cloudy side in most areas of the state. Although the rainfall definitely backed off to a large degree. There were some showers falling locally, although for the most part they remained over the offshore waters. As this looping satellite image shows, there remains a conveyor belt like flow of high and middle level clouds streaming over Hawaii from the tropics to our SW. It shows towering cumulus and thunderstorms to the SW of Oahu for the most part. The icy tops of these thunderstorms are moving up over the central islands. The actual thunderstorms and attendant heavy showers themselves, seem to be staying safely offshore at the time of this writing. This looping radar image shows an area of showers still looming offshore of the Big Island. The Big Island does not need anymore rainfall, especially from Kau to Puna and up along the windward sides! Here’s why ~~~ As I mentioned this morning, I’ve been having trouble with my internet connectivity at home. I had to drive down to the Maui Community College to update this webpage early Monday morning, along with the rest of my website. I’m not sure when this problem will be corrected, so there may be some irregularities over the next few days. I will be back very early Tuesday morning if all goes well, otherwise I’ll get the next new narrative out to you as soon as possible, one way or the other. (When I got home Monday evening, my computer worked just fine, and by the way it was pea soup foggy up here on the slopes of the Haleakala Crater, in Kula, Maui, one of my favorite weather types) I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: "Take a hike!" isn’t just a rebuff. Now it’s also a plea from environmental scientists. Researchers have found that people are enjoying the outdoors less than they used to, which may lead to decreased interest in protecting the environment.

Over the past 20 years, trips to U.S. parks have declined about 20 percent. In 2006, about 273,000 Americans visited a state or national park, down from about 287,000 people in 1987, according to a new study by conservation scientists Oliver Pergams of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Patricia Zaradic of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. This averages out to roughly 0.9 visits per person a year now, compared to 1.2 visits 20 years ago.

And it’s not just park visits that are down, but almost every form of outdoor recreation, including camping, hunting and fishing.

The researchers blame this outdoor decline on a phenomenon they’ve termed videophilia — a pervasive preference for experiencing the world through electronic media rather than actually leaving the house.

Famous aviation quotes: ‘You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal.’

‘Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to complete the flight successfully.’

‘The only time you have too much fuel is when you’re on fire.’

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