Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs

Our local winds here in Hawaii will remain light and variable in direction through the work week…with trade winds reaching up over the Big Island at times. Storms in the middle latitudes of the north central Pacific, are keeping our trade wind producing high pressure ridge just to the north of the island of Kauai Wednesday night.  Daytime sea breezes will occur near the beaches, followed by downslope land breezes during the nights. We’ll see brisk south to SW kona winds arriving later Saturday into Sunday, associated with an active cold front arriving Sunday into Monday…followed by cool north winds after it passes through. Light trade winds will return next Tuesday for a few days.

Exceptionally clear weather will continue, with a modest amount of afternoon clouds forming over and around the mountains during the late afternoons. Those relatively minor stratus and stratocumulus clouds will clear back at night, providing a good view of the full moon Wednesday evening here in the islands. The overlying atmosphere is unusually dry and stable at the moment. This will keep whatever showers that may fall in the upcountry areas very light and spotty at best. The computer models are showing a showery cold front arriving Sunday into Monday, followed by more dry weather as we move into the first several days of next week.

It’s Wednesday evening as I begin updating this last paragraph of today’s narrative. A light winded convective weather pattern remains in residence over the Hawaiian Islands now. Clear nights, with cooler than normal temperatures, will provide a near cloud free start to the days. As the sun gets higher in the sky, clouds will begin to form over and around the mountains later in the afternoon hours, although will be very limited in coverage. ~~~ As mentioned above, the Hawaiian Islands are enjoying a very dry period of weather, with the largest rainfall amount anywhere in the Aloha state a scant .03" during the last 24 hours…which is essentially nothing for Hawaii! The inversion layer over the islands is a very low 4,000 feet, which simply means that whatever few clouds that do form, will be very thin and not likely to drop any rain. ~~~ The next chance for an increase in showers will arrive later this weekend, as we finally see a cold front push down through the state of Hawaii Sunday into Monday. We haven’t had such a weather feature in a long time, not since well back in January. This will be a brief affair however, with cool north winds following closely in its wake…bringing more dry weather our way. ~~~ Wednesday evening at 5:31 HST will find the February full moon. For you astrology fans, it will be in the sign of Virgo. The late afternoon clouds will evaporate quickly this evening, clearing the way for great full moon viewing opportunities tonight! ~~~ Wednesday was almost an exact duplicate of Tuesday’s weather conditions. The few clouds that formed where few and far between, and remained benign in terms of precipitation. I anticipate that Thursday will be very similar to the last two days, with little change moving into Friday as well. As I’m fond of saying lately, this weather pattern is providing some of the best weather of winter 2008! I’ll be back very early Thursday morning, after a bright night of reflected sunlight off the full moon! I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you happen to be. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Northern China is likely to be hit with more frequent and more severe sandstorms this year, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday, posing a challenge to Olympics organizers hoping for blue skies over Beijing.  Sandstorms were forecast to increase this spring in the northern provinces of Inner Mongolia and Hebei, which surrounds Beijing, Xinhua said, citing the China Meteorological Administration.  Eastern regions would be prone to drought, which could raise the risk of forest fires.  Meteorologists said the adverse forecasts were related to the La Nina weather phenomenon.  But decades of overgrazing and deforestation mean that China is also fighting to contain its deserts, whose spread has helped fuel the sandstorms that lash the country’s north every spring and whose effects are felt in South Korea and Japan.  Beijing has pledged to hold a sandstorm-free Olympics come August, and has launched campaigns to restore denuded land and plant trees, with its noxious air quality a major concern for both athletes and organizers.

Glenn’s TV Weather show is back online now. One day’s show will replaced with the next new days show at around 9am HST (11am PST – 2pm EST)…Monday through Friday. Thanks to the folks at the Maui Media Lab in Paia for making this happen! I was just informed that about 100 people a day are taking the time to watch the show, thanks for your viewership!