Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs
Posted by GlennMarch 14-15 2008
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday:
Lihue, Kauai – 82
Honolulu, Oahu – 85
Kaneohe, Oahu – 81
Kahului, Maui – 82
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 83
Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at 4 a.m. Friday morning:
Kailua-kona – 76F
Hilo, Hawaii – 67
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 afternoon:
0.21 HANALEI RIVER, KAUAI
0.19 SOUTH FORK KAUKONAHUA, OAHU
0.02 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.36 OHEO GULCH, MAUI
0.61 GLENWOOD, BIG ISLAND
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map. A strong 1038 millibar high pressure center is located far to the northeast, which will keep moderate to fresh trade winds blowing through Sunday…locally stronger and gusty in those typically windiest spots around the state.
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.
The trade winds will prevail well into the future
Photo Credit: tmmaui.com
A strong high pressure system to the north of the islands, will keep breezy trade winds blowing into the weekend. These winds are blustery enough to have triggered a small craft wind advisory in those windiest areas around Maui and the Big Island. Wind speeds will vary between 5-25 mph generally, although there will be stronger gusts easily topping 30 mph in those wind enhanced places. These late winter trade winds are expected to remain active into the new week ahead…getting even stronger then.
All of this trade wind action is carrying showers into the windward sides of the islands…even a few possible along the leewards sides. There will be a fairly noticeable increase in showers falling along the windward sides now. As we move into Sunday, continuing into the new week ahead, we may see an even more substantial increase in showers along the windward sides, and perhaps over and around the mountains too.
It’s Friday evening as I begin updating last paragraph of today’s narrative. The headline weather news here in Hawaii, continues to be about the trade winds. They are rather gusty, but not all that strong, certainly not unusually strong. A strengthening high pressure system will move into the area northeast of the islands now, boosting our trade winds up a notch. As we move into the new week ahead, they may take yet another step up strength. ~~~ Meanwhile, we’re seeing an increase in showers, brought in by the trade winds now into the weekend. An upper level low pressure system is now located south of the islands, which will destabilize our local atmosphere. This will trigger more showers for over the mountains, and along the windward slopes over the next couple of day. If all this comes together as expected, we may see some fairly generous showers falling along the windward sides and again around the mountains. ~~~ Glancing at the following looping satellite image, we see evidence of the upper level trough to the south of the state. Those bright and white clouds are forming into towering cumulus clouds, and even thunderstorms. The tops of these cumulonimbus clouds, called cirrus, will be moving into the state from the south…carried by the strong winds aloft. This trough will enhance showers coming into the state now. ~~~ I’m about to leave Kihei, and rather than go see a new film this evening, I have plans to just head home to Kula, Maui, and meet a friend for dinner at my place. I might head over to Lahaina tomorrow morning with my surfboard, although apparently the surf didn’t arrive as expected along our south and west facing leeward beaches today, so I may have to make a new plan in the morning. At any rate, I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you’re spending it! I’ll be back Saturday morning with your next new narrative from paradise. Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: A Nepali airline cleared 17 tons of empty beer bottles and cans on Friday from around Lukla village, the main gateway for trekkers and climbers heading toMount Everest base camp, a company official said. Thousands of trekkers and mountain climbers from around the world go to the scenic Khumbhu region every year, towered by the 8,850 meter (29,035 feet) mountain. The trekkers scatter tons of empty beer bottles, plastic packets and cans in Lukla. On Friday, a private airline completed a huge clean up operation. "This is the last cargo in a series we began carrying in January," said Vinaya Shakya, a senior official of the Yeti Airlines, a private carrier which volunteered to do the clean up job. The bottles will be handed over to breweries for reuse, he added. The airline said they were hoping the campaign would create more awareness among both the tourists and the locals about preserving and improving the ecological balance in the high Himalayas. Foreign and Nepali climbers in the recent years have cleared many empty oxygen bottles, plastics, cans, ropes and broken ladders from the slopes of Everest. But the trekking trail from Lukla to the base camp was littered with garbage.
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