Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs

Aloha Paragraphs



Hawaii truly is paradise!
Photo Credit: Flickr.com

Storms in the north central Pacific have weakened our local winds, which will remain light for the time being. Those storms are too far away to do much more than erode our trade wind producing high pressure ridge. This weather map shows two high pressure systems, one to the northwest, and the other to the northeast. There is a break in the connecting ridge between them…where the tail of a cold front exists. This is the cause our unusually light early summer winds now. We will have to wait until the middle of the work, before we see the return of strengthening trade winds.

The overlying atmosphere remains unusually dry and stable, at least from Kauai to Maui. Temperature inversions over the islands remain low and strong. This simply means that clouds will be limited in their vertical development, which keeps them from being showery. The winds are light enough that we’re in a convective weather pattern, with clear mornings, giving way to afternoon clouds. Moisture is very limited, which will keep those clouds from doing much for us…in terms of showers. The Big Island has had better luck, where localized showers were locally quite generous Sunday afternoon.



Meanwhile, the second and third tropical cyclones of the season, in the eastern Pacific remain active in the eastern Pacific…with the tropical storm names Boris and Cristina. They are both heading more or less straight westward, remaining at tropical storm stage, although both will be weakening back into the tropical depression category before too long. Here’s a storm tracking map, showing these storms in relation to the Hawaiian Islands. Here’s a picture of the storms from space, showing the classic counterclockwise swirl to them. There is no threat to the Hawaiian Islands, however the remnant moisture, as they spin in our direction and weaken…may bring an increase in tropical showers to the Aloha state by next weekend.



~~~  I’ve been harping on how unusual the current set of weather circumstances are for this time of year. Weather models now show whatever is left of the aforementioned cold front moving down near Kauai in a couple of days. This cold front is very unusual, with the lighter trade winds unusual too…although we can leave off the very word. Light winds, with that June sunshine blazing down, will give a very warm, and somewhat sultry feel to our environment. As mentioned above, days will begin near cloud free, although that daytime heating will start clouds forming over and around the mountains later in the mornings, through the afternoon hours. These clouds will gather most effectively over and around the mountains, spreading down towards the coasts locally. For the time being, most areas will remain dry, although that cold front mentioned above, with its remnant moisture, may bring a few light showers to Kauai, and it wouldn’t be out of the question to see the windward sides on the other islands picking up a few showers during the week from it too.

~~~ It’s early Sunday evening here in Kula, Maui. Skies are mostly clear, although as this satellite image shows, there are some clouds by Kauai, to the south of the cold front that is moving by to our north. If we take a quick look at the looping image, this streak of high clouds appears to be shifting to the west away from our islands. It’s hazy out there too, not quite as thick as it was Saturday evening, but plenty hazy enough anyway. This morning I decided to drive over to Haiku, for the summer orchid sale…and am glad I did, as I found a nice plant. I was so close to Paia, that it seemed ridiculous not to go the beach. I had a great beach walk, and a quick swim in the warm ocean, and after a little shopping, high-tailed it back up here to Kula. I got back home by mid-morning, and have been working and lounging in equal measure through the rest of the day. My neighbors invited me for a nice picnic lunch, which was delicious.

~~~ Speaking of food, I just made a great dinner, which I will eat during the week. I started off with extra virgin olive oil in a pan, throwing in a whole organic onion. Just for the record, all the vegetables were organic. At any rate, in went some nice Yukon potatoes, and a small hot pepper. I sliced up shitaki mushrooms, lots of them, and threw them in too. I had some yellow squash, and a cob of corn, which I added to the mix. Then I cut up some local Kula Asparagus, along with garlic. I let this cook for until the potatoes began softening. I had bought some very fresh Mahi Mahi at the store, and so right at the end I cut that up into small pieces and put that in with those veges. I went out to the garden and picked some cherry tomatoes, and brought in a handful of basil leaves, and tossed those in on top of everything. I’ll plate that, with some tasty hard grating cheese, give a couple of twists of black pepper, a pinch or two of salt, sprinkle on a fork full of capers, and oh boy…

~~~ It’s a little before sunset now, and after first cooking that great meal, and then writing about it for you, I’m getting hungry. I often take my dinner up here to my weather deck, with its bi-coastal views of Maui, and eat it while watching the sunset. I hope you had, or will have a great dinner too, I’ll be back very early Monday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have a great Sunday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.