August 9-10 2008

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday afternoon: 

Lihue, Kauai – 87
Honolulu, Oahu – 88
Kaneohe, Oahu – 84
Kahului, Maui – 87
Hilo, Hawaii – 85
Kailua-kona – 85

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the taller mountains…at 5 p.m. Saturday evening:

Honolulu, Oahu – 85F  
Molokai airport – 79 

Haleakala Crater- 50 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 39 (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)

Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Saturday afternoon:

1.27 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.31 South Fork Kaukkonahua, Oahu
0.03 Molokai
0.09 Lanai
0.02 Kahoolawe
0.57 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.20 Glenwood, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1026 millibar high pressure system located to the north of Hawaii. Our local winds be moderately strong, although stronger and gusty in the channels and those windiest places around the state…lighter Monday.

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. 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 weather conditions.

Aloha Paragraphs


http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1015/1420435371_a6dc106198.jpg?v=0
   Rocky Point, on the island of Oahu
   Photo Credit: flickr.com

 

Our local trade winds will remain on the breezy side…then relax a little as we move into the new week ahead.  The NWS forecast office in Honolulu continues its small craft wind advisories over those windiest areas around the state, stretching from the Kaiwi channel separating Oahu and Molokai…down across Maui to the Big Island in select coastal and channel waters. The trade winds will relax in strength after the weekend, but remain active well into the future, keeping moderately strong trade winds blowing across our tropical latitudes of the north central Pacific.

There don’t appear to be any organized rain makers taking aim on our Hawaiian Islands for the time being. The rainfall associated with compact tropical depression Kika, is too far south to bring moisture up into our latitudes. This leaves us in what we could consider a fairly normal trade wind weather pattern, with just the usual generally light passing showers, favoring the night and early morning hours. Most leeward beaches will remain dry, although there may be an occasional shower here and there. There’s a chance that later next week may find an increase in showers, as moisture arrives from the deeper tropics.

The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) continues tracking recently upgraded tropical storm Kika, our first cyclone of the 2008 hurricane season…located to the south of the islands Saturday night. Here’s a looping satellite picture of this tropical cyclone. Here’s a storm tracking map to show this tropical system in relation to the Hawaiian Islands – please note that we have a hurricane in the eastern Pacific, named Hernan. Hernan is a strong hurricane with winds near 120 mph, which will be peaking out in strength soon, before it moves over cooler water and down cycles in strength thereafter. Despite all this tropical activity, neither of these storms will have any influence on our local weather here in the Hawaiian Islands. 

~~~ This satellite image shows the three main areas of interest around the Hawaiian Islands. The area north of Hawaii is high cirrus clouds, no rain there, and too far away to dim our moon or sunshine at the moment. The area to the south, below the islands, is tropical storm Kika moving to the west more or less. The large area to the southeast, to the lower right of the islands, is an area of tropical moisture, which may or may not move northwest over our area later in the new week ahead? If it were to move into our neck of the woods, there’s a chance it could deposit rainfall, perhaps even heavy preciptiation, which would be a positive step in pushing back the drought conditions that exist in many parts of the Hawaiian Islands at the moment. The GFS model (at the time of this writing) shows this area of tropical clouds moving more or less towards us during the next week, with the trade winds carrying it by to our south thereafter. I wonder if the northern fringe of that cloud shield might bring rains to the Big Island and Maui around next Thursday or Friday? 

It’s early Saturday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I begin writing this last section of today’s narrative.  Saturday was a great day here in the islands, albeit it a bit windier than usual in some places. Skies remained quite clear and sunny generally, with just the few showers falling as expected, along the windward sides of the islands. I see little change in store through the rest of this weekend. I had to go over to Haiku for a haircut this morning, which put me within close proximity of Baldwin Beach. I hit the beach, only to find the sand blowing around, and the ocean full of white caps. I took a nice walk anyway, and found the ocean to be warm and friendly, even though the waves were somewhat larger than what I would expect on a summer day. All the trade winds have kicked up a wind swell along our east facing beaches, which send some wrapping waves over to the north shores. When I drove by Hookipa Beach Park, there were members of the surfing and windsurfing communities taking full advantage of the waves that were breaking there. I’m home in Kula now, and ready to watch what looks like it will be a nice sunset from my weather deck. I’ll be back Sunday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Unbelievably large waves…in Tahiti!!