Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / September 4-5, 2008

September 4-5 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 85
Honolulu, Oahu – 89
Kaneohe, Oahu – 85
Kahului, Maui – 88
Hilo, Hawaii – 85
Kailua-kona – 83

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the taller mountains…at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon:

Honolulu, Oahu – 87F  
Kailua-kona, Hawaii – 81

Haleakala Crater- 63 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 46 (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 Thursday afternoon:

0.22 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.35 Poamoho 2, Oahu
0.05 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.56 Kula Branch Station, Maui
0.26 Keahole airport, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1030 millibar high pressure system located far to the northeast of Hawaii. At the same time we find several low pressure systems, with their associated cold front, pushing the high pressure cell’s ridge down closer to our islands. This pressure configuration will prompt our local trade winds to be lighter through Saturday.

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

Large south swell breaking on our leeward beaches
Photo Credit: flickr.com

The trade winds will continue blowing, although getting lighter today through Saturday…picking up Sunday into early next week. As this weather map shows, we have a 1031 millibar high pressure system far northeast of our islands Thursday night…well offshore from the northern California/southern Oregon coast. There are several low pressure systems to the north-northwest, with their associated cold fronts in the middle latitudes of the north central Pacific. These areas of low pressure will push this high pressure system’s ridge down closer to our islands over the next couple of days. This in turn has softened our local winds, giving a somewhat muggy feeling to our atmosphere near the beaches. By the way, the cold fronts won’t be able to push down into our tropical latitudes…remaining far to the northwest of our Hawaiian Islands. The computer models suggest that later this weekend, into early next week, our trade winds will boost back into the moderately strong levels again.

There will be a few generally light showers on the windward sides, with some afternoon clouds and showers leeward as well. The lighter trade winds through Saturday will prompt some increase in afternoon upcountry showers falling locally. The bias for showers will return to the windward sides later this weekend into next week, as the trade winds become better established then. The overlying atmosphere is quite dry and stable at the moment, so that we shouldn’t see heavy showers falling anywhere. There are still no organized rain makers in our vicinity, so that fair weather will prevail. As usual, and depending upon the amount of upstream cloudiness, there will be fairly minor variations in showers arriving along our windward coasts and slopes…generally though most generous during the night and early morning hours.

In terms of tropical cyclones, all the action remains over in the Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.  At last count we have three tropical storms: Josephine, Ike, and Hanna in the Atlantic and Caribbean…with a fourth trying to breaking into this already well established group. Here’s a graphical map, showing these storms that continue to march westward. The next in line to impact the United States, will be tropical storm Hanna, which will bring inclement weather conditions all along the eastern seaboard…here’s a tracking map. Then Ike, which has become a hurricane, will slam through the Caribbean Islands, potentially on its way towards an impact in the United States. Here’s what the hurricane models are showing for Ike, which looks like it will become a potentially very dangerous storm…putting eastern Florida potentially under the gun. Josephine is still too far away to know what she will eventually do.

It’s early Thursday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I begin writing this last paragraph of today’s tropical weather narrative from Hawaii. These days its quite easy to get away with calling our local weather conditions normal. This hasn’t always been the case this year, although there hasn’t been anything all that unusual for the last month or more. We’ll continue to see just the fairly classic late summer trade wind weather pattern. The one thing though, that would qualify as headline weather news, is occurring in the marine sector, where high surf conditions prevail. This larger than normal south swell was generated late last week to the east of New Zealand, where a very dynamic storm generated swells in our direction. Not every leeward, south and west facing beach, will find these pounders breaking, but enough will, so that folks should pay close attention to not getting hurt out there in these waves! Other than that, I expect nice to very nice conditions to prevail, with perhaps more sunshine in general during the morning hours, than during the afternoons. I’ll be back very early Friday morning, well before sunrise as a matter of fact, preparing your next tropical weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have a great Thursday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Nissan Motor Company on Thursday became the first domestic automaker to launch a diesel car in Japan in six years, blazing the trail for rivals looking to revive the fuel-saving engine to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The X-Trail 20GT sport utility vehicle, powered by an engine lead-developed by partner Renault SA, is also the world’s first "clean" diesel car to meet Japan’s new emissions standards to kick in from October 2009, said to be the strictest in the world. Diesel cars make up more than half of the European market, but a powerful smear campaign by Tokyo’s popular governor in the late 1990s deriding them as smelly, noisy and polluting has all but erased the fuel-efficient cars from Japanese roads. Nissan was the standout among major automakers in U.S. auto sales data released on Wednesday, surprising investors with a 13.6 percent increase in August sales. The diesel X-Trail, only available in manual transmission, costs just under 3 million yen ($27,710), carrying a price premium of about 400,000 yen ($3,695) over a comparable gasoline version. Nissan said it hoped to sell about 100 units a month.

"For a long time, we had no diesel cars in Japan," Nissan Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga told a news conference. "I’m not sure how much it would spread in the market now, but if it does well we will consider broadening the line-up." The only other diesel car available in Japan now is Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz E320 CDI sedan, launched in late 2006. While the company says reception has exceeded its expectations, a sticker price of over 8 million yen ($73,510) has kept sales volumes here at a paltry 100 units a month. Volkswagen AG, Japan‘s top-selling foreign brand, is also preparing to offer a diesel car in Japan next year. Other domestic automakers, including Honda Motor Co, Mitsubishi Motors Corp and Subaru-maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, will be joining Nissan in the segment over the next few years. But conspicuously absent from that list is market leader Toyota Motor Corp, without which proliferation may be difficult.

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