Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / January 3-4, 2010

January 3-4, 2010

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

Lihue, Kauai – 80
Honolulu, Oahu – 82
Kaneohe, Oahu – 82
Kaunakakai, Molokai – 80
Kahului, Maui – 82
Hilo, Hawaii – 85
Kailua-kona – 82

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level around the state – and on the highest mountains…at 4pm Sunday afternoon:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 82F
Molokai airport – 77

Haleakala Crater – 55 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 43 (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 Sunday afternoon:

0.19 Puu Opae, Kauai  
0.16 Hawaii Kai, Oahu
0.01 Molokai 
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.01 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.02 Laupahoehoe, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a ridge of high pressure over the Big Island, along with an approaching cold front to the northwest. Our winds will be locally quite strong and gusty from the southwest.

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with this 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. Finally, here’s a Looping IR satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. 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.

Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here.

Aloha Paragraphs

President Obama…golfs on last day in Hawaii

Clouds mixed with clear areas, along with some localized volcanic haze…is the name of the game Sunday night. The overlying atmosphere is stable however, which will generally keep showers on the light side. Those places out from under the clouds will have clear to partly cloudy skies, with sunshine during the days…especially the north and northeast coasts. As you can see from this satellite image, we have the next cold front bearing down on the islands. There are some clouds draped over and around the islands, although as this looping radar image shows, there are only a few showers riding up from the area southwest of the Aloha state. 





Winds are blowing from the southwest now…which will be strengthening some into Monday. This orientation of the wind reflects the approach of the cold front, seen to the north and northwest of the islands, in the satellite picture above. We find some diminishing volcanic haze in our Hawaiian Island weather picture…which will stick around in some form for a while longer. The cold front, expected to arrive Monday on Kauai, shouldn’t be much of a rainfall producer, and will likely stall over Kauai or Oahu. A second frontal boundary, which won’t deliver many more more showers than this first one…will arrive by mid-week.

As noted above, we have two cold fronts that will arrive as we move into the new work week ahead. The first will bring showers to Kauai, and perhaps Oahu into Tuesday. The southwest Kona winds will become locally quite gusty ahead of this first front. The volcanic haze will stay in place, and won’t be ventilated away completely until after the second cold front arrives around Wednesday. We’ll see a brief period of north to northeast breezes after that front, before another spell of light winds arrives later Friday into next weekend…ahead of the next cold front early next week. It’s still too early to know how much, if any, showers will arrive that far out into the future.

It’s Sunday evening, as I begin writing the last section of today’s narrative. 







Looking out the window later in the day Sunday, I still can’t see the West Maui Mountains, due to the  vog, as was the case this morning…although it seems somewhat thinner just after sunset. The southwest winds, ahead of this next cold front, are locally quite gusty. The strongest winds were being reported at several spots late in the afternoon hours, with gusts topping 30 mph. These winds were generally blowing from Kauai down through Maui County, to the north of the high pressure ridge draped over the Big Island. Winds there were much lighter, almost all under 10 mph, with Honokaa reporting calm conditions. As the satellite image above, and the looping radar image, also in that first paragraph show…not much is happening as we move into Sunday night. As a matter of fact, even Kauai, which will get the most rainfall from the cold front, won’t likely see much of anything until later in the day Monday. ~~~ It’s been a good weekend, and actually everything has been good since New Year’s Eve, when this long weekend began! I suppose I have mixed feeling about having the holiday’s be over, and work about to begin in earnest again tomorrow morning. The larger part of me though, is looking forward to getting up early, meditating, putting out a new website narrative, this page, taking my early morning walk, then getting ready for the drive down to Kihei, for a full work day. Fortunately I still love my work, as we launch off into this 2010 work year. I hope you have a great Sunday night, and perhaps meet me here again soon! Aloha for now…Glenn.