Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / April 12-13, 2010

April 12-13, 2010

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

Lihue, Kauai – 79
Honolulu, Oahu – 80
Kaneohe, Oahu – 78
Kaunakakai, Molokai – 74
Kahului, Maui – 77
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
Kailua-kona – 80

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

Barking Sands, Kauai – 83F
Molokai Airport – 71

Haleakala Crater –    46 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 41 (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 Monday afternoon:

1.26 Mount Waialaele, Kauai  
0.22 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.08 Molokai 
0.02 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
1.21 Puu Kukui, Maui 
0.40 Mountain View, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a strong 1038 millibar high pressure system located far to the northwest of the islands. At the same time, we have a 1019 millibar low to our north. This low, in addition to a trough of low pressure in the vicinity of the islands…will keep our winds northeast to ENE into mid-week.

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

  Mostly windward showers

A trough of low pressure, with its associated clouds and showers, moved into the state today…the bulk of which has fallen along the windward sides. The north edge of this shower area missed Kauai, and will reach the Big Island with time. The majority of the precipitation has fallen over the islands of Oahu down through Maui County so far…as shown on this IR satellite image. This main band of clouds, associated with the trough, will slowly move southwest, eventually clearing Oahu, although at the same time sag down over the Big Island’s windward side. This doesn’t look like one of those bands that will just whisk on through, leaving clear skies in its wake…like we saw during the afternoon Sunday. The computer models show it hanging around through Tuesday into even Wednesday. The forecast then calls for drier air to move in for several days. There’s still that outside chance that we could see another round of showers arriving later Friday into the weekend…although that’s still uncertain at this point.

Perhaps the more interesting news this week will come in the form of cooler weather…riding into the state on north-northeast to northeast winds. As we know, this time of year we most often have the trade winds blowing. It’s not at all usual to find north to NE breezes blowing in April. We can see the reason for this by quickly glancing at this weather map. We see a common high pressure system far to the northwest, although it is quite strong… weighing-in at 1038 millibars. The unusual aspect to this weather chart is the 1019 millibar gale low pressure system to our north. This low is moving southeast, and as it gets into the sub-tropics, it will prompt the air flow coming in our direction, to become near directly north. As we know, winds coming in from the north, rather than the east, are coming in from a colder area of the Pacific…and traveling over cooler water before arriving here in the tropics. Thus, the prospect for cooler than normal spring season conditions exist this week. We won’t be seeing snow flurries or even frost, although the air temperatures will be several degrees cooler than normal for this time of year. The one exception during these episodes can be the Kona area on the Big Island, blocked from the north winds…allowing warmer temperatures to prevail there.





It’s Monday evening as I begin writing this last section of today’s narrative.  If you live on, or are visisting the windward sides of Oahu or Maui, you saw a big change from Sunday. A band of clouds and at least a few showers rolled in this morning, and have stayed put all day. Actually, as it turns out, most of the water fell in the upcountry areas…although it was cloudy downcountry. We can take a look at these showers using this looping radar image. The islands of Kauai and the Big Island missed the bulk of these showers, although did get a few. My neighbor just came back up from Paia, and said it wasn’t raining down below, although it has lightly showered up here in Kula all day. ~~~ At around 530pm, it’s still raining up here in Kula, and the air temperature never got higher than the mid 60’s under this thick cloud cover. It’s 62.8F degrees at the moment. This is fine with me, as I’ll just slip into my rain jacket, and take a nice walk around soon. I’ll be back early Tuesday morning, with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Monday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.