Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / June 2-3, 2010

June 2-3, 2010

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

Lihue, Kauai – 83
Honolulu, Oahu – 84
Kaneohe, Oahu – 82
Kaunakakai, Molokai – 86
Kahului, Maui – 88
Hilo, Hawaii – 83
Kailua-kona – 83

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level around the state – and on the highest mountains…at 5pm Wednesday evening:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 85F
Molokai airport – 77

Haleakala Crater –    59 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 45 (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 Wednesday afternoon:

0.26 Mount Waialaele, Kauai  
0.06 Punaluu Pump, Oahu
0.00 Molokai 
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.02 Kahakuloa, Maui
0.06 Kawainui Stream, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1024 millibar high pressure system to our northeast. The trade wind flow will become gradually lighter Thursday into Friday.

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. Of course, as we know, our hurricane season won’t begin again until June 1st here in the central Pacific.

 Aloha Paragraphs

The beautiful coast on Kauai

The trade winds remained plenty active Wednesday, with some of the windiest places finding gusts well up into the 40 mph range…almost reaching 50 mph on the small island of Kahoolawe. This should be the last day of the strongest and gusty trade winds for a while, at least through the end of this week. The latest computer models are suggesting that our winds will become lighter than normal starting Thursday through next Monday, then rebound back into the moderate to fresh category next Tuesday onwards. June is a windy month typically, so it would be even more unusual to have another soft spot in our trade wind flow during these last few weeks, leading up to the summer solstice. The current thought is that the trade winds while weakening…won’t go away completely. This weather map shows an elongated ridge of high pressure running more or less west to east, to the north of the islands…with a 1024 millibar anchoring high pressure system to our northeast. There are a series of low pressure systems, connected by their associated cold fronts, stretched out across all of the Pacific Ocean. As these lows and fronts move along in the prevailing westerly wind flow, to the north of the ridge, they will push the ridge down a bit closer to Kauai with time. Lighter winds can mean an added degree of mugginess, along with a couple of degrees of added heat during the days…and slightly cooler air temperatures in the early morning hours.

Rainfall has been minimal during the last 24 hours, as indicated by the meager precipitation totals. There are areas around the state early Wednesday afternoon that are totally clear of clouds. What clouds there are, consist of dry and stable cumulus and stratocumulus clouds. This satellite image shows the abundance of low clouds generally to our north, east, and south. The verifying fact however, can be established without a doubt, by glancing at this looping radar image. If we pull our view back even further, using this satellite picture, we see lots of pretty serious thunderstorms well down to the southwest through southeast, along with some minor cirrus clouds between here and there…and to the north of our islands too. In between the thin cirrus, we see those scattered clouds being carried along in our trade wind flow…across the Hawaiian Islands. As the trade winds continue, only in a softer fashion, there will be a few passing showers, generally along our windward coasts and slopes. Depending upon just how light the trade winds get, which will be determined by how close the ridge gets to Kauai, we could see some afternoon convective clouds forming over and around the mountains during the afternoon hours. As the overlying atmosphere is so dry and stable however, it would be surprising to see more than a few stray drops of rain. As we move into the Sunday-Monday time frame, an upper level low pressure system may enhance some of these showers…hopefully!

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











The trade winds remained blustery today, and at around 5pm this evening, were still gusting 38 mph on Kahoolawe. At one point today, before the afternoon clouds began gathering around the mountains, it was absolutely clear here on Maui. It appears that Thursday will be another somewhat windy day, at least that could be inferred by seeing that the NWS is keeping the small craft wind advisory alive overnight…in the windiest areas around Maui and the Big Island. This advisory is active through at least 6am Thursday morning. The way the winds look at this point, they will in fact begin to wind down later Thursday into Friday into the weekend. ~~~ This afternoon here on Maui, the clouds quickly began forming around the slopes of the Haleakala Crater at mid-afternoon, and completely circle the Crater early this evening. Those clouds will collapse again after dark on the leeward slopes, although will actually increase along the windward sides during the cool of the night into the early morning hours. There may be a few showers, but again, not many. I’ll look forward to catching up with you again early Thursday morning, at which point I’ll have your next new weather narrative here waiting. I hope you have a great Wednesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.