Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday:
Lihue, Kauai – 84
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 85
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Molokai airport – 83
Kahului airport, Maui – 86 (record for Friday – 92 in 1997, 1953, 1980)
Kona airport 83
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 84
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Friday evening:
Honolulu, Oahu – 84
Lihue, Kauai – 78
Haleakala Crater – 45 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 32 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Friday evening:
1.79 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.51 South Fork Kaukonahua, Oahu
0.28 Molokai
0.07 Lanai
0.13 Kahoolawe
1.49 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.20 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1034 millibar high pressure system to the north-northeast, with another 1030 millibar high pressure cell to the north-northwest of our islands. Our local trade winds will remain active through Sunday.
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 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. 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 web cam on the summit of near 13,500 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 web cams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon shining down during the night at times. Plus, during the nights you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise and sunset 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. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. Here's a tropical cyclone tracking map for the eastern and central Pacific.
Aloha Paragraphs
Improving weather this weekend…continuing into the new week ahead
The trade winds will remain active into the upcoming weekend and beyond. Glancing at this weather map, we find a 1034 millibar high pressure system, located far to the north-northeast of our islands, with a 1030 millibar high pressure system located to the north-northeast Friday night. This map also shows the short dash red line…which is the trough of low pressure, which recently moved through the state today, and will pass westward during the night into Saturday.
Our trade winds will remain active…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Friday evening:
28 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
17 Waianae, Oahu – NE
28 Molokai – NE
10 Kahoolawe – SE
25 Kahului, Maui – NE
09 Lanai – NE
29 South Point, Big Island – NE
We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Friday night. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find low level clouds surrounding the islands…in association with the trough of low pressure moving through the islands tonight. We can use this looping satellite image to see lower level clouds being carried along in the low level wind flow…with a slight counterclockwise rotation now to our west. Checking out this looping radar image we see light to moderately heavy showers [some locally heavier] being carried along in the wind flow, bringing moisture to the islands.
Sunset Commentary: Low pressure had its way with our local Hawaiian Island weather Friday. We've had low pressure located from the surface, extending well up into the atmosphere recently. The usual trade wind inversion, which helps to cap the vertical growth of clouds, was completely gone. This allowed cumulus clouds to reach up as high as 20,000 feet, which in turn triggered some locally heavy showers. There haven’t been any thunderstorm reports, due to the lack of sufficiently cold air up high.
The bulk of this precipitation fell along our windward sides. This wasn't a hard fast rule however, as many places in the island chain ended up seeing at least some showers. This looping radar image shows where rainfall is occurring in the moment. There had been, and may continue to be some yellow and even some small red dots in this rainfall field, which means that they are moderate to locally heavy. This hasn’t been a widespread rain event, although Oahu had some good soaking rainfall this morning, even on the leeward sides into the afternoon hours. This trough’s influence on us will stick around into early Saturday, although should exit to the west later in the day.
Following closely in the wake of this small area of low pressure, will be a fairly routine trade wind weather pattern. The better part of this weekend will be just fine, and noticeably drier than what we’ve been experiencing today. As the trade winds pick up this weekend, and continue on into the new week, we’ll see the return of our normal few passing showers along our windward sides. This coming Monday is the beginning of August, and should find our weather matching climatology pretty closely. Speaking of climatology, there aren’t any active tropical cyclones in the eastern Pacific, much less our central Pacific…just the way we like it!
Here in Kihei, Maui, at around 530pm HST Friday evening, skies were partly cloudy. There looks like there are showers falling locally in several directions, although it was a nice breezy evening here on the coast. I'm heading over to Kahului now to see a new film. This is the new Harry Potter film called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2…starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson among all the many others. Harry, Ron, and Hermione return to Hogwarts for the epic battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world. Since I saw all the others, it seems to make sense to see this one too. This film is getting great reviews, averaging a high A- grade. I've been bidding my time to see this one, as I didn't want the crowd to be too large. I'll let you know what I thought Saturday morning, when I'll be back with your next new narrative. Here's a trailer for this film by the way, just in case you're curious about it. Aloha for now…Glenn.
Extra: Fun loving dog video…thanks to youtube
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