Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / August 18-19, 2011

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

Lihue, Kauai –                    86           
Honolulu airport, Oahu –    89  (record for Thursday – 93 in 1995) 
Kaneohe, Oahu –                83
Molokai airport –                 85
Kahului airport, Maui –         87  
Kona airport                       84  
Hilo airport, Hawaii –           83

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Thursday evening:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 87
Hilo, Hawaii – 80

Haleakala Crater –     52 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 50 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)

Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Thursday evening:

0.13     Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.24     Wilson Tunnel, Oahu
0.00     Molokai
0.00     Lanai
0.00     Kahoolawe
0.39     West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.65     Mountain View, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1025 millibar high pressure system to the north of our islands, with another 1029 millibar high pressure cell to our far northeast. Our local trade winds will remain active through Friday, slowing down a touch into the weekend.

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

  Trade wind weather pattern continues on Friday
     
 
 

 
 

The trade winds will continue, moderate to locally strong and gusty…somewhat lighter during the upcoming weekend and beyond.  Glancing at this weather map, we find a moderately strong 1025 millibar high pressure system to the north of the islands, with a 1029 millibar high pressure cell far to the northeast.  These high pressure areas and their associated ridges will provide steady trade winds…locally stronger and gusty today. The small craft wind advisory continues in those windiest coasts and channels around Maui County and the Big Island. 

Our trade winds will remain active…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Thursday evening: 

28                 Port Allen, Kauai – ENE  
24                 Honolulu, Oahu – NE  
24                 Molokai – NE
28                 Kahoolawe – E
33                    Kapalua, Maui – NE
17                 Lanai    
33                    Kawaihae, Big Island – E

We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Thursday night. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find scattered low level clouds in most directions, some of which are being carried through the islands…with a small area of high cirrus just to the north of Kauai.  We can use this looping satellite image to see those lower level clouds approaching from the east. We can also find tropical storm Fernanda spinning more or less towards our islands..to the east-southeast of Hawaii. Checking out this looping radar image we see a few showers falling locally, some of which are being carried over the windward sides in places…on the trade wind flow.

This evening after work I'm going to see a new film, which will be nice after a big week of weather work. This new film is called Cowboys and Aliens, starring Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, and Harrison Ford…among many others. This film looks rather interesting, although I must admit, not greatly so. Daniel Craig stars as a Wild West gunslinger who leads a fight for survival against a terror from beyond our world. I mean, who bad could a film be with such an unusual background? The critics are giving it a B- grade, with the viewers are upping that slightly to a B. I'm in the mood, as I almost always am by the end of a long work week, to be entertained. I have a pretty good feeling that that is what I'll find when the lights go off in the theater this evening. Here's the trailer for this film, and by the way…I'll let you know what I think about this film in the morning.

Sunset Commentary:   The Hawaiian Islands continues to be in a well-established summer trade wind weather pattern Thursday night. High pressure to the north and northeast of the islands is the driving force for our moderately strong trades. These will continue through Friday, although as we move into the weekend, the computer models suggest they may lose their edge a little, coming down a notch into next week. The small craft wind advisories remain in force across those windiest coasts and channels around Maui County and the Big Island…at least at the time of this writing.

As is very common while the trade wind flow is present, the most notable showers are brought our way during the night and early morning hours. The atmosphere over and around the islands remains quite dry and stable, which in turn will limit our showers somewhat. They will still be around, although will fall generally in the light category…with just a few exceptions here and there. We should see an increase in showers late weekend into early next week, as the northern fringe of what will then be dissipated tropical cyclone Fernanda, moves by to the south of the state…bringing the windward sides of the Big Island and Maui showers.

Speaking of Fernanda, she is now well into our central Pacific, and continues to move more or less towards the west-northwest. This NWS track map shows the location of this tropical storm. Here’s a satellite image showing Fernanda in relation to the Hawaiian Islands. Here’s the same picture with the looping feature on. By the way, despite its current appearance, Fernanda will run out of steam before posing a threat to our islands. Actually, already the upper level winds are blowing briskly over the top of Fernanda, as we see the high cirrus clouds moving north and northeast from its center. These winds aloft will help shear the top of the storm, decoupling the lower part from the upper. This will weaken Fernanda quickly, which would be a good thing of course. This (what will then be) retired system may be able to bring the southern part of the island chain some moisture…which looks rather likely beginning later this weekend into early next week.  The Big Island may be just close enough to what’s left of Fernanda, that there may be some breezy weather there locally…as the dissipated low pressure system slides by a couple hundred miles or so south of South Point.

Then, well to the east of Fernanda, we have category 1 hurricane Greg.  It will remain far away from our islands…staying safely in the eastern Pacific.  Here’s the latest NHC graphical track map for Greg. Here’s the latest NOAA satellite picture of Greg, moving away from the Mexican coast.

Here in Kihei, Maui at near 530pm HST Thursday evening, skies were mostly clear to partly cloudy. As noted above, our trade wind weather will continue, with those off and on passing showers falling along our windward coasts and slopes. The main thing now, at least in our central Pacific, is weakening tropical storm Fernanda. The latest thought is that Fernanda has now peaked in strength, and will continue this weakening trend throughout the remainder of its life cycle…becoming a remnant low pressure system as it passes south of Hawaii. As we know, these things can change however, so it would be wise to keep an eye on this storm over the next few days. I will be providing new information on Fernanda when I rejoin you here Friday morning. ~~~ I hope you have a great Thursday night from wherever you happen to be reading! Aloha for now…Glenn.