Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 84
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 89 (record for Tuesday – 93 in 1987)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 83
Molokai airport – 79
Kahului airport, Maui – 86
Kona airport 86
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 Tuesday evening:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 86
Kaneohe, Oahu – 79
Haleakala Crater – M (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – M (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Tuesday evening:
2.68 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.45 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.01 Kahoolawe
0.71 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.74 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1029 millibar high pressure system to the north-northeast of our islands. Our local trade winds will remain active through Wednesday, moderately strong…then lighter Thursday through Saturday.
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 winds becoming lighter by Thursday…increased
showers later Thursday-Saturday…high cirrus
The trade winds will continue to blow…gradually easing up this week. Glancing at this weather map, we find a 1029 millibar high pressure system to the north-northeast of the islands Tuesday night. This high pressure cell and its associated ridge will provide our moderately strong trade winds over the islands through Wednesday. Our local winds however will ease up some, perhaps quite a bit at times…especially between Thursday and Saturday. As we move into Sunday, the trade winds will return to normal into next week.
Our trade winds will remain active…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions early Tuesday evening:
25 Port Allen, Kauai – E
25 Honolulu, Oahu – NE
25 Molokai – NNE
25 Kahoolawe – ESE
30 Kapalua – NE
20 Lanai – NE
27 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 Tuesday night. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find hardly any low level cumulus and stratocumulus clouds coming into our windward sides…with more to our southwest at the time of this writing. We can use this looping satellite image to see quite a good size dry slot upwind of the state early this afternoon. There are lots of high cirrus clouds well offshore to our south through west…some of which will arrive here in the islands soon from the west. Checking out this looping radar image we see just a few light showers here and there…along with some light to moderately heavy showers falling over the ocean to the south and west of Kauai.
Sunset Commentary: Tuesday we find a fairly typical trade wind weather pattern. Pacific Ocean weather maps continue to show the same 1029 millibar high pressure system planted to the north-northeast of Hawaii…up around 37N and 152W. This weather map also shows a large L (low pressure system) east of our islands, near 140W…a little less than 1000 miles away from Hawaii now. This is what’s left of former tropical cyclone Eugene (previously a category 4 hurricane in the eastern Pacific), now being carried along in the low level trade wind flow.
Perhaps this area can best be seen using this satellite image…look to the right of the Big Island, where that slightly different looking near circular cloud area is situated. Let’s see if this looping satellite image may pick up some of the modest circulation. By the way, while this non- threatening area of enhanced showers approaches from the east, we can see lots of high cirrus clouds approaching us from the west. These do quite a bit of sun filtering during the days, which will occur especially over the next several days. At the same time, they will provide nice colors for our sunset and sunrises too!
Just about when the showers are expected to arrive here in the state, late Thursday through Saturday…the computer models are also suggesting that we’ll have an upper level trough of low pressure around then too. This relatively colder air aloft may enhance some of the showers, making them a bit more generous than they would otherwise be. The timing will have to be just right, and with enough of this tropical moisture holding together along the way, for us to pick up very much precipitation. As this happens, the upper low may stifle the trade winds to some degree as well…prompting rather muggy weather for a few days. As we move into the later part of the upcoming weekend, we should see conditions returning to normal, with trade winds and just the average number of showers ushering us into early next week.
~~~ Here in Kihei, Maui at around 530pm Tuesday evening, skies were clear to partly cloudy, with the trade winds blowing as usual. So, as noted above, we may get some increased rainfall in a few days. I'm not all that impressed with the satellite signature of this area, at least not yet. So, lets give this a wait and see before we get too excited about all that much tropical rainfall arriving. It wouldn't surprise me to see light to moderately heavy showers arriving, falling most likely along our windward sides. If the winds falter enough, we could see some afternoon showers developing along our leeward upcountry slopes too. Let's just fine tune this prospect over the next day or two. ~~~ I'm heading back upcountry now, back up to Kula, and can't wait to get out there for my evening walk. I'm looking forward already to catching up with you again early Wednesday morning, when I'll have your next new weather narrative waiting, right around 530am HST or so. I hope you have a great Tuesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
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