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

Lihue, Kauai –                   77
Honolulu airport, Oahu –     81  
Kaneohe, Oahu –               77
Molokai airport –                76
Kahului airport, Maui –        78  
Kona airport –                      86
Hilo airport, Hawaii –          75

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 3pm Saturday afternoon:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 83
Hilo, Hawaii – 71

Haleakala Crater – 39 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea –        30 (near 13,800 feet on the Big Island)

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. This web cam is 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. Here's the Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui…which is working only sometimes lately.

 Aloha Paragraphs

http://www.fabphotography.com/images/x_jump.jpg
Blustery trade winds, passing windward showers
Small craft wind advisories statewide –
high surf advisory east shores all islands –
Wind advisory across all islands –
Gale warnings eastern channels
Merry Christmas! 


As this weather map shows…we have two near 1033 millibar high pressure systems to the north and far northeast of the Hawaiian Islands Saturday afternoon.  At the same time, we find a surface trough of low pressure to the southeast of the islands. Our gusty trade winds will continue through the rest of this holiday weekend. These strong and gusty trades will carry forth into the new work week ahead, although gradually become somewhat lighter.

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph), along with directions Saturday afternoon:

39                 Lihue, Kauai – NE
36                 Kahuku, Oahu – N
47                    Molokai – NE
42                    Kahoolawe – E
38                 Kaupo Gap, Maui – NNE
40                    Lanai – NE
36                 Waikoloa, Big Island – NE

We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Saturday afternoon.  Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see low level clouds over the ocean to the north through southeast, some of which are banked-up against our windward sides at the time of this writing. We can use this looping satellite image to see a few minor towering cumulus clouds developing over the ocean to the far east of the Big Island. There are high cirrus clouds far to our northwest, although not expected to be in our area for the time being. Checking out this looping radar image we see showers over the ocean, most of which are light to moderately heavy, coming into our windward sides at times.

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

0.45               Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.88               Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.40               Molokai
0.00               Lanai
0.00               Kahoolawe
2.08                 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.96               Kawaihae, Big Island

Sunset Commentary:  The unusually long lasting trade winds have been around all this week, and are forecast to continue unabated through this Christmas holiday. Winds have been gusting up over 40 mph, all the way up to near 50 mph at a couple of those windiest spots lately. It appears that this prolonged episode of stronger than normal winds, will hold on into the new work week ahead. This is the reason behind the NWS forecast office in Honolulu keeping a gale warning in force for those windiest channels in the eastern side of the island chain. We have small craft advisory flags whipping in the blustery waters over the entire state’s marine environment. Meanwhile, winds are expected to be strong enough today that a wind advisory remains in place across the entire island chain now too.

Under these circumstances, showery clouds will be carried in towards our windward coasts and slopes at times. These will keep things off and on showery through Christmas Day, with some of those showers being carried over into the leeward sides of the smaller islands too. As we’re into our winter season now, there will be the good chance of more snow showers falling atop the Mauna Kea summit on the Big Island…as they have been lately.  The latest computer forecast models still don’t show any active cold fronts pushing down into our area through the end of the year…although a few are now starting to hint we might have a frontal boundary in our area next weekend…I'll start to watch for more news on that front.  

Friday evening I drove into Kahului after work to see a new film, this one called Young Adult, starring Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt…among many others. The synopsis: a young-adult fiction writer returns to her hometown to chase the ex-boyfiriend that got away. The ratings of this film are all over the map, from lousy to quite good. The website rotten tomatoes, which is typically a rather tough grader, is giving it a relatively high 80 points out of 100 grade, which is encouraging. There are so many great films playing now, that I thought I'd see this one before it leaves our local theaters. I'm sure one of the primary draws of this film is the natural beauty of Charlize Theron, which is hard to deny. I know I probably shouldn't like every film that I see, but somehow, it just seems to happen. This one was no exception, as I found it very entertaining, and and actually rather captivating. I was surprised how much I liked it, and it wasn't just because of how attractive that Ms. Theron is…although that sure didn't hinder my liking either! It wasn't what I would call a classic comedy by any means, as it was way too dark, although there were a few quick laughs. It was just hard core stuff, and again I found it very enjoyable somehow. I'd have to give it a B+ for what it turned out to be, rather than what I thought it might be after reading all the negative reviews on this film. Here's a trailer just in case you had some interest in taking a peek. 

Here in Kula, Maui at around 330pm HST, it was partly cloudy, with an air temperature of 71.4F degrees, with no strong and gusty trade winds blowing here. As noted above, these unusually long lasting and strong trade winds aren't through with us quite yet. Winds will be regularly gusting up into the 30-40 mph range, with a few of those windiest spots reaching perhaps up to near 50 mph at times into Saturday night. Showers will be most notable along our north and east windward sides, which remain locally soggy from Oahu down through Maui to the Big Island. The leeward sides will have better weather in general, although where there is exposure to the trades, the winds will be an issue. At least as long as the high clouds stay away, there will be quite a bit of sunshine along some of our leeward beaches on Christmas Day. The winds will be strong enough, that if you live in one of those areas most exposed, you should think about securing your lawn furniture, trash barrels, and yes…those Christmas decorations. ~~~ At the time of this writing, its almost officially Christmas Eve, which signals the beginning of the Christmas holiday! I've been invited to some good friends house in Haiku later, for a nice Christmas Eve dinner party. I'm going to get there early so we can go out and pick red coffee berries off their coffee trees. It will be fun, and then we'll start the process of getting them ready to make coffee, and finally early next year after drying them and roasting them, for a nice cup of organic Haiku, Maui dark roast. ~~~ I'll be back here Christmas morning with your next new weather narrative, I wish you a Merry Christmas Eve, and then of course a lovely Christmas Day too! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Extra: Tracking Santa Claus on this famous journey tonight!