Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / February 14-15, 2012

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

Lihue, Kauai –                     79  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –       81  
Kaneohe, Oahu –                 80
Molokai airport –                  81
Kahului airport, Maui –          86  (record high for the date – 86 – 1958, 1985, 1998) Tied the record!
Kona airport –                     81 
Hilo airport, Hawaii –            82 

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

Kahului, Maui – 79
Hilo, Hawaii – 74

Haleakala Crater –  50 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea –         34 (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.

 Aloha Paragraphs

  Active surf on our north and west shores –
    lighter southeast winds…then trades Thursday –
   localized showers, increasing this weekend,
especially on the windward sides

Happy Valentines Day! 
 

As this weather map shows, we have a storm low pressure system far to the north-northwest of the islands, with an associated cold front to our northwest of the islands….which will slowly move in the direction of the offshore waters to the northwest of Kauai.   At the same time, we have high pressure systems to the northeast of the islands…with an associated ridge running by not far to the north of Hawaii. Our winds will ease up a little, and turn more towards the southeast through mid-week.

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

09                 Barking Sands, Kauai – NNW 
17                 Bellows, Oahu – ENE
05                 Molokai – NW    
27                 Kahoolawe – NE  
12                 Lipoa, Maui – ESE  
14                 Lanai – SE  
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 Tuesday evening.  Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see low clouds over the ocean surrounding the islands, impacting some areas locally, and around the mountains too. We can use this looping satellite image to see areas of low clouds out and around the islands…streaming along in the east-southeast to southeast wind flow. At the same time, we find clouds associated with a cold front to the north of Hawaii. There are some wisps of high cirrus clouds moving into the state from the north as well. Checking out this looping radar image we see a few showers being carried into the islands on our winds locally…at the time of this writing.

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

0.26               Kapahi, Kauai
0.40                 Punaluu Stream, Oahu
0.00               Molokai
0.01               Kahoolawe
0.00               Maui
0.18               Glenwood, Big Island  

Sunset Commentary:  Our winds have become locally lighter now, blowing more from the southeast from Maui County westward to Kauai. They will remain on the lighter side through mid-week, and then strengthen Thursday through the rest of the week. Satellite imagery shows low level clouds surrounding the islands, some of which are dropping a few light showers here and there.  The daytime heating, enhanced by the lighter winds, caused clouds to stack-up over and around the mountains. The atmosphere is stable and relatively dry…thus limiting showers.

A cold front continues to approach the state from the northwest. It's caused our trade winds to give way to lighter breezes. This will likely bring a slightly cooler morning to our islands Wednesday, although with another nice warm afternoon near sea level. Speaking of warm, the Kahului airport reached 86F degrees today…which tied the record for the date. The cold front will stall offshore before getting to Kauai, with strengthening trade winds returning Thursday into the weekend. These strong and gusty trades later in the week will likely bring an increase in our windward biased showers…especially over the eastern islands in the chain.

Here in Kula, Maui at 530pm HST, we had calm winds, with mostly cloudy skies, and an air temperature of 64.9F degrees. As noted above, the winds are lighter now, at least in some places. The stronger winds will continue over the open ocean, although in the lee of the islands, winds will be lighter through Wednesday. They won't be all that light for long however, as we will see them strengthen again Thursday through the rest of the week. We still have that good chance of finding more than the normal amount of incoming windward biased showers by the weekend, as an upper level low pressure system develops nearby, enhancing showers moving under it. Meanwhile, the surf will continue to break along our north and west facing beaches this week, the largest days will be on Thursday into Friday. The south shores will be sheltered from these breakers however, where the best beaching opportunities will exist. ~~~ I'll be back again early Wednesday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have a great Valentine's evening until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

*For the ladies only…no guys allowed please: Now, since this is Valentines Day, it seems appropriate to take a few moments to let you know how I feel about you. I'm just a regular guy you know, and of course love all you ladies out there. If you're married or are in a relationship, well, of course this is more of just a great appreciation kind of statement. If you're single on the other hand, and maybe you've been visiting this weather website for a long time, or maybe this is your first time…I want to give you my heart felt thanks for doing that! I can get a crush so easily, and I would imagine that I have one for many, many of you, probably all of you! I of course can't see you, or know you personally, but please just let me make a big blanket statement here, to all of you lovely ladies who care for me on some level in return…"Would you please be my Valentine?" I'll be thinking about you warmly and fondly today – Love, Glenn.*

Interesting: February 14th…What a day! Valentine’s Day, also called Saint Valentine’s Day, is a holiday on February 14th celebrating love and friendship. Many people give cards called valentines to people that they care about and sometimes candy and flowers are exchanged, too!

But where did this tradition come from? The history of Valentine’s Day is a bit mysterious! Back in the 3rd century there was a man named Valentine who was highly looked upon by religious people and was made a saint.

However, there were also several other St. Valentine’s in history, one of whom may have given a love letter to a young lady he was fond of, signed "From your Valentine."

No one knows for sure! We do know that legend associates Saint Valentine with being a heroic and romantic person and the tradition of sending love notes comes from him. Some people say that Valentine’s Day wasn’t actually thought of as a romantic holiday until the 1800’s when some poets connected romantic love and feelings with this special day.

Either way, it’s a good occasion to express care for one another!

Interesting2:  Hundreds of years ago in England, many children dressed up as adults on Valentine's Day. They went singing from home to home. One verse they sang was:

Good morning to you, valentine;
Curl your locks as I do mine —
Two before and three behind.
Good morning to you, valentine.

In Wales wooden love spoons were carved and given as gifts on February 14th. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favourite decorations on the spoons. The decoration meant, "You unlock my heart!"

In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.

In some countries, a young woman may receive a gift of clothing from a young man. If she keeps the gift, it means she will marry him.

Some people used to believe that if a woman saw a robin flying overhead on Valentine's Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire.

A love seat is a wide chair. It was first made to seat one woman and her wide dress. Later, the love seat or courting seat had two sections, often in an S-shape. In this way, a couple could sit together — but not too closely!

Think of five or six names of boys or girls you might marry, As you twist the stem of an apple, recite the names until the stem comes off. You will marry the person whose name you were saying when the stem fell off.

Pick a dandelion that has gone to seed. Take a deep breath and blow the seeds into the wind. Count the seeds that remain on the stem. That is the number of children you will have.

If you cut an apple in half and count how many seeds are inside, you will also know how many children you will have.