Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / April 23-24, 2013

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

75   Lihue, Kauai
83   Honolulu, Oahu
79   Molokai
87   Kahului, Maui
84   Kona, Hawaii
84   Hilo, Hawaii

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 510am Wednesday morning:

Kailua Kona –  75
Hilo, Hawaii  – 65

Haleakala Summit –   39 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 32 (13,000+ 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 – if it’s working.

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. The 2012 hurricane season is over in the eastern and central Pacific…resuming on May 15th and June 1st 2013.

Aloha Paragraphs

             
  Flood Advisory…the island of Oahu until 8am

The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Tuesday evening:

17  Mana, Kauai – N 
14  Kahuku Trng, Oahu – NW
17  Molokai – SE
16  Kahoolawe – WSW
14  Hana, Maui – SE
21  PTA Kipuka Alala, Big Island – NNW

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

2.12  Kalaheo, Kauai
0.95  Waimanalo, Oahu
0.04  Molokai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.04  Kaupo Gap, Maui
0.41  Keaumo, Big Island

We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean. Here’s the latest NOAA satellite picture – the latest looping satellite image…and finally the latest looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands.


                                                ~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

The variable winds across the state remain in place…with classic the trade winds not expected until late Wednesday or Thursday. Here’s a weather chart showing a strong near 1037 millibar high pressure system, located far to the northeast of the islands. This high pressure cell has an associated ridge of high pressure extending southwest from its center, to over the Big Island at the time of this writing. At the same time, a dissipating cold front near Oahu is evident as well. Our local winds continue to come in from variable directions…as this late season front remains nearly stationary. We’ll see voggy weather in some areas, although it seems to be thinning some locally.

Satellite imagery shows a band of deep moisture near Oahu and Molokai…associated with the recent cold front. Here’s the looping radar image, showing showers moving along in the kona winds (southwest direction)…a few of which continue to be quite heavy. The current convective weather pattern, to the southeast of the cold front, will prompt clouds, and a few spotty showers again over Maui County and the Big Island Wednesday…especially during the afternoon hours. Precipitation will be most notable over the Kauai and Oahu end of the island chain, as what’s left of the cold front remains in place for a while longer.

The cold front mentioned above, continues the threat of locally heavy showers…for another 18-24 hours or so. Here’s a satellite picture of this frontal cloud band near Oahu and Molokai, with fewer clouds over Kauai, Maui and Lanai…and the Big Island. The main threat of heavy precipitation is focusing on the island of Oahu and western Molokai at the moment. As noted above, the rest of the islands saw a decent beginning to the day, with increasing clouds locally during the afternoon hours…along with showers here and there. It appears that it will take until later Wednesday or even Thursday, before the trade winds return, with improving weather overall through the following few days.

The computer models, and this is interesting, are now showing the trade winds backing off again this weekend, into early next week. This is getting pretty darn late in the season to be seeing the trade winds not holding their own! I just checked out the GFS model, and it shows another, quite strong, cold front getting close to Kauai by next Monday. The models go on to show this frontal boundary stalling just before arriving into the islands…but not soon enough to stop southeast winds, and potentially more voggy weather from getting into our area again later this weekend. I’ll be back again early Wednesday with more updates, I hope you have a great Tuesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui:  The south to southwest breezes are still blowing on this Tuesday morning. The volcanic haze is still around too, although seems to be somewhat less dense at the time of this writing. Here in Kula, clouds and fog were increasing quickly, and its looking more shower…with an air temperature of 63.9F degrees around 8am. I can still see that it’s sunny down in the central valley, although my visibilities are dwindling quickly.

That band of clouds went through, with warm sunshine filling in behind it…at least here in Kula. The kona breeze has my wind chimes talking to me this morning, which is nice. There are still lots of cumulus clouds down in the central valley, although they look somewhat less showery now, and the vog seems to be going away now! Air temperature here at my place at around 9am was 66.2F degrees.

I just got back from a quick trip down to Paia, and since I left, things have changed greatly…for the better. The Kona breezes are still blowing, although they seem to be blowing the vog away at the same time. There are some clouds, although they are allowing lots of sunshine through. There is still lots of moisture in our overlying atmosphere early this afternoon, so it is feeling rather hot and humid. The warmest temperature around the state near noon, was here on Maui, at the Kahului airport…which was 85F degrees. At the same time, up here in Kula, it was 73.4 degrees.

After a somewhat less voggy day, this evening the haze seems to have filtered back over Maui again. Clouds gathered over both the West Maui Mountains, and here on the slopes of the Haleakala Crater today…although there’s nothing unusual about that. Showers didn’t fall here in Kula, although it appears that some may have over on those West Maui Mountains. The winds got a little uppity during the afternoon hours, although now before sunset, they have dropped off to near calm. At the time of this writing, the Kahului airport was reporting 80F degrees…while here at my house it was a cooler 70.3 degrees.

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

Eastern Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Central Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Western Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

North and South Indian Oceans: There are no active tropical cyclones