Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / July 1-2, 2013

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Monday:

81  Lihue, Kauai
85  Honolulu, Oahu
84  Molokai
89  Kahului, Maui
87  Kona, Hawaii
85  Hilo, Hawaii

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops on Maui and the Big Island…as of 230pm Monday afternoon:

Kahului, Maui – 88
Hana airport, Maui – 81

Haleakala Summit –   M (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 55 (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.

Aloha Paragraphs

Moderate trade winds…windward showers

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

22  Port Allen, Kauai – NW
29  Kuaokala, Oahu – N
25  Molokai – NE
38  Lanai – NE
28  Kahoolawe – NE
22  Lipoa, Maui – NE
29  Kealakomo, Big Island – NE

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

0.16  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.24  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.04  Molokai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Lanai
0.17  Kahakuloa, Maui
0.18  Kainaliu, 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 ~~~

Trade winds blowing through the first half of this week…then lighter through Saturday. Here’s a weather chart showing a near 1030 millibar high pressure system located to the north-northwest. At the same time, we see a low pressure system over the ocean to the east of the state…with a trough draping south from its center. More or less moderately strong trades will remain active through the middle of this first week of July. There’s a good chance that we will see the trades slow down thereafter for a few days, as the low pressure trough moves into position northeast of our islands. These lighter trades will rebound later Sunday…into the following week.

Trade wind weather pattern will prevail, with windward showers at times…with a few ending up over on the leeward sides on the smaller islands. Satellite imagery shows lower level clouds to the north and east, being carried our way on the trades, banking up against the windward sides. There’s a small amount of high cirrus clouds to the west of Kauai as well. Here’s the looping radar image, showing some showers passing by over the offshore waters, generally impacting the central islands from Oahu to Maui at the time of this writing. There are more showers upstream, which should increase our windward biased shower activity some tonight…continuing Tuesday into Wednesday.

Looking further ahead, the remnant moisture from now retired tropical cyclone Cosme, which was active in the eastern Pacific, may bring a modest increase in windward showers…at some point in the Thursday through Saturday time frame. At the same time, we should see an easing up in our trade wind speeds then too.  As the trade winds give way to a modified convective weather pattern, the greatest likelihood of showers will occur over our leeward slopes during the afternoon hours. I’ll be back with more updates during the early evening, and with your next new weather narrative early Tuesday morning. I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.