Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / March 4-5, 2014

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

75  Lihue, Kauai
76  Honolulu, Oahu
76  Molokai
80  Kahului, Maui
80  Kailua Kona
77  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 830pm Tuesday evening:

Kaneohe, Oahu – 73
Hana airport, Maui – 63

Haleakala Summit –   39 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 28 (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.

Aloha Paragraphs

A cold front remains stalled to the southeast of the Big Island…
with a cool northwest flow of air over us in its wake, keeping the
islands a little chilly for a while longer with generally fair weather
in place…although very hazy locally!

Winds will turn around to the northeast and east Wednesday, and
then turn further around the compass to the southeast and south
Thursday…warming things up as we go

The next cold front will approach the islands Friday into Saturday…
followed by more cool north to northeasterly breezes through the
weekend, along with windward showers – then another
possible cold front arriving next Tuesday or so

High surf Warning…north and west shores of the islands
from Kauai to Molokai – north shores of Maui

Small Craft Wind Advisory…coastal and channel
waters locally

Wind Advisory…Big Island summits

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

18  Port Allen, Kauai – W
18  Waianae Valley, Oahu – SW
10  Molokai – NNE
12  Lanai – NW
12  Kahoolawe – SW
09  Hana, Maui – NW
14  PTA Kipuka Alala, Big Island – NW

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Tuesday evening (545pm totals):

0.03  Kokee, Kauai
0.05  Waianae Valley, Oahu
0.01  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.01  Hana airport, Maui
0.45  Kahua Ranch, 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 relatively cool north to northwesterly breezes that we have now, will give way to warmer trade winds later Wednesday…then southeast and south breezes will arrive ahead of the next cold front Friday into Saturday. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. Here’s a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…centered on the Hawaiian Islands. ~~~ We continue to see a host of low pressure systems far northwest through northeast of the state, with an associated cold front trailing to the south and southwest…stalled just to the southeast of the Big Island. Meanwhile, we see high pressure systems offshore well to the northeast of the state and northwest, which have their associated high pressure ridges extend east and west towards the state. Winds will generally be light from the north through northwest for the time being. Our winds will gradually become light trade winds as we move through the mid-week period. The trades will gradually shift back to the southeast and south Thursday, as the next cold front approaches the state Friday. Our winds will veer to the north and northeast in the wake of the frontal passage…shifting back to the southeast and south ahead of yet another possible cold front next Tuesday.

Satellite imagery shows a large area of bright white clouds more or less stationary over the eastern islands, with lower level clouds trailing behind over Kauai. The high and middle level clouds over Maui County and the Big Island, will slip down over the Big Island exclusively into the night. The lower level clouds streaming in behind the old cold front, will keep Kauai and Oahu locally cloudy in places. Here’s the looping radar image, showing the leftover showers associated with the cold front to the southeast of the Big Island…staying offshore. There are a few light showers elsewhere, although drier air continues to flood into the state now. Looking at this larger satellite image, which is in the looping mode, we can see this still wide band of bright whiter clouds, which are middle and higher level clouds, trying to thin out…although not making much progress in that regard. The lower level stratocumulus and cumulus clouds to our west, are generally dry, and not shower producing features.

The latest forecast models continue to suggest that we’ll see yet another cold front approaching the state, with unsettled weather Friday into Saturday morning…followed by somewhat wet trade winds along our windward sides through Sunday. The best weather days this week will be Wednesday through Thursday. It will still be chilly Wednesday morning, although as the trade winds return into Thursday morning, temperatures will moderate some. Looking a bit further ahead, after the showery trade wind weather Saturday into early next Monday, the models are pointing out another cold front that may arrive around next Tuesday. This early next week cold front is quite a ways out into the future, so we’ll want to hold it lightly, in terms of our degree of certainty…stay tuned. I’ll be back again early Wednesday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you all have a great Tuesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui, at the 3,100 foot elevation, at my upper Kula, Maui weather tower, the air temperature was 50.5 degrees at 610am on this Tuesday morning. It’s just now getting light enough, that I can see streaky high clouds overhead, which will dim and filter our morning sunshine. This stuff is taking its time moving eastward, away from us, although it will finally clear out later today, hopefully. The good thing is that our recent cold frontal precipitation will be taking a break for several days. I expect a pretty nice day weatherwise today and Wednesday, and probably through most of Thursday too. As I was noting above, the next cold front arrives Friday, with better weather again during the second half of the upcoming weekend, into the very first part of next week. Then, and this has become quite normal this winter, yet another cold front may arrive next Tuesday, a week from today.

~~~ It’s now almost 10am, with clear skies, and departing clouds…with a few low clouds collecting along the slopes of the Haleakala Crater. The air temperature is nice 63.7 degrees, with little if any breeze that I can detect at the moment. It’s such a nice day in fact, that I’m making tea, in anticipation of taking it up the mountain…to commune with nature this morning. I’ll be packin’ my skateboard of course, and putting myself to the test once again. I’ll be back a little after noon, so I can get back online, and provide you with your next update. I hope you have a great morning wherever you happen to be spending it!

~~~ Hi, it’s early afternoon, at 150pm, under partly to mostly cloudy skies, along with some pretty thick haze too. I don’t think this is volcanic haze from the Big Island, although it may be smog that has been carried our way from somewhere in Asia. The air temperature is 65.5 degrees, with near calm winds. I just got back from skateboarding up on the western slope of the Haleakala Crater. The weather up there, about 15 minutes up the road from where I live, was foggy and cool, not exactly what I had hoped for. I made the best of it however, and got in some good runs, and once again, without a fall. I’m about ready to ask my neighbor if she wants to play some ping pong, which we typically do a couple of times each day. I have an outside table on my deck, which is a wonderful thing!

~~~ We’ve gotten into the early evening now, at 520pm, under partly to mostly cloudy skies…and lots of haze. I can see that down in the Central Valley its quite sunny, although the sun is being muted quite a bit by the haze. The air temperature up here in Kula was 61.5, which is pretty cool for this time of day. It was warmer down near sea level, at the Kahului airport, with a 76 degree reading at near the same time. I don’t see anything that would get in the way of our generally ok weather through Wednesday, and probably most of Thursday. Whatever kind of haze that we’re seeing now, and its pretty outrageous just before sunset…will be augmented with vog Thursday into Friday.

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Atlantic Ocean: The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th.
Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

Caribbean Sea:

Gulf of Mexico:

Here’s a satellite image of the Caribbean Sea…and the Gulf of Mexico.

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

Eastern Pacific: The Eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15th through November 30th. Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary

Here’s a wide satellite image that covers the entire area between Mexico, out through the central Pacific…to the International Dateline.