Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 16-17, 2014

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

83  Lihue, Kauai
89  Honolulu, Oahu
85  Molokai
88  Kahului, Maui
87  Kailua Kona
84  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 943pm Friday evening:

Kailua Kona – 78
Hilo, Hawaii – 71

Haleakala Summit –   48 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 39 (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

Surfs up…on our south and west facing beaches

Our winds will be lighter from the southeast
soon…with muggy and voggy conditions

Our weather will be generally quite dry, except
for spotty afternoon showers over the interior
sections, and a few along the east and southeast
sides of the islands at times.

High Surf Advisory…south facing shores all
islands – through Sunday evening

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

16  Port Allen, Kauai – SE
25  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – NNE
27  Molokai – E
28  Lanai – NE
28  Kahoolawe – NE
18  Kaupo Gap, Maui – SE
25  South Point, Big Island – NE

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Friday evening (845pm totals):

0.31  Puu Opae, Kauai
0.68  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.75  Molokai
0.08  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.06  Kula Branch Station, Maui
0.33  Kealakekua, 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 ~~~

Our winds will be shifting to the southeast…while becoming lighter into the weekend and beyond. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…focused on the Hawaiian Islands. ~~~ We see several low pressure systems to our northwest, another to the north, and finally one far to the northeast. We also see the tail-end of a weak trough of low pressure located just northeast of Oahu at the time of this writing. We have high pressure systems to our northeast as well. As a result, our local winds will steadily become lighter as we move into the weekend, veering to the southeast, and even south towards Kauai with time. We’ll see another late season cold front approaching the state this weekend, and with the southeasterly breezes…another round of voggy weather will roll in this weekend into early in the new week ahead.

Satellite imagery shows patchy low clouds over some areas of the state, mostly over and around the slopes…with generally clear skies in most other parts of the state. Looking at this larger satellite image, we see low clouds being drawn up over the islands, first on the Big Island and then Maui…from offshore to our southeast. Meanwhile, we see a small area of developing cumulus/towering cumulus, over the ocean to the northwest of Kauai.  Here’s a looping radar image, showing a small amount of light showers falling, most of which are landing over the surrounding ocean…although with with some minor and quite spotty showers over the island interiors locally too.

Showers have backed off quite a bit in most areas, although with the lighter winds now, afternoon clouds will continue to gather over and around the mountains…dropping a few showers locally. These afternoon clouds and a few showers will continue to form over the interior sections each day through the next 5 days or so. The current light trade winds will soon give way to southeast breezes Saturday. As these winds veer to the southeast, they will carry volcanic haze (vog), and muggy conditions over the state. This will occur as yet another late season cold front approaches the islands from the northwest. It’s still a bit too early to know exactly how close this front will get to Kauai, although it may bring showers to that island early in the new week ahead. The long range model output continues to suggest that we’ll have to wait until the middle of next week for the return of our trade winds. This return may be brief at best, as the models are showing the winds becoming light again from the southeast, which could bring more volcanic haze our way then. I’ll be back again Saturday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise, I hope you have a great Friday 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 55.4 degrees at 605am on this Friday morning. Skies were mostly clear for a change, with just a few minor clouds drifting along in the central valley. It’s cooler here in Kula this morning, with the clear skies, compared to yesterday’s low temperature of 63 degrees. The very thick fog that we had yesterday afternoon into the late evening hours, along with the showers that broke out after dark, has left very moist conditions over us this morning…despite the clear skies. I expect the sun to be around through some of the morning hours, although those pesky clouds will be back later in the day, with light showers falling from them later at times. Update at 1110am, under increasingly cloudy skies, light winds, and an air temperature of 74.1 degrees. I can look down country however, and see that the beaches are mostly sunny and clear…what a difference to up here, as it seems like its just a matter of time before we get more of those afternoon showers and fog.

It’s now 120pm Friday afternoon, under cloudy skies, light winds, and an air temperature of 72.1 degrees. It’s easy to see that this is a capping cloud over and around the mountains here on Maui. This is leaving our coasts under sunny skies, with great weather down there. The south and west shores are enjoying some nice warm waves, which are coming up from the southern hemisphere. The swell direction is south-southwest, and should reach 2-4 feet at those favored surf breaks….which our local surfing community is taking full advantage of! The north shores are particularly nice today, and if you prefer no surf for your swimming experience, that would be the place to go.

It’s now moved into the early evening hours at 520pm, under partly cloudy skies, light breezes, and an air temperature of 74.5 degrees. As opposed to yesterday afternoon, today we had no fog, and no showers either, which was quite a change from the last several days in fact. As has been the case all day, the beaches have remained incredibly clear, with warm sunshine beaming down just about everywhere. The high temperature reached 89 degrees this afternoon in Honolulu, while Kahului was only one degree behind…at 88.

Friday evening film: Despite all the films that are playing now, none of them, at least the ones I haven’t seen yet, were calling out to me. I took a second and even a third look…and finally found one. This one is called Million Dollar Arm, starring Jon Hamm, Bill Paxton, Suraj Sharma, Aasif Mandvi, Lake Bell, Alan Arkin…among many more. The synopsis: Based on a true story, Disney’s “Million Dollar Arm” follows JB Bernstein, a once-successful sports agent who now finds himself edged out by bigger, slicker competitors. He and his partner Aash (Aasif Mandvi) will have to close their business down for good if JB doesn’t come up with something fast. Late one night, while watching cricket being played in India on TV, JB comes up with an idea so radical it just might work. Why not go to there and find the next baseball pitching sensation?

Setting off for Mumbai with nothing but a gifted but cantankerous scout (Alan Arkin) in tow, JB stages a televised, nationwide competition called “Million Dollar Arm” where 40,000 hopefuls compete before two 18-year-old finalists, Rinku and Dinesh (Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal), emerge as winners. JB brings them back to the United States to train with legendary pitching coach Tom House (Bill Paxton). The goal: get the boys signed to a major league team. Not only is the game itself difficult to master, but life in the U.S. with a committed bachelor makes things even more complicated-for all of them. While Rinku and Dinesh learn the finer points of baseball and American culture, they in turn teach JB the true meaning of teamwork and commitment. Ultimately, what began as a purely commercial venture becomes something more and leads JB to find the one thing he was never looking for at all-a family.I’ll be sure to let you know what I thought of this film Saturday. I’m pretty sure it will be good enough, as I’ve always enjoyed throwing and catching baseballs all my life.

Here’s a trailer in case you’re interesting in seeing a snippet of the film.

Here’s a weather product that I prepared for the Pacific Disaster Center Friday morning.  


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 begins today, and runs through November 30th.

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