Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 7-8, 2014

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

82  Lihue, Kauai
83  Honolulu, Oahu
83  Molokai
88  Kahului, Maui
86  Kailua Kona
83  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 743pm Wednesday evening:

Kailua Kona – 80
Hana airport, Maui – 75

Haleakala Summit –   52 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 43 (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 very lovely beach on Kauai

Light breezes, continuing over the next several days…
making for rather muggy conditions near sea level

Localized showers will occur during the afternoon hours
over the interior sections, with a few showers falling here
and there elsewhere

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

14  Mana, Kauai – SE
15  Kii, Oahu – SE
18  Molokai – SE
14  Lanai – NW
27  Kahoolawe – NW
16  Lipoa, Maui – E
24  Upolu airport, Big Island – NE

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

0.40  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.69  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.29  Molokai
0.32  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.13  Haiku, Maui
0.30  Waikoloa, 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 ~~~

Generally light southeast breezes continuing through later Saturday or Sunday morning…when the trade winds will return. 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 a moderately strong, near 1028 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of our islands. It has a trailing ridge of high pressure located offshore to the north of  Kauai. At the same time, we see a gale low pressure system to our northwest, with associated cold front…northwest of the state as well. Our local winds will remain light, although with moderately strong gusts locally, from the southeast in most cases for the time being. The longer range outlook calls for the return of our normal trade winds later this weekend into next week.

Satellite imagery shows patchy lower level clouds…with some clear skies around in places too. Looking at this larger satellite image, we see a counterclockwise rotating low pressure system to our northwest, with its active late season cold front…along with associated thunderstorms offshore to the northwest of Kauai.  There are also stable looking lower level clouds moving over us on the south to southeasterly breezes as well. Here’s a looping radar image, showing generally light showers, most of which are over the islands. As the sun goes down, the offshore flowing land breezes will clear things out in most areas. Thursday morning should dawn clear to partly cloudy again, and be a little cooler than normal for this time of year.

Our ongoing placid weather pattern continues, with little change expected over the next few days. This is a modified convective weather pattern, with clear to partly cloudy mornings, giving way to afternoon clouds over the slopes…and a few showers. There’s still that chance that a few of these afternoon upcountry showers may become locally quite heavy here and there. Meanwhile, the latest model output continues to show a late season cold front approaching the islands this weekend. As this front moves into our area Sunday into next Monday…it will bring an increase in showers from Kauai down to Maui County.  This late season cold front will usher in trade winds by Sunday morning, which will continue on into next week. These trades will also likely carry some windward showers our way for several days after the front dissipates by next Tuesday. I’ll be back again early Thursday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Wednesday 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 Wednesday morning. Skies were generally clear to partly cloudy, and still a bit hazy too…part of which is associated with the early morning sugar cane fire in the central valley. As has been the case all this week, we continue to experience lighter than normal winds. This radar image shows more showers in our area than we’ve seen lately, which may bring showers to our islands…especially Oahu. Here on Maui, it’s a pleasant start to the day, with clouds over the windward sides, the West Maui Mountains, while the top of the Haleakala Crater down through Kihei and Wailea are clear.

It’s now 1220pm in the early afternoon here in Kula, under partly to mostly cloudy skies, light winds, and an air temperature of 73.6 degrees. There continues to be a certain amount of volcanic haze in our skies, along with quite a bit of sunshine down at our local beaches. I anticipate that this vog will be a part of our local weather conditions, pretty much statewide, through the next couple of days. It’s thickness will vary from day to day, but nonetheless still be a bother.

We’ve pushed into the early evening hours now at 530pm, under cloudy and voggy skies, with an air temperature of 68.9 degrees. The primary thing that I noticed today was the increase in volcanic haze…which is pretty thick as we head towards sunset. It clouded up today in the upcountry areas, with a few showers locally, although here in Kula, I didn’t have more than a few light drops here in Kula, earlier in the afternoon hours. The clouds remain rather threatening however, so perhaps we’ll see a few more drips before the clouds begin to dissipate later this evening into the night. I put two coats of wax on my car yesterday and today, so I’m ready for whatever may fall from the sky…and the bright sunshine too. Update at 637pm, it was misting enough to get my weather deck slippery, as my neighbor and I got in one more session of ping pong for the day.

Climate Change information for the Hawaiian Islands / Climate Change for the United States – This National Climate Assessment released today…summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. A team of more than 300 experts guided by a 60-member Federal Advisory Committee produced the report, which was extensively reviewed by the public and experts, including federal agencies and a panel of the National Academy of Sciences.


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.