Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / June 3-4, 2014

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

82  Lihue, Kauai
88  Honolulu, Oahu
83  Molokai
89  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 810pm Tuesday evening:

Kailua Kona – 81
Hilo, Hawaii – 71

Haleakala Summit –   43 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 36 (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

Strengthening trade winds this week…into next week,
becoming locally strong and gusty 

Windward showers arriving in an off and on
manner…along with some afternoon showers
over the leeward upcountry areas locally

Small Craft Wind Advisory…windiest coasts and
channels around Maui County and the Big Island 

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

16  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
25  Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
24  Molokai – ENE
29  Lanai – NE
22  Kahoolawe – WSW
27  Kahului, Maui – NE
28  Upolu airport, Big Island – NE

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

1.90  Kapahi, Kauai
1.11  Palehua, Oahu
0.02  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.12  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.63  Kaloko-Honokohau, 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 trade winds will be picking up through the rest of the week…right on into next week. 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 have a moderately strong high pressure system located far to our northeast…with its associated ridge extending southwest to the northeast of the state. There’s a second high pressure cell to the north, which has another ridge trailing it to the southwest. At the same time, we have a low pressure system well to the north, with its associated cold front/trough, the tail-end of which is located just to the north of Kauai and Oahu. Our winds will increase now…and continue well into the future.

Satellite imagery shows patchy lower level clouds mostly over the ocean…although coming into the windward sides in a few areas. Looking at this larger satellite image, we see a large area of high clouds being moved along on the upper level winds to our southwest, west along with a counterclockwise rotating upper level low pressure system far to the west-northwest. Some of these high clouds may move over parts of the state eventually. Here’s a looping radar image, showing light showers being carried along in our trade wind flow, although not many at the time of this writing.  It appears that drier air is moving into our area from the east, which will tend to keep our shower activity tamped down at the moment.

We’re embarking into a well established trade wind weather pattern…which will bring generally fair weather our way. The windward sides, as the trade winds rebound now, will have off and on showers through the next week. The upper low pressure system to our west, and its associated instability, are far enough away now, that its influence is flagging. Our weather will follow climatology quite closely, which means the trade winds will be our major player, along with those off and on passing windward biased showers. I’ll be back early Wednesday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise, I hope you 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 54.5 degrees at 545am on this Tuesday morning. Skies are mostly clear everywhere here on Maui, along with what looks like a bit of light volcanic haze too. It’s a lovely start to our day, with hardly a cloud in the sky!

It’s now 1235pm, under partly cloudy skies, light breezes, and an air temperature of 78.6 degrees. There’s still a bit of haze down in the central valley, somewhere between light and almost moderately thick. Scanning the horizon, I don’t see any showers, and here in Kula at the moment, the clouds look pretty dry for the most part.

We’re into the early evening hours now at 545pm, under partly cloudy skies, light trade winds, no showers…and an air temperature of 80.2 degrees. This is very warm for this time of the evening, and since we’ve had not a drop of rain all day, it looks quite likely that we’ve turned the corner into what our weather “should be like”…this time of year.

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


World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones – Here’s a graphical outlook image of an area under investigation

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: Tropical Cyclone 02E remains active in the northeast Pacific. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite image of this weakening tropical depression named Boris.

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