Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs

0.56 MOUNT WAIALEALE. KAUAI
0.18 SOUTH FORK KAUKONAHUA, OAHU
0.02 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
1.05 WEST WAILUAIKI, MAUI
1.29 GLENWOOD, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…howing a 1031 millibar high pressure system located to the NE of our islands. This high pressure cell will keep our local trade wind speeds in the moderate to fresh category Friday…locally strong and gusty during the afternoon hours. An upper low currently to our east will move westward over the state, with slightly lighter trades starting now through Saturday. Here’s a Weather Map Symbol page for clarification about what all those funny weather symbols mean.

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two webcams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon cloud conditions.

Satellite Images – To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with the Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around the state during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean…out from the islands. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image.

Tropical Cyclone Activity – The eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 through November 30…while the central Pacific runs from June 1 through November 30. The latest storm information for eastern Pacific can be found by clicking here. A storm tracking map can be found by clicking here. For the central Pacific, the latest information can be found by clicking here.

Aloha Paragraphs

Along the beautiful Hana coast of Maui

The trade winds are here to stay, as is most often the case during the month of June. These balmy breezes typically blow around 91% of the time this month, and sometimes more like all the time in some years. They will certainly continue through the next week at least. They have been rather blustery lately, although are expected to soften just a touch Saturday…only to pick up again on Sunday going forward. They are currently strong enough that we have a small craft wind advisory in the major channels between the islands, and at Maalaea Bay on Maui too. These breezes will keep the coconut palm trees swaying, and cause white caps to chalk-up the local ocean surface during the days.

The reason we’re going to see a slight mellowing-out of our trades winds soon, is because an upper level low pressure system will be moving overhead. It has been to our south and east, and will be moving westward across the state Friday and Saturday. This upper level low will trigger an increase in showers in some places around the Aloha state as well. The most notable of these areas will be along the windward sides of the islands, and perhaps over and around the mountains during the afternoons locally as well. There’s a chance that this upper low will be able to destabilize our atmosphere sufficiently to cause some briefly heavy showers here and there…with the leeward beaches seeing the least effect.

Moving forward in our outlook, it appears, according to the latest computer forecast guidance, that the upper low will be moving away by Sunday. This will allow the trade wind speeds to pick up, as noted in the first paragraph. It will also put an end to the increased shower activity along those windward coasts and slopes. There will still be some showers around, but they will be tapering off nicely. Looking into my crystal ball into next week, it looks like a fairly standard trade wind weather pattern setting up. This means plenty of sunshine with warm to very warm daytime temperatures along the beaches, with seasonably warm temperatures overnight. The leeward sides of the islands will be mostly dry, with the typical overnight passing showers along the windward coasts.

It’s early Thursday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I begin this sunset commentary. The sun is still out at the moment, although will take a dip into the clouds covering the ever present West Maui Mountains at any moment. The warm rays are still keeping my bare back warm, which feels so good! Today was another sun filled day along the leeward sides of Maui. It was different story over on the windward sides, which I understand had ongoing passing light showers falling. Looking over that way, towards Makawao and Haiku, it appears that those fuzzy clouds are likely shower prone even now. As the aforementioned upper level trough of low pressure moves overhead soon, those passing showers will likely increase somewhat, and may even become briefly heavy at times into Saturday. The leeward sides, in many places at least, will remain dry in contrast. By the way, my Dad finally got home from the hospital this afternoon, just in time for his 84th birthday. He said “I want to have a big party”…of course tongue in cheek. We have Father’s Day just up ahead too, and fortunately I had the presence of mind to send off two cards earlier this week. It’s a peaceful evening, quiet, and comfortably warm, that is until the sun goes down at any minute, when the thermometer will take a 3-4 degree nose dive. I hope you have a great Thursday night, and that you will meet me here again on Friday. Aloha for now…Glenn.