Weather Details and Aloha Paragraphs

September 15-16 2006

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across Hawaii Friday:

Lihue, Kauai – 84F
Honolulu, Oahu – 86
Kaneohe, Oahu – 83
Kahului, Maui – 88
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 86

KAILUA-KONA – 78
MOLOKAI AIRPORT – 769

Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours (as of Saturday morning) on each of the major islands:

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a 1024 millibar high pressure center located to the NE of our islands Saturday. The winds will be light to moderately strong trades today, gradually strengthening into Sunday.  Here’s a Weather Map Symbol page for clarification about what all those weather symbols mean on the map.

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 (where Hawaii is) runs from June 1 through November 30. The latest storm information for the eastern Pacific can be found by clicking here. A storm tracking map for both the central and eastern areas can be found by clicking here . For the central Pacific, the latest storm information can be found by clicking here.

 

Swishing across the sky
Photo Credit: flikr.com

The trade winds will dominate our local Hawaiian Island weather picture today and Saturday. A high pressure ridge is still quite close to Kauai, forced southward by an early season storm far to the NNW of Hawaii. As this storm gradually moves northward, our ridge will migrate slowly northward in its wake this weekend. Until then we’ll find light to moderately strong trade winds blowing…although a little stronger than that in those windier places during the afternoons through Saturday. The latest models show the ridge moving further north by Sunday, with the trade wind speeds picking up a notch or two then into next week. Next week’s trade wind flow may be strong enough that we would see small craft advisory flags flying over the coastal and channel waters.

Showers will concentrate their efforts over the windward and mountains areas today and Saturday as well. Those windward sides will see a few more showers falling now than we’ve seen for a while…although nothing heavy is expected. The leeward sides in contrast will likely remain quite dry, although there may be a few showers sneaking over there in places. The Kona slopes on the Big Island may see a few showers falling during the afternoon hours, and along the Haleakala slopes as well, but again not much is expected. Satellite imagery shows no organized rain makers on our weather horizon, so that decent weather conditions will prevail well into the future.

The waves here in the islands have been small this week, although that’s expected to change starting today, with lots of surf around through the weekend. There’s been a couple of deep storms that generated new swells, which are heading in our direction now. Last week in the area down near New Zealand, a swell began, which will arrive here along our leeward sides this weekend. Another swell was formed by a storm to the NNW of the Hawaiian Islands several days agao, which has brought up the surf along our north shores Friday. The local surf community will have the opportunity to ride lots of waves now!

We have an El Nino condition active now, which will offer up several responses to our upcoming weather conditions in Hawaii over the next six months or so. The following list have been the tendencies here in the islands when an El Nino has occurred in the past: less than the normal amount of autumn and winter into spring rainfall amounts; lighter than normal winds; more than the normal amount of high surf events; and the possibility of late season tropical storm activity this autumn. El Nino conditions have just started, so we will begin to look for some of these tendencies as we move into the autumn and winter seasons ahead.

It’s early Friday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I start writing this pre sunset commentary.  It was a decent day here on Maui, although with quite a few clouds around, and some showers falling in the upcountry areas between Pukalani, Kula and Ulupalakua. I’ve made the exectutive decision to go to see a new film this evening, called The Last Kiss, rather than going to one of the restaurants in Wailea for an Italian wine tasting. One negative review that I found online said this about it: "If it’s true that, for women, 60 is the new 40, must it follow that, for men, 30 is the new 10? That’s the emotional math at work in The Last Kiss, an alarming male wallow passing as a fetching date-night dramedy in which four men entering their fourth decade — friends since childhood — respond with lunkheaded awfulness to the mysteries of women, each in his own lunkish way."  Here’s another review that turns out to be slightly better: "I recommend The Last Kiss, but not without a misgiving or two. This movie is essentially a celebration of yuppie angst. It’s about people in their late 20s who have issues with commitment and monogamy, who have lost their way and are trying to find themselves. Essentially, it’s about middle age crises for people who are only a little more than half-way to middle age." And finally, the San Francisco Chronicle says: "If The Last Kiss starts to feel awfully familiar, at least it’s not because the movie follows a predictable Hollywood formula. There’s nothing formulaic in this story of four buddies on the cusp of 30 torn between settling down and opening themselves up to more adventures — particularly of a sexual nature." I’ll let you know what I thought early Saturday morning, when I’ll be back online updating this page before a surfing trip to the Lahaina side. I hope you have a good Friday night! Aloha for now…Glenn.

I want to highlight another of the great advertisers on my website today, this time it’s Kiteboarding Lessons.  "If you want to learn to kiteboard, Maui is the place! "