Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs
Posted by GlennOctober 15-16 2006
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across Hawaii Sunday:
Lihue, Kauai – 77F
Honolulu, Oahu – 85
Kaneohe, Oahu – 83
Kahului, Maui – 87
Hilo, Hawaii – 89
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 87
Temperatures early Monday morning ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at the 5 a.m. hour:
KAILUA-KONA – 76
HILO AIRPORT – 69
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours (as of Monday morning) on each of the major islands:
0.20 KAPAHI, KAUAI
4.00 MAKUA RANGE, OAHU
0.97 MOLOKAI
0.43 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.42 WAILUKU, MAUI
0.42 LAUPAHOEHOE, BIG ISLAND
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing an active cold front working its way down through the state today. This will keep our winds light, although locally breezy from the south and SW ahead of the frontal boundary Monday. 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.
Aloha Paragraphs
Photo Credit: flikr.com
An active Pacific cold front remains active over the state, which has brought clouds and rain to Kauai and Oahu…although has slowed down its forward motion. This front will bring localized heavy rain with it, although may not make it down to Maui County Sunday as previsouly thought. There’s still the chance that a deep upper level low pressure system behind the frontal boundary, may enhance the cold fronts rains again, and move it over Maui on Monday…before pushing the front down to the Big Island perhaps on Tuesday. The models show that we will see light south winds for the time being, with drier air moving into the state by Wednesday. This satellite image shows the diffused cold front stretched across the state from about Molokai back over Oahu to Kauai early Sunday evening.
The NWS weather service is keeping the flash flood watch for the islands of Oahu, Maui County, and now the Big Island active through Monday morning. The front brought locally heavy rains to Oahu this morning, where this precipitation was heavy enough that a flash flood warning was in effect…but has since been cancelled. If you click on at this radar image you will see where the rains are concentrating their efforts. It would be wise to drive very carefully, as roads will become slippery and ponded at times, with flash flooding expected. An area of tropical moisture, which was associated with former tropical depression 04C last week, may get pulled up into the state for the next day or two…which could bring another round of rainy weather into play then.
Hawaii’s Earthquake: This morning there was a major earthquake, at last word rated at 6.6 on the Richter scale! It did the most extensive damage over the Kona area on the Big Island. However, here on Maui, it was widely felt, and also on Oahu. The earthquake hit at 7:07 a.m. local time, 10 miles north-northwest of Kailua Kona, a town on the west coast of the Big Island. There was no risk of a Pacific-wide tsunami, but there had been a possibility of significant wave activity in Hawaii. I was laying in bed reading at the time, and it didn’t take long before things were falling off my shelves, and I felt compelled to run downstairs and out onto the lawn. There was a second after shock that was rated 5.8 a few minutes later. This was the strongest earthquake I’ve felt during the 30+ years that I’ve lived in Hawaii! The power went off almost immediately afterwards, but came back on a couple of hours later here in Kula.
The last Hawaiian earthquake this strong struck more than 20 years ago. The magnitude 6.7 caused heavy property damage on Hawaii Island and collapsed trails into a volcano in Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park on November16, 1983. The largest recorded Hawaiian earthquake struck the Ka’u District on Hawaii Island in 1868, causing 77 deaths. Its magnitude was estimated at 7.9. A 9.5-magnitude earthquake, the largest in the world, struck Chile on May 22, 1960, and a tsunami traveled to Hawaii where 61 people died.
It’s early Sunday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I start this sunset commentary. We’ll, today started off in a most unusual way, which caused major havoc here in the islands due to a strong earthquake! It was a bit freaky at first, as TV, radio, the internet, and all electricity wasn’t available. This had everyone wondering what to do, what happened, was there going to be a tsunami, were my friends alright…on and on! Cell phones were the only way to communicate with the outside world, and with friends here in the islands. Fortunately I had charged my cell phone batteries the night before, so I was ready to do a bunch of calling and receiving calls. I actually got my first news about what had happened, by calling a friend in California, and my parents…both of whom got online and told me where, and what magnitude it had been. It was scarey, but yet so novel, that I think lots of people got energized by this natural occurrence in nature. At any rate, and as mentioned above, the cold front that almost brought lots of rain to Maui County, didn’t! It sure soaked Kauai and Oahu, but hasn’t inched its way down to Maui yet…I say yet, because I think that the rains will still arrive, probably over the next day or two. As many of you know, I have one more day before I head out on a 3+ week vacation. I’ll be back online Monday, and will do one more TV weather show before taking a flight to San Francisco Tuesday. I’ll of course set up my website pages, so that you can still find useful information, and of course weather forecasts too. I hope you have a fine Sunday night. I’ll be back early Monday morning with your next narrative from this this recently rattled Aloha state. Aloha for now…Glenn.
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