Weather Details and Aloha Paragraphs

December 14-15 2006

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

Lihue, Kauai – 79F
Honolulu, Oahu – 83
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Kahului, Maui – 84
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 82

Honolulu – 75F
Hilo, Hawaii – 68F

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

0.96 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI
0.28 OAHU FOREST NWR, OAHU
0.01 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.41 WEST WAILUAIKI, MAUI
0.78 LAUPAHOEHOE, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a very strong 1040 millibar high pressure system north of the Hawaiian Islands Friday. This high pressure cell will keep locally strong and gusty trade winds blowing now. As the high pressure cell moves further east it will weaken some, so that winds will gradually decrease Saturday.  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. 

A robust high pressure system has moved into the area NW of Hawaii, and will be the source of blustery trade winds for the next several days. These trade winds will increase, becoming strong and gusty Thursday through Saturday, then calm down some later in the upcoming weekend into early next week. Winds at the peak of this episode, today through Saturday, will top 30 mph regularly, with gusts to 40+ mph in those windiest locations in the southern part of the state.  The upper summits of the mountains could easily have 50+ mph gusts. We have a small craft advisory active across all the Hawaiian coastal and channel waters Thursday morning…which will remain active into Saturday. Recently, a gale warning went into effect for the Alenuihaha Channel between Maui the Big Island, and the waters south of the Big Island. Finally, a wind advisory has been issued for winds gusting above 50 mph from 6am Friday until 6pm Friday.
 
Despite this new surging trade wind flow, our overlying atmosphere remains quite stable and dry.  This in turn suggests that there won’t be any significant increase in showers. The windward sides of the islands will be where most of whatever showers that are around…do end up. A few stray showers may be carried over to the leeward sides by the gusty winds…especially on the smaller islands. The presence of an upper level trough of low pressure this weekend may trigger an increase in windward showers then. Looking further ahead, the trade winds will be lighter next week, with not much change in the shower activity. In other words, generally good weather persisting next week.

It’s early Thursday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I begin writing this sunset commentary.  It got windy here in the islands today as expected, although not everywhere in equal measure. The winds were from a more or less easterly direction, so that the windward sides took the brunt of the strengthening trade flow. At least here on Maui, it was much less windy over in the Lahaina and Kihei areas. The top gust that I saw today was 51 mph at South Point on the Big Island, which is pretty major in my estimation! The full force of this windy period will likely occur Friday, at which point the trade wind producing high pressure system, which is causing all this gustiness, will be moving by at its closest point to our north.  The ocean surrounding all the islands is chalked-up with white caps, and rough surf will now start to roll into the east facing beaches. As I was driving up the mountain a little while ago, I could see what looked like misty clouds banked up against the windward slopes, over in the upper Haiku and Makawao areas…although I’m not expecting those light showers to get too out of hand. I hope you have a good Thursday night wherever you happen to be spending it. I’ll have your next narrative ready for you here at approximately 530am (Hawaiian time) Friday, which is 730am on the west coast, and 1030am on the east coast. Aloha for now…Glenn.