February 19-20 2006

Air Temperatures — The following maximum temperatures were recorded across Hawaii Sunday:

Lihue, Kauai – 78F
Honolulu, Oahu – 81
Kaneohe, Oahu – 77
Kahului, Maui – 82
Hilo, Hawaii – 79
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 80

Temperatures early Monday morning ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at the 5 a.m. hour:

Kailua-kona – 73
Hilo airport – 68

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

1.11 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI
8.67 AHUIMANU LOOP, OAHU
1.29 MOLOKAI
0.82 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
2.93 KAHAKULOA, MAUI
0.21 LAUPAHOEHOE, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart — Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a trough of low pressure far to the west, and to the NE of the islands Monday. This will keep our winds light, gradually becoming trade winds on Tuesday. 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 only available during the daylight hours here in the islands…that is unless there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two!

Satellite Images — To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with the Infrared Satellite Imageof the islands to see all the clouds around the state. This next satellite image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible satellite image. The next satellite 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 radar image.

Aloha Paragraphs

Wailea Beach, Maui
Artist: Douglas Peebles

The upper level low pressure system has now moved further away to the west and NW of the main Hawaiian Islands. Our surface winds are blowing from the SE over most areas of the state today, helping to bring volcanic haze up from the vent on the Big Island. Meanwhile, the upper level winds are blowing from the west and SW, which is keeping high cirrus clouds streaming up over the islands, muting our Hawaiian sunshine greatly.


This upper low, with its associated cold air aloft…despite its greater distance now, apparently is still close enough to spark some local thunderstorm activity. This means that there is still the good chance of some heavy showers around, as occurred over the island of Oahu Saturday night into Sunday morning…where up to 5 inches of rain fell in places! This flooding rain focused its efforts over the Koolau Mountains, and along the windward coast. Although there were thunderstorms that formed near Maui during the day Sunday as well.

The veil of high cirrus clouds will be filtering our sunshine through Monday. These icy clouds give the atmosphere a rather threatening look, in terms of showers, although high clouds don’t provide rain, at least not that will reach the surface. Although, with reports of thunderstorms in the vicinity, those cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds will be the localized rain producers Sunday. As the light SE winds give way to light trade winds into Monday, we’ll see some showers arriving along the windward sides of the islands more often too.

It’s early Sunday evening here in Kula, Maui. It has turned out to be a day without one moment of sunshine here on Maui, at least from what I could see from my mountain perch. It was cloudy, cloudy, and then more cloudy. Actually, it has taken turns in being cloudy, and then foggy! There have been some off and on light showers at my place too. I haven’t left home, and have enjoyed lounging around and reading. My Dad was in the hospital overnight, and so I’m concerned for his well being. He has some tests to take soon, which will let us know what’s up with his health. It certainly changes my mood when something like this happens. It’s still daylight at the moment, although the atmosphere over the islands is full of moisture, with clouds occupying all levels of the sky. I hope you have a great Sunday night, I’ll be back Monday morning with the next narrative updates. Aloha for now…Glenn. 

You may have noticed that I added a Paypal – Donate button on the left hand margin of this page. I’d like to invite my regular readers to please make a contribution if possible. As they know, I invest a considerable amount of time keeping these pages updated on a twice daily basis throughout the year. It’s essentially a labor of love, as I enjoy keeping in touch with the weather, and then sharing it with you. At the same time, this is an opportunity to support the continuance of my TV weather show as well, which will soon appear on this webpage. Once a year I have a fund raiser, and ask folks to give a little something back in support of my efforts. Last year I was asked how much Glenn? I believe that somewhere between $35 and $50 is a fair amount per year. There will of course be those that give less, and then again perhaps more. All you have to do is click on the Paypal button, follow the easy directions, and the funds will be securely transferred to my account. By the way, if you feel more comfortable about sending a check, please contact me via email for my mailing address. I will appreciate whatever you can give, and of course thank you very much!  I’ll be acknowledging the folks who make a contribution Sunday, by listing them just below:

Edward Tucker, from Fort Collins, Colorado

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