Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs
Posted by GlennSeptember 11-12 2007
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 87F
Honolulu, Oahu – 88
Kaneohe, Oahu – 85
Kahului, Maui – 87
Hilo, Hawaii – 84
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 86
Temperatures early Wednesday morning ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at the 4 a.m. hour:
Kaneohe, Oahu – 77F
Hilo, Hawaii – 68
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Wednesday morning:
0.63 WAILUA, KAUAI
0.51 OAHU FOREST NWR, OAHU
0.16 MOLOKAI
0.01 LANAI
0.03 KAHOOLAWE
1.43 ULUPALAKUA, MAUI
0.70 HONAUNAU, BIG ISLAND
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map…showing a 1028 millibar high pressure system located far NE of Hawaii now…too far away to provide the strong trade winds closer to the high’s center. This high pressure system has a ridge of high pressure extending SW to the north of Hawaii. This pressure configuration will keep light to moderately strong trade winds blowing both Tuesday and Wednesday…somewhat stronger in those locally windiest areas during the afternoons. 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.
Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean.
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.
What a nice private little beach on the Big Island
Photo Credit:: flickr.com
The trade winds will remain active across our tropical latitudes, increasing some as we get to Friday and the weekend, continuing into early next week. Weather maps show the same 1028 millibar high pressure system located far to the NE of the islands Tuesday evening…the one that has been keeping our trade winds alive during the last week. This high pressure system is far away, although the lower end of its associated ridge extends down to our north. The location of this ridge will keep light to moderately strong trade winds blowing, with somewhat stronger gusts in those usual windier areas…especially during the afternoon hours.. The current computer forecast models suggest that we will see these balmy trade winds remaining active through at least the rest of this work week…strengthening some by the weekend into early next week.
A long lasting upper level low pressure system, to the NW of Kauai Tuesday, is moving away now. It doesn’t appear that this low will have much of an influence left on our local weather…although may be able to keep a few briefly heavy showers around here and there. Other than those locally heavier showers we can look for just the usual few passing showers along the windward sides, and a couple of afternoon or evening showers over the interior sections locally, especially the Kona slopes of the Big Island. The majority of the leeward beaches will remain quite sunny, with just the occasional cloudy periods. High level winds are bringing cirrus clouds up from the SW at times too, so there may be some intrusion of this high cloudiness over the next couple of days…most notable over the southern part of the Aloha state.
It’s Tuesday evening here in the islands, as I update this last paragraph of today’s narrative. As is often the case, once we get into the last month of summer, we begin to see more surf breaking along our beaches than during June, July and August. The reason is that we begin to see early season swells being generated by gale low pressure systems far to the NW. At the same time, adding to this activity, retired tropical storms and typhoons in the western Pacific, often end up in the Aleution Islands, and send us swell trains of waves too. Then there’s the late winter storms in the south hemisphere, that send us late summer south swells for our islands. The bottom line here is that we will find lots of waves arriving along all our beaches and reefs during the next week…none of which will be dangerous in size however. ~~~ I was mentioning the high clouds in the previous paragraph, which became quite thick over the Big Island and Maui during the day. At any rate, this evening’s sunset should be pretty spectacular, as will Wednesday morning’s sunrise if those ice crystal clouds are still around then. ~~~ I’ll be back early Wednesday morning with your next weather narrative from paradise, I hope you have a great Tuesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
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