February 28-March 1, 2010


Air Temperatures The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday afternoon:

Lihue, Kauai – 75
Honolulu, Oahu – 76
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Kaunakakai, Molokai – 72
Kahului, Maui – 72
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
Kailua-kona – 82

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level around the state – and on the highest mountains…at 4pm Sunday afternoon:

Kailua-kona – 78F
Kahului, Maui – 67

Haleakala Crater –    missing (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 41 (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)

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

1.99 Kokee, Kauai  
1.26 Makaha Stream, Oahu
1.30 Molokai 
0.09 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
2.69 West Wailuaiki, Maui 
0.80 Honokaa, Big Island

Marine WindsHere’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1033 millibar high pressure system far to the northwest of Hawaii…moving eastward. A cold front is moving down across the Big Island, with cooler and stronger north to northeast winds blowing across the island chain into Monday.

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with this 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. Finally, here’s a Looping IR satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image.

Hawaii’s MountainsHere’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 weather conditions.

Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather 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. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here.

Note: the text below the picture is missing if you are using IE or Safari browsers, you will have to switch to Mozilla Firefox to see it…temporarily.

Aloha Paragraphs

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_RvuZcEGsrOc/R2CuwrbeoWI/AAAAAAAAAqs/h0CZAdUrL8U/Maui-Hawaii+Too+Windy+1.JPG
Cool windy weather here in the islands…with showers





A cold front has spread cool windy weather conditions down the island chain from the northwest. In response to this situation, we have small craft wind advisories active across all coastal waters. At the same time, the windiest channels between the islands have unusual gale warnings posted. Speaking of unusual, we also have active wind advisories across many areas over the islands themselves Sunday evening. This IR satellite image shows the cold front...which has passed over Kauai, Oahu and Maui, and is traveling over the Big Island at the time of this writing. Here's a looping radar image, so we can keep track of the showers that will be passing through the state. The heaviest rainfall thus far, has ended up over the upcountry area along the windward side of Maui...with most islands now finding 1.00"+ rainfall amounts. There continue to be low flying drizzle and misty showers along many of the leeward sides of the smaller islands. The windward coasts and slopes have seen showers passing overhead all day Sunday...which will continue into Sunday night, and likely into Monday morning. By the way, the largest rainfall total, as I was referring to above, was the 2.69" at the West Wailuaiki rain gauge above the Keane Peninsula...along the Hana coast of east Maui. Let’s take a peek at this cold front, using the same satellite image as above, only with a broader perspective. We can see the leading edge of the front having pushed into the area southeast of the Big Island...with the trailing edge still between the islands of Kauai and Oahu. While we’re checking out this active Pacific frontal boundary, here’s an even larger look, using this University of Washington picture. It helps us to see that most of the incoming moisture is being pushed up against the windward sides, with just those few light misty showers along the leeward sides in places. The windiest part of this event will be now through Tuesday, with some gradually reduction in wind speeds into mid-week. The winds were coming in first from the north, due to the following high pressure system, behind the cold front…being located to our northwest. As time moves on, this cool air will turn clockwise to the northeast, and eventually all the way around to the ENE and east by mid-week onwards. The models point out that these trade winds will continue over us through most of the upcoming week. As is often the case, we will see incoming showery clouds depositing moisture along our windward coasts and slopes…which will be very welcome due to the severely dry conditions that prevail now. The models suggest that these showers may even become more frequent from Wednesday through Friday. It’s Sunday evening, as I begin writing the last section of today's narrative.  If you had a chance to read down through the paragraphs above, you know that we've seen a fairly big change in our local weather conditions Sunday, as this cold front has pushed down through the island chain. This front has been able to move over all the islands, which is a good thing. Likely though, this frontal passage will be remembered more for the strong and gusty winds following it, rather than the rainfall that falls from it. Speaking of winds, they have been blustery, at least in those areas that are exposed to the northerly direction of this air in a hurry. There are some locations that have seen generally light breezes in contrast, even along the windward sides today. The strongest gust that I happened to see today, was at an unlikely spot, which usually has quite light winds. This was over the small island of Lanai, where there was a 44 mph gust during the afternoon hours. At 5pm Sunday evening, the wind was still gusting all the way up to 48.4 mph...the strongest in the state of Hawaii! There were several reports of 38 and 42 mph gusts locally at the same time...windy weather to say the least! Here in Kula, Maui, it's been blowing strongly all day, with light mist and drizzle falling. The air temperature was 61.7F degrees at just before 6pm, with the low 60's being the case all day. ~~~ I'll be back with you again early Monday morning, I hope you have a good Sunday night, and enjoy the still "close to full moon" shining down from above! Aloha for now...Glenn.