Hawaiian Island weather details & Aloha paragraphs

January 25-26 2008

0.72 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI
1.01 NUUANU UPPER, OAHU
0.09 MOLOKAI
0.01 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
1.83 PUU KUKUI, MAUI
2.18 PAHOA, BIG ISLAND

Satellite and Radar 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. 

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map. A strong 1038 millibar high pressure system, located far to the north of the islands, will move closer over the next few days…with increasingly strong and gusty trade winds. 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.

Aloha Paragraphs


Grabbing a little solitude on Kauai
photo credit: flickr.com 

The weather here in the islands will be characterized by gusty trade winds, and some passing windward showers. The latest weather maps show a strong high pressure system located far to the north of Hawaii. This trade wind producing high pressure cell will be moving southward, closer to our area over the next few days. This in turn will prompt a surge in our local trade wind speeds, with small craft advisory flags now waving in the breezes over the windiest areas…which will be extended across the entire state into the weekend. 

These gusty trade winds are expected to blow through the next week, with no letup in sight. This isn’t too unusual, as any month of the year can have trade winds blowing. This winter however has had more than the normal number of days with the trade winds blowing. We could point to the fact that we have an active La Nina happening here in the Pacific Ocean…for a possible reason. The good thing about this, is that typically when the trade winds are active, we have more or less favorable weather conditions in the islands. 

As far as rainfall is concerned, here has been relatively little in most areas. This will continue to be the case for the time being, although starting later Friday into Saturday, there will be a temporary increase in showers. This surge of showers will focus most intently on the windward sides of the islands, leaving the leeward sides alone. Although, having said that, we should remember that with the trade winds blowing, there’s always that chance that some of the windward biased showers can be blown over into the leeward sides…especially on the smaller islands.

Well, as you can see, I’m back in Hawaii, having had a great trip to the mainland. Most of you regular readers know that I went to California to visit my parents last week, and on to New Orleans to attend an American Meteorology Society conference afterwards. I had a good time in both cases, enjoying the company of my family, and then to mix with over 3,000 weather professionals at the conference. It’s always good to leave the tropics once in a while, to get out there and be stimulated by travel. I came back well, and am now ready to get back to work here on Maui.

I did a lot of flying Thursday, starting out in rainy New Orleans early in the morning. It was then on to Denver, where the air temperature was 18F degrees when I flew into that airport briefly. It was great to see all the snow covering the ground in the high plains. Then it was a flight over the Rocky Mountains, which as you can imagine were snowy…and beautiful. When I landed in Los Angeles, it was cloudy with showers in the area, and a cool 50F degrees. Finally, I took the long flight back to the Kahului, Maui airport, and was picked up by my next door neighbor…driving up the slopes of the Haleakala Crater to home.

It’s early Friday evening as I start updating this last paragraph of today’s narrative.  A trough of low pressure to the west of the state, over near the International Dateline, sent lots of high level cirrus clouds over the islands Friday. This ended up dimming and filtering our famous Hawaiian sunshine quite a bit. This looping satellite image shows this high cloudiness continuing to spread over our area. At the same time, that animated satellite image shows clouds and showers heading our way from the NE, or more accurately being carried in our direction…on the increasingly strong trade wind flow. These showers will make the windward sides wetter this evening, lasting into Saturday. Drier air will flood into our area by Sunday, with just a normal distribution of windward biased showers as we move into the new week ahead. ~~~ I’ll be heading to a new film this evening, called Cloverfield, a new 2008 film. I didn’t recognize any of the actors starring in this film, although the critics and users, both gave it a B grade. It’s about five young New Yorkers who throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives. Just in case you were curious, here’s a trailer for this new film. It doesn’t look great, although it somehow feels like what I want to see. Saturday night I have plans to see another new film called There will be Blood starring Daniel Day-Lewis…which is getting excellent B+ – A- grades. ~~~ I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you happen to be spending it! I’ll be back early Saturday morning with more weather news from paradise.