Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs

February 7-8 2008

3.55 MOUNT WAIALEALE, KAUAI
3.19 OAHU FOREST NWR, OAHU
1.23 MOLOKAI
0.00 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
2.11 OHEO GULCH, MAUI
4.04 HILO AIRPORT, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map.  A 1034 millibar high pressure system is located far to the NE of the islands…with its associated ridge extending westward…to the north of Hawaii Friday. This pressure configuration will keep light winds around, gradually picking up in strength this weekend into next week. Here’s a Weather Map Symbol page for clarification about what all those weather symbols mean on the map.

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. 

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

 
 A nice sunset on the upper west side of Maui

The cloud and shower producing upper trough of low pressure over the islands…will stick around for another day or two. This upper level trough of low, had been moving eastward, and was expected to provide improving weather conditions…but has now stalled. This in turn will keep our overlying atmosphere at least somewhat moist and unstable, with still the chance of localized heavy showers, or even a random thunderstorm…mostly during the afternoon hours. All of the islands got into the act Thursday afternoon, when locally heavy, and in places…flooding rainfall occurred. We will see a repeat performance again Friday, with improved weather forecast for the weekend. 

The trade winds have eased in strength recently, remaining on the light side through Friday…then pick up a notch again this weekend. The latest weather map shows a very strong 1040 millibar high pressure system located far to the northeast of Hawaii Thursday evening. Storms moving by to our north have weakened our trade wind producing high pressure ridge, which in turn has softened our local trade winds temporarily. The long range computer forecast models show the trade winds persisting into next week, which continues the unusually long lasting spell of winds this winter. 

It’s Thursday evening as I begin updating last paragraph of today’s narrative. The high and middle level clouds, which greatly limited Hawaii’s famous sunshine during the last week, have finally moved away! This allowed more sunshine to prevail in most areas, especially during the morning hours…which was good thing!  On the other hand, that sunshine, with its daytime heating, in turn caused afternoon cloud buildups to form. As noted above, the air mass over the islands is still somewhat unstable. This instability allowed clouds to develop vertically, to grow higher than normal. Those deep dark clouds, dropped localized heavy showers, with even a few thunderstorms noted. At one point Thursday afternoon, there was a waterspout reported dropping down from one such cloud! A waterspout is simply a tornado over water. The focus for these showers was mostly over and around the mountains may be showers falling along the windward sides in places too. The good news here, is that the leeward beaches saw better weather in general, with lots of sunshine beaming down! ~~~ Despite the chance of more showers, I think the general outlook remains upbeat. We are more than likely going to see a repeat performance Friday afternoon, after a sunny start to the day in most areas. This weekend should be quite nice, with just a normal trade wind weather pattern prevailing. Looking further away, like around next Tuesday, we could see the chance of another increase in showers, but lets hold off on getting too overly serious about that just yet. ~~~ I’ll be back very early Friday morning with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Thursday night wherever you happen to be spending it. Aloha for now…Glenn.
 
Glenn’s TV Weather show is back online again now. The colors aren’t perfect, although they are close enough. One day’s show will replaced with the next new days show at around 9am HST (11am PST – 2pm EST). Thanks to the folks at the Maui Media Lab in Paia for making this happen!