Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / June 8-9, 2012

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday:

Lihue, Kauai –                      83   
Honolulu airport, Oahu –       86  
Kaneohe, Oahu –                  82
Molokai airport –                  82
Kahului airport, Maui –     87   (Record high for Friday / 91 – 1952)
Kona airport –                     84
Hilo airport, Hawaii –            81

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Friday evening:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 82
Kapalua, Maui – 73

Haleakala Crater –  M (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea –         45 (near 13,800 feet on the Big Island)

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. This web cam is available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon shining down during the night at times. Plus, during the nights you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise and sunset too…depending upon weather conditions. Here's the Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui…although this webcam is not always working correctly.

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 (once the season begins June 1) for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here.  Here's a tropical cyclone tracking map for the eastern and central Pacific.

 Aloha Paragraphs

 

   Light to moderate trade winds, along with
a few passing windward showers

Small craft wind advisory for those windiest
coastal and channel waters around Maui
County and the Big Island

Active surf all shores…generally small,
although somewhat larger in places

As this weather map shows, we have a large near 1031 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of the islands. At the same time, there are two low pressure systems to our northwest, with an associated cold front pushing a ridge of high pressure close to Kauai. Our local winds will continue to be from the trade wind direction, remaining active through the weekend…becoming lighter. 

The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Friday evening:

24                Port Allen, Kauai – E 
28                Kahuku trng, Oahu – SE
31                Molokai – NE 
38                Kahoolawe – NE
33                Kahului, Maui – NE
30                Lanai – NE
32                Kealakomo, Big Island – NE

We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean.  Here's the latest NOAA satellite picture – the latest looping satellite image…and finally the latest looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands. 

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Friday evening:
 
0.30               Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.25               Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.00               Molokai
0.02               Lanai
0.00               Kahoolawe
0.15               Puu Kukui, Maui
0.88               Glenwood, Big Island  

Sunset Commentary:  The light to moderately strong trade winds will remain active…although gradually dropping a notch in strength this weekend…perhaps even turning southeast with time. The small craft wind advisories are active over just the windiest coastal and channel waters around Maui County and the Big Island. This advisory will likely be lifted at some point Saturday, and won't be needed through most of next week. We'll find just a few showers, restricted to the windward sides for the most part through Sunday.  Looking a bit further ahead, an upper level trough of low pressure will edge into our area from the east Monday, which will potentially bring more showers our way then…into the new week.

I'm going to see a new film this evening, one that I've been looking forward to for a while now. It's called Snow White & The Huntsman, starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, and Sam Claflin…among many others. The synopsis: In the epic action-adventure Snow White and the Huntsman, Kristen Stewart plays the only person in the land fairer than the evil queen (Charlize Theron) out to destroy her. But what the wicked ruler never imagined is that the young woman threatening her reign has been training in the art of war with a huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) dispatched to kill her. Sam Claflin joins the cast as the prince long enchanted by Snow White's beauty and power. Looking at the trailer, it certainly suggests strongly that this film goes off the deep end! I'll be back in the morning with my candid impression, I have a pretty strong impression that I'll be enjoying this one very much.

Here in Kula, Maui at 515pm, it was partly cloudy with light winds…and an air temperature of 73.6F degrees.  As this satellite image shows, we have high cirrus clouds (those brighter white ones) to our southwest and south, the northern fringe of which is coming into the state at times. Meanwhile the trade winds will continue blowing, although be lighter going forward. As a ridge of high pressure gets close to Kauai this weekend, our winds may veer all the way around to the southeast. This of course suggests that we may begin to see some volcanic haze shifting up from the Big Island vents…northwest over the other islands in places. Our weather will continue to be more or less favorably inclined, with no major changes on the horizon through Sunday. The models are still trying to bring some increase in clouds and showers after the weekend, which is becoming more likely now. If this manifests as the models are pointing out, this would be an unusual thing to happen during the month of June. It will be interesting to see how things turn out starting Monday, and last well into the new week. I'll be back Saturday morning with more information in this regard, I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you're spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

[World-wide tropical cyclone activity:]

Central Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 48 hours.

Eastern Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 48 hours.

Atlantic Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 48 hours.

Western Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones – There's a high chance of a tropical  cyclone to start up over the next 24 hours…in this area.

South Indian Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones