Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Monday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 76
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 82
Molokai airport – 80
Kahului airport, Maui – 82
Kona airport – 81
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 78
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 730pm Monday evening:
Kailua Kona – 76
Hana airport, Maui – 72
Haleakala Summit – 39 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Loa Summit – M (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…if it's available.
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. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. The 2012 hurricane season is over in the eastern and central Pacific…resuming on May 15th and June 1st 2013.
Aloha Paragraphs
Our winds will be from the trade wind direction, gradually
easing up through the rest of this week. They will become
lighter from the southeast towards the weekend, with
possible volcanic haze (vog) arriving then locally
Clear to partly cloudy, with cloudy periods, some showers
in our windward sections…a few elsewhere at times
Small Craft Advisory for strong and gusty winds…
producing hazardous seas – most marine zones
High Surf Advisory…rough and choppy waves
on the east shores
~~~Air temperature at 507am HST Tuesday morning,
with with clear skies, calm winds…at my upcountry
Kula, Maui weather tower: 48.9F degrees~~~
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Monday evening:
31 Lihue, Kauai – NE
32 Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
33 Molokai – NE
44 Kahoolawe – NE
36 Kahului, Maui – E
33 South Point, Big Island – NE
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Monday evening:
3.40 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.31 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.08 Molokai
0.00 Kahoolawe
1.62 Kaupo Gap, Maui
1.39 Saddle Quarry, Big Island
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.
~~~ Hawaii Weather Commentary ~~~
Our winds will remain active from the trade wind direction…gradually easing up in strength going forward. Here's a weather chart showing high pressure centers to the northeast of and north-northwest of Hawaii. At the same time, we find a cold front to the northwest approaching…although it will pass by to our north over the next few days. The trade winds will remain well established, although gradually be mellowing-out through this work week.
There will continue to be periods of clouds with a few showers…although with clear periods too. Here's a satellite image, showing clear skies in many areas, especially around the Big Island and Maui County. There is a large area of cirrus east and southeast of the Big Island. Here's a larger satellite view of all the clouds that are located over the islands, and in all directions…out over the ocean. The still blustery trade winds will carry showery clouds our way at times, particularly around Kauai and Oahu. Some of these windward biased showers will be carried over into the leeward sides…on the smaller islands.
Winds were quite a bit lighter today, with this trend carrying forward through the week. The weather models show a cold front passing by to the north of the state over the next couple of days, which will help to calm our gusty wind speeds down a notch or two. Looking a bit further ahead, the models are now showing some significant changes during the second half of the week. They had been showing another surge of strong to very strong trade winds around Thursday into the upcoming weekend time frame, although now have backed off on that prospect.
The more current outlook shows lighter winds, and possible increased rainfall later in the week. As mentioned above, our trade winds will steadily decrease in strength going forward, and gradually veer to the southeast by the weekend. As this change from easterly trade winds occurs, the southeast wind flow will carry volcanic haze (vog) up over the island chain from the Big Island. We'll see an intrusion of high cirrus clouds over the state then too, along with increasing showers. The southeast winds will split around the Big Island, putting much of the state into a light wind situation. Stay tuned for more on this shift in our local weather.
I worked down at the headquarters office of the Pacific Disaster Center in Kihei today, and will again Tuesday. I've worked at the PDC over the last 17 years, which was my day job all those years. I made a change at the end of last year, and have been doing my PDC work…from here in Kula. Thus, I wasn't able to do as many weather updates during the day Monday, which will remain the case Tuesday. I'll be back early Tuesday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you're spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones
Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones
Eastern Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
Central Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
Western Pacific Ocean: Tropical cyclone 01W (Sonamu) remains active in the South China Sea…located approximately 335 NM west of Brunei. Sustained winds were 30 knots, with gusts to near 40 knots. This tropical storm will be showing a steady decrease in strength. Here's the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image.
South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
North and South Indian Oceans: Tropical cyclone 08S (Narelle) remains active in the South Indian Ocean…located approximately 605 NM north-northeast of Learmonth, Australia. Sustained winds were 45 knots, with gusts to near 55 knots. This tropical storm will be showing a steady increase in strength. reaching 65-75 knots in 12-24 hours. Here's the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image.
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