Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / April 22-23, 2013

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

M –  Lihue, Kauai
82 – Honolulu, Oahu
77 – Molokai
87 – Kahului, Maui
85 – Kona, Hawaii
86 – Hilo, Hawaii

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 – 79
Lihue, Kauai – 70

Haleakala Summit –   39 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 27 (13,000+ 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 working.

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

 
 
                        High Wind Warning for the Big Island summits

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

27   Makaha Ridge, Kauai – SE
22   Makua Range, Oahu – SW
18   Molokai – SE
18   Kahoolawe – SW
14   Kaupo Gap, Maui – SW
21  PTA Range 17, Big Island – NW

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Monday evening:

0.99   Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.17   Bellows AFS, Oahu
0.09   Molokai
0.00   Kahoolawe
0.71   Kaupo Gap, Maui
0.42   Piihonua, 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 Narrative ~~~

A rather humid, and locally moist southwest to southeasterly air flow will continue over the islands…until later Wednesday. Here’s a weather chart showing a strong near 1038 millibar high pressure system, located far to the northeast of the islands. This high pressure cell has an associated ridge of high pressure extending southwest from its center, to over the ocean east of the Big Island. At the same time, a cold front near Kauai and Oahu, is seen as well. Our local winds continue to come in from the southwest through southeast…as this late season front continues to crawl into the state. We’ll see voggy weather in many areas, lasting until the trade winds return…ventilating the haze away then.

Satellite imagery shows an area of rain producing clouds over Oahu and Kauai…in association with a slow moving cold front. Here’s the looping radar image, showing showers, some of which are quite heavy, moving near Kauai and Oahu at times. Skies were mostly clear to partly cloudy over Maui County and the Big Island Monday morning, although clouds developed during the day…with localized showers. This convective pattern, with afternoon clouds, and a few spotty showers will occur again Tuesday. Precipitation will be most notable over the Kauai end of the island chain, as the cold front remains in place into Tuesday.

The cold front mentioned above, continues the threat of locally heavy showers…especially around Kauai and Oahu. Here’s a satellite picture of this frontal cloud band, now over Kauai, or having slipped just into the Kauai Channel. While this front is in our area, there will be an upper level trough of low pressure moving by just to the north, which may enhance any showers…especially over Kauai. There may in fact be a few strong thunderstorms forming near Kauai at times later into Tuesday morning. These convective cells would drop flooding rainfall, bring strong gusty winds, along with thunder and lightning. ~~~ Looking ahead, it will take until Wednesday or even Thursday, before a solid trade wind flow returns statewide. It appears that a fairly normal trade wind weather pattern will close out the second half of this week. I’ll be back again early Tuesday morning with more updates, I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui: As has been the case the last couple of days, conditions started off early…without any clouds, or very few. At the same time, the persistent vog was very present, masking the clarity of the beautiful views. It didn’t take long before cumulus clouds started to bubble up over the island. These cloud formations increased as the day went on, especially over and around the mountains. Here in the upcountry area of Kula, there’s been a few showers, although nothing like the heavy one or two we saw yesterday. I can see that there’s still lots of late afternoon sunshine down in the central valley, and Kihei. I expect that when the sun sets, the clouds will gradually diminish, with clear skies starting off the day again Tuesday.

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: There are no active tropical cyclones

South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

North and South Indian Oceans: There are no active tropical cyclones