Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 8-9, 2013

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

79  Lihue, Kauai
80  Honolulu, Oahu
79  Molokai
86  Kahului, Maui
85  Kona, Hawaii
85  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 810pm Wednesday evening:

Kailua Kona – 79
Hana airport, Maui – 72

Haleakala Summit –   43 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 37 (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

Generally clear to partly cloudy mornings, afternoon
clouds around the mountains…just a few showers

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

15  Waimea Heights, Kauai – SW
18  Waianae Harbor, Oahu – NW
08  Molokai – NNE
12  Kahoolawe – SW
12  Kaupo Gap, Maui – SW
18  Kaupulehu, Big Island – NW

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

0.01  Lihue, Kauai
0.07  Palolo Fire Station, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.04  Kaupo Gap, Maui
0.22  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 ~~~

Our local winds will remain generally on the light side for one more day. Here’s a weather chart showing high pressure centers far to the east, northeast, and to the northwest. At the same time, we find many low pressure systems to the north, with the tail-end of associated cold front just to the east of the Big Island at the time of this writing. This weather setup will keep light and variable winds in place Thursday into Friday morning, with returning trade winds later Friday into the weekend.

Satellite imagery shows clear to partly cloudy skies over the island chain, although locally cloudy over the mountains too…with a weakening cold front just northwest of Kauai. We also see somewhat taller clouds over the ocean to the northeast of the Big Island. The island of Kauai will find this weakening cold front passing near there, or over that island tonight into Thursday. Here’s the looping radar image, showing hardly any showers around at the time of this writing, the most of which southeast of the Big Island…with a few showers around Maui too.

We’ll remain in a convective weather pattern Thursday…then trades return Friday. This means that we’ll see generally clear, cool mornings, giving way to cloudy afternoons on the slopes of our mountains. There may be a few showers, although the overlying atmosphere remains dry and stable now…limiting showers quite a bit. The cold front near Kauai will bring some showers to that island, while a few showers may sneak back in over the Big Island too. As for our trade winds, and their associated windward showers, we’ll find them returning Friday night into the weekend. The latest guidance suggests that these moderately strong trades will weaken as we get into early next week.

Here on Maui [540pm Wednesday, HST]:  As I was mentioning here earlier in the day, we started off mostly clear, and then quickly got cloudy, at least over and around the mountains. The beaches remained quite sunny, and looking down that way now, I can still see sunny weather down closer to sea level locations. Here in Kula, it got darker and darker, and finally the dark based cumulus clouds let loose with several light showers…with my weather deck still wet at the time of this writing. It’s been a bit foggy up here in Kula too, which is one of my favorite weather features. Our friends on the Big Island are still putting up with thick vog in some places, which will have to wait until the trade winds to arrive, to blow it away from most areas. Back here to Maui, it was 81F degrees early this evening, while it was a cooler 68 degrees here at my place, under thick clouds. I fully expect that before too long, not long after sunset as a matter of fact, these clouds will evaporate, making way for another clear morning on Thursday. I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you happen to be 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: There are no active tropical cyclones

South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

North and South Indian Oceans:  Tropical cyclone 24S remains active in the South Indian Ocean. Here’s the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) graphical track map, along with a satellite image.