The latest update to this website was at 1203pm (Hawaii time) Thursday, February 2, 2023

Air Temperatures – The following high temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday afternoon…along with these low temperatures Thursday morning: 

82 – 72  Lihue AP, Kauai
82 – 67  Honolulu AP, Oahu
79 – 66  Molokai AP
81 – 62  Kahului AP, Maui
84 – 70  Kona AP, Hawaii
85 – 66  Hilo AP, Hawaii 

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

0.25  Poipu, Kauai
0.01  Waihee Pump, Oahu
0.03  Kamalo, Molokai
0.01  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.01  Kula 1, Maui
1.00  Kulani NWR, Big Island

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph) Thursday afternoon:

15  Port Allen, Kauai
14  Kii, Oahu
14  Makapulapai, Molokai
08  Lanai
20  Kahoolawe
17  Hana, Maui
24  South Point, Big Island

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of our tallest mountain Mauna Kea (~13,800 feet high) on the Big Island of Hawaii. Here’s the webcam for the (~10,023 feet high) Haleakala Crater on Maui. These webcams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands, and at night whenever there’s a big moon shining down. Also, at night you will be able to see the stars, and the sunrise and sunset too…depending upon weather conditions.

 

https://weather.gc.ca/data/satellite/goes_gwdisk11_1070_100.jpg

Click on this image twice to make it larger

 

https://cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES17/ABI/SECTOR/tpw/13/GOES17-TPW-13-900x540.gif 

We see an upper level low…to the southwest of the state
(click on this image to make it larger)


https://cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES17/ABI/SECTOR/hi/GEOCOLOR/GOES17-HI-GEOCOLOR-600x600.gif

Variable clouds…with clear areas locally

 

https://cdn.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES17/ABI/SECTOR/hi/13/GOES17-HI-13-600x600.gif

High level Cirrus clouds streaming over parts of the state from the west

 

https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/HAWAII_loop.gif

Passing showers locally…just a few

 

https://www.weather.gov/images/hfo/satellite/Kauai_VIS_loop.gif

Kauai and Oahu (Satellite)

 

https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/PHKI_loop.gif

Kauai and Oahu (Radar)

 

https://www.weather.gov/images/hfo/satellite/Oahu-Maui_VIS_loop.gif

Oahu and Maui County (Satellite)

 

https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/PHMO_loop.gif

Oahu and Maui County (Radar)

 

https://www.weather.gov/images/hfo/satellite/Hawaii_VIS_loop.gif

 Maui, Molokini, Lanai, and the Big Island (Satellite)

 

https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/PHKM_loop.gif

Maui County and the Big Island (Radar)

 

https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/standard/PHWA_loop.gif

Big Island (Radar)

 

Model showing precipitation through 8-days (you can slow this animation down)

 

https://www.weather.gov/wwamap/png/hfo.png

Please open this link…to see current Watches, Warnings and Advisories noted above

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Glenn’s Thursday comments: I’m here at home in upper Kula, Maui, Hawaii

Here at my Kula weather tower the low temperature this morning was 48 degrees, under generally clear skies…although with some high cirrus clouds moving overhead at times. It’s still too dark outside early this morning to see what’s going on, although it wouldn’t surprise me to find a layer of volcanic haze still in our area this morning (when it gets light)…which could become thicker as the day progresses.

850am, it’s a clear morning with light vog.

1130am, cumulus clouds are starting to develop…aided the daytime heating of the islands. The vog has increased into the light to moderately thick category. The temperature here at my weather tower has increased to 67.2 degrees.

1205pm, it’s quickly becoming mostly cloudy, with the vog level now up to moderately thick.

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview: Light winds will prevail through tonight for most areas, with afternoon sea breezes and overnight land breezes.

Drier mid-level air will limit showers across the central islands, with higher shower chances over Kauai and the Big Island.

Unstable trades will develop Friday through the weekend, with locally heavy showers and isolated thunderstorms possible, mainly over the western end of the state. Stronger and more stable trades develop next week.

Hawaii’s Weather Details: Weather maps show a west-east oriented trough of low pressure is positioned near Kauai, while a ridge of high pressure is located around 750 miles northwest of Kauai. The trough is cutting of the strongest gradient associated with the high, keeping winds light across the island chain. The surface trough near Kauai will shift southward into the western islands today through Friday.

This in turn will keep a northeasterly flow in place near Kauai, with easterly trades over the eastern end of the state. The winds will be on the increase across each end of the state during this time, while lighter winds prevail over the central islands closer to the trough. The trough will gradually weaken Friday night and Saturday, while high pressure slides by well north of the state.

This will strengthen the trade wind flow, with breezy conditions expected across the entire island chain by Saturday. Surface high pressure ridging will then hold in place north of the state Sunday through the middle of next week, keeping moderate to breezy trade winds in place with only minor fluctuations in strength.

Meanwhile, the deepest moisture will remain near the surface trough, which will linger over the smaller islands during the next few days. Shower coverage appears to remain the highest over Kauai today in closest proximity to the surface trough. Across the other islands, the moistening up of the boundary layer should bring a few more showers this afternoon than were seen yesterday, with a thunderstorm not out of the question on the Big Island.

With the trough expected to make some slight southward progress tonight, we should see an increase in showers particularly over windward sections of the smaller islands. Troughing aloft will overspread the state Friday through Saturday, while the deepest moisture remains over the northwestern islands.

Although some locally heavy showers and even a thunderstorm or two will be possible statewide, the models seem to be favoring higher potential for some downpours and a few thunderstorms over Kauai and Oahu during this time. At the moment, confidence in the potential for widespread heavy rainfall and flooding is not high enough for the NWS office in Honolulu to warrant a Flood Watch…although stay tuned.

The deeper moisture begins to exit to the southwest Saturday night and Sunday, with mid and upper level ridging beginning to build in from the northwest. This should lead to a gradual stabilization of the airmass, and a return to more typical trade wind weather. Building mid and upper level ridging will continue to stabilize the airmass over the islands Monday through the middle of next week, with typical trade wind weather featuring scattered windward showers and a few leeward spillovers expected statewide.

Here’s a near real-time Wind Profile of the Pacific Ocean – along with a Closer View of the islands / Here’s the latest Weather Map / Vog Model Forecast

Marine Environmental Conditions: A surface trough lingering in the area will support moderate northeast winds over the northwest Kauai waters, and light to moderate east flow over the Maui and Big Island waters through tonight. The land and sea breeze regime will persist over the central island waters (Molokai waters to the Kauai Channel) closer to the trough.

A transition is expected Friday into the weekend as a cold front passes by to the north, and high pressure builds in behind it. As the tail-end of the frontal boundary settles southward into the area Friday, fresh to strong northeast winds will accompany it, then become easterly Saturday.

Expect this pattern to hold through early next week, as the ridge sets up north of the islands. Small Craft Advisory conditions due to these strong winds are anticipated beginning sometime between Friday and Friday night for some waters, then may need to be expanded to other areas over the weekend. Seas will respond and may near the advisory threshold for exposed windward waters through the weekend.

Surf along north facing shores will hold at small levels due to a mix of a northwest swell and northerly swells moving through. Expect a downward trend from both swell sources Friday into the weekend as they move out. A fresh north-northwest swell associated with a pocket of strong- to gale-force level winds setting up around 900 nautical miles to the northwest through the day Thursday, will arrive at the exposed beaches by the end of the day Saturday, then hold into Sunday before lowering.

On Monday, an upward trend is expected out of the northwest from a distance source currently developing near the Kuril Islands in the far northwest Pacific. This northwest swell will slowly fill in through the day Monday, then peak sometime between Tuesday and Wednesday, before lowering into the latter half of next week. If this materializes, surf could near advisory levels for exposed north and west facing shores of the smaller islands as it peaks.

Surf along south facing shores will hold, then ease Friday into the weekend, as an out of season south swell moves through.

Surf along east facing shores will trend up this weekend through next week, as the aforementioned ridge sets up to the north, and a belt of fresh to strong easterly trades develop over and far upstream of the islands over the eastern Pacific.

 

Thursday Weather: Trade wind weather with a mix of sun and clouds, light showers | Local | kitv.com
Continued light winds…increasing Friday and Saturday 

 

 

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

 

Atlantic Ocean:  The 2022 Hurricane Season has ended…the 2023 season begins June 1, 202

Caribbean Sea:  The 2022 Hurricane Season has ended…the 2023 season begins June 1, 2023

Gulf of Mexico:  The 2022 Hurricane Season has ended…the 2023 season begins June 1, 2023

Eastern Pacific:  The 2022 Hurricane Season has ended…the 2023 season begins May 15, 2023

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

Central Pacific: The 2022 Hurricane Season has ended….the 2023 season begins June 1, 2023

Here’s the link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

Northwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)

>>> Here’s a link to the Pacific Disaster Center’s (PDC Global) Weather Wall website

 

Interesting: Wildfires Are Increasingly Burning California’s Snowy Landscapes and Colliding with Winter Droughts to Shrink California’s Snowpack

The early pandemic years overlapped with some of California’s worst wildfires on record, creating haunting, orange-tinted skies and wide swathes of burned landscape. Some of the impacts of these fires are well known, including drastic declines in air quality, and now a new study shows how these wildfires combined with midwinter drought conditions to accelerate snowmelt.

In a study published Jan. 20 in Geophysical Research Letters, a DRI-led research team examined what happens to mountain snowpacks when sunny, midwinter dry spells occur in forests impacted by severe wildfire. The researchers found a substantial increase in wildfires burning in California’s snowy landscapes throughout 2020 and 2021, when large blazes like the Dixie, Caldor, and Creek fires concentrated in snow zones.

Using a 2013 midwinter dry spell as comparison, they found that similar weather in the winter of 2021-2022 led to 50% less snow cover. The compounding impacts of wildfire on snow melt include an increase in sun exposure due to loss of forest canopy, and a reduction in the snow’s ability to reflect sunlight.

“It’s already established that wildfires are increasing spring snow melt, but we wanted to know what happens when you add a long winter dry spell on top of that,” said Arielle Koshkin, M.S., a Ph.D. student now at the Colorado School of Mines who co-led the study as part of her master’s research at DRI and the University of Nevada, Reno. “The Caldor fire burned in our backyard, it was so close to where we live and work. So, the following winter, we wanted to investigate what it looked like.”

Read more at: Desert Research Institute

Snow under burned trees from the Caldor fire. The new study shows that snow melted more rapidly during midwinter drought conditions within the footprints of wildfires. (Photo Credit: Anne Heggli, DRI)