The latest update to this website was at 1230pm Sunday (HST)

 

Here are the highest temperatures Saturday afternoon…and the lowest Sunday morning:

81 / 64  Lihue AP, Kauai
m / m  Honolulu AP, Oahu
m / m  Molokai AP, Molokai
85 / 61  Kahului AP, Maui
82 / 71  Kona AP, Big Island
82 / 64  Hilo AP, Big Island

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

0.02  N Wailua Ditch, Kauai
0.02  Waiawa, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.02  Lanai 1, Lanai
0.00  Maui
0.02  Kapapala Ranch, Big Island

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph) as of Sunday afternoon:

12  Waimea Heights, Kauai
12  Waianae Valley, Oahu
17  Molokai AP, Molokai
15  Lanai 1, Lanai
13  Kahului Harbor, Maui
18  South Point, Big Island

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcams on the summit of our tallest mountain Mauna Kea (~13,800 feet high) on the Big Island of Hawaii, and atop the Haleakala Crater (~10,023 feet) 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

Big Blue…click twice for largest version

 

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

 A cold front northwest


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

Most areas clear to partly cloudy…with some high clouds in the vicinity

 

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

Dry, dry, dry conditions prevail

 

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

Just a few showers

 

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, Kahoolawe, 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 details on any current Watches, Warnings and Advisories noted above

 

https://www.weather.gov/images/hfo/graphics/pmsl.gif

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Glenn’s Sunday comments:  I’m home here in upper Kula, Maui, Hawaii. I hope you have a good Sunday wherever you happen to be spending it.

It’s clear, with a cool low temperature of 49 degrees according to my outside temperature sensor.

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview:  Breezy trades return for the first half of the new week, bringing a modest increase in showers windward and mountain areas. Light winds then give way to a land and sea breeze pattern with afternoon clouds and isolated showers over island interiors during the second half of the week. There are no major rainstorms expected through the rest of 2024.

Hawaii’s Weather Details:  The subtropical ridge remains locked in place over the Hawaiian Islands, producing stable and dry conditions across the area. The satellite picture shows almost no clouds around the Hawaiian Islands. A cold front passing north of the island chain will keep large scale winds light and variable today, with mostly sunny skies, onshore sea breezes during the day and offshore land breezes at night.

The weather pattern shift starts later tonight, where a building high pressure system passing north of the islands will bring moderate to locally breezy trade winds back through Tuesday. By Tuesday the high center will continue to drift farther eastward into the East Pacific basin. A cold front approaching the islands from the northwest will weaken the ridge north of the state, and force the ridge axis to drift south over the Hawaiian Islands.

This pattern change will bring another round of stable and dry conditions, with lighter southeasterly winds with expanding sea breezes on Christmas Day, becoming light and variable winds from Thursday through Friday.

A shallow cold front will move into and stall near Kauai by Friday. Clouds and a few showers are possible along this weakening frontal band. However fairly stable conditions under the ridge will limit rainfall amounts, with this next system. Eastern islands in Maui and Hawaii Counties will not see much rainfall activity with this next frontal system.

Trade winds return next weekend, with an upper level trough/low potentially enhancing windward and mountain shower activity. The latest model guidance shows this front stalling sooner than previous operational model runs. Confidence is therefore lower that any islands east of Kauai will see much in the way of rainfall with the weak frontal cloud band.

Fire weather:  No critical fire weather conditions are expected for the next 7-days. Dry humidity levels will continue in a mostly lighter wind pattern. Wind speeds will be the limiting factor as drier leeward afternoon humidity levels continue to approach criteria for some of our fire zones on the Big Island.

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 map animation

Hawaii’s Marine Environment:  Hazardous marine conditions will persist into Monday, with the largest in a series of extra-large, overlapping northwest swells arriving. The swell will peak, and then gradually ease late tonight through Tuesday. Resulting surf should reach giant levels along coastlines with the highest exposure, during the peak. Heights could hover at or above warning levels well into Monday before lowering to advisory levels by Tuesday.

This extended period of warning-level surf, which began last Wednesday, will produce significant coastal impacts, including considerable beach erosion along exposed shorelines and potential overwash onto vulnerable coastal roadways and properties, particularly during the peak. These impacts will remain likely despite monthly tidal minima, underscoring the magnitude of this swell. Mariners should also anticipate hazardous conditions, including strong currents and occasional breaking waves near harbor entrances, making transits potentially dangerous.

Winds across coastal waters will remain light and variable as a surface ridge lingers over the region. However, a fast- moving surface high approaching from the northwest will lead to a rapid increase in northeast winds tonight, followed by fresh to strong trade winds as the high passes north of the state on Monday.

A Small Craft Advisory (SCA) remains in effect for high seas, and as winds increase, the SCA will be expanded to include wind-affected waters. Trades are expected to gradually decline and shift southeasterly on Tuesday and Wednesday as the high moves eastward.

 

 

 

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

 

Atlantic Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Caribbean Sea:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Gulf of Mexico:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Northeastern Pacific:  There are no active tropical cyclones

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

North Central Pacific:  There are no active tropical cyclones

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

Northwest Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Southwest Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

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

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:  Antarctic Iceberg Spins Out

When icebergs break from an ice shelf or large glacier front, they ride the ocean’s currents, spin in its eddies, shift with the tides, and are blown by the wind. Occasionally the icy drifters become stuck, grounded on a shallow part of the seafloor or trapped in a rotating mass of ocean water. Iceberg A-23A did both.

After breaking from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in 1986, Iceberg A-23A spent decades stuck to the floor of the southern Weddell Sea. It began to wiggle loose in the early 2020s, and by March 2023 the Rhode Island-sized iceberg floated unencumbered. But such freedom lasted only a year. As it drifted northward in March 2024, the berg became ensnared by a rotating vortex of water, or Taylor column, caused by currents encountering a bump on the seafloor.

While every iceberg’s journey is unique, most follow the same general path. More than 90 percent of bergs around Antarctica enter the clockwise-flowing current of the Weddell Gyre off East Antarctica and eventually escape, shooting north along the Antarctic Peninsula and finally out across the Drake Passage into warmer South Atlantic waters—an ocean route known as “iceberg alley.”

Read more at NASA Earth Observatory