The latest update to this website was at 232pm Friday (HST)

 

Here are the highest temperatures Friday afternoon…and the lowest Friday morning:

84  / 64  Lihue AP, Kauai
83 / 66   Molokai AP, Molokai
84 / 61  Kahului AP, Maui
84 / 72   Kona AP, Big Island
84 / 66   Hilo AP, Big Island

>>> There are lots of new locations that measure rainfall and winds now, here’s a map of all areas for your reference

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

0.01  Wailua, Kauai
0.44  Makaha Stream, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.45  Lanai 1, Lanai
0.05  Mahinahina, Maui
0.18  Waikii, Big Island

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

16  Nawiliwili, Kauai
14  Paakea, Oahu
16  Makaena, Molokai
12  Lanai 1, Lanai
15  Summit, Maui
18  Puuanahulu, 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

Low clouds being carried in on the east-southeast wind flow

 

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

Higher clouds associated with low pressure to our north

 

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

Localized 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 Aloha Friday comments:  I’m home here in upper Kula, Maui, Hawaii. I hope you have a good day wherever you happen to be spending it.

It’s mostly clear  here in upper Kula early this morning, while my low temperature was 49 degrees.

113pm, it’s turned cloudy and cool here in upper Kula, with a few drops falling from the dark based clouds. We have some volcanic haze (vog) here in Maui County…moderate grading towards thick.

Weather Wit of the day:  Winter – The freezin’ season

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview:  Light to moderate southeasterly winds are expected to persist through the majority of the weekend. Light showers will focus across east to southeast slopes of each island during the overnight hours and leeward and interior areas during the afternoon hours.

A deep low pressure system will approach the islands early next week, bringing southerly winds to the area, drawing up tropical moisture that may increase rain chances across the western end of the state.

Hawaii’s Weather Details:  Satellite imagery shows a stable cloud pattern under a high pressure ridge with mostly clear skies due to down sloping mountain/land breezes. Clouds will rebuild over island mountain and interior sections around noon, as up slope land breezes build clouds over each island. A few cloud bands associated with lee side island convergence plumes may continue to produce a few stray showers during the overnight hours.

Weather balloon soundings show temperature inversion heights are stabilizing the atmospheric boundary layer at around 7,000 feet, just 1,000 feet higher as compared to the Thursday afternoon soundings.

A ridge axis will remain across the Hawaiian Islands through Saturday night, keeping the region in a stable light to moderate hybrid southeasterly wind flow regime. These lighter southeasterly winds will allow sea breezes to develop over all islands each day. Building clouds over island mountain and interior sections. Wind convergence in the lee of island mountains will produce cloud bands and a few showers during the overnight hours, that will wrap northwestward into western islands producing brief periods of light shower activity.

The east and southeast sections of Maui and the Big Island will see some cloud and shower enhancement in the evening hours driven by wind convergence between the down slope mountain/land breezes and the light up sloping southeasterly winds.

On Sunday, we start to transition to a light southerly wind pattern over the western half of the state, as a strong low pressure system approaches Kauai from the northwest and stalls before reaching the Garden Isle. These southerly winds will bring up additional unstable tropical moisture from the deep tropics, with upper level troughing and slightly enhancing shower activity over Niihau, Kauai and Oahu through the first half of next week.

Islands over the eastern half of the state in Maui and Hawaii Counties will see little change to this fairly stable weather pattern through next week Wednesday, with the exception of a slight shower enhancement along the east and southeast slopes in the afternoon and evening hours.

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:  A surface ridge will remain near or just north of the islands through the weekend, with light to moderate east-southeast winds prevailing. Diurnal land and sea breezes will dominate the flow over nearshore waters sheltered from the large-scale flow. Early next week, deep-layer low pressure drifting eastward far northwest of the islands may bring increased southeast and south winds, especially to the west end of the island chain.

A small, medium-period north-northeast swell will gradually build and peak, then gradually diminish through Sunday. A small west-northwest swell may also arrive over the weekend. More medium-period north swell is anticipated from Tuesday into Thursday next week. A small, long-period south-southwest swell is expected to provide small surf to south facing shores into next week.

 

 

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:  

Tropical Cyclone 27S (Courtney)…is located approximately 385 NM southwest of Cocos Islands

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/sh2725.gif

Tropical Cyclone 28S (Dianne)…is located approximately 137 NM northeast of Broome, Australia – Final Warning

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/sh2825.gif

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:  Getting Hit by Lightning Is Good for Some Tropical Trees

Cary-led study reveals lightning benefits some trees by killing off parasitic vines and opening up the canopy.

Getting zapped with millions of volts of electricity may not sound like a healthy activity, but for some trees, it is. A new study, published in New Phytologist, reports that some tropical tree species are not only able to tolerate lightning strikes, but benefit from them. The trees may have even evolved to act as lightning rods.

The research was led by Evan Gora, a forest ecologist at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. Gora studies how lightning impacts biodiversity and carbon storage in Panama’s tropical forests.

Lightning kills hundreds of millions of trees per year. But in 2015, while working in Panama, Gora and his colleagues came across a Dipteryx oleifera tree that had survived a strike with little damage — even though the jolt had been strong enough to blast a parasitic vine out of its crown and kill more than a dozen neighboring trees.

“Seeing that there are trees that get struck by lightning and they’re fine was just mind blowing,” Gora recalled. Over time, the team encountered other D. oleifera trees thriving after getting hit, so they decided to take a closer look.

Read more at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

Image: Technician Cesar Gutierrez climbs a tower to detect and locate lightning strikes in the study area. After detection, drones and on-the-ground teams monitor the strike’s impacts.