The latest update to this website was at 3pm Saturday (HST)

 

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

81 / 71  Lihue AP, Kauai
75 / 69   Molokai AP, Molokai
80 / 67  Kahului AP, Maui
83 / 67   Kona AP, Big Island
80 / 65   Hilo AP, Big Island

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

0.40  Kilohana, Kauai
0.10  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.56  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.02  Lanai 1, Lanai
1.46  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.48  Hilo AP, Big Island

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

32  Port Allen, Kauai
38  Kuaokala, Oahu
29  Makapulapai, Molokai
31  Lanai 1, Lanai
28  Kahului AP, Maui
42  PTA Keamuku, 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 

 Cold fronts to the north and northwest


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

Low clouds are being carried in our direction on the strong trade winds

 

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

Many leeward areas remain clear of clouds

 

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 Saturday 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 clear here in upper Kula early this morning, while my low temperature was a chilly 48 degrees.

Weather Wit of the day:  Smog – A form of air pollution that lowers your lungevity

 

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview:  Breezy to windy trade winds will persist through the middle of the month. Bands of moisture passing across the state within the trade wind flow will promote frequent scattered showers. Precipitation will primarily focus along windward and mountain exposures, with less frequent showers quickly moving across leeward communities.

Hawaii’s Weather Details:  A typical wet season pattern remains in place over the Central Pacific. Off and on wet and breezy weather will be the general theme the next several days. Hawaii is in between a building upper ridge to the west, and a upper trough deepening and moving into Southern California early next week. The highest 24 hour rain has primarily been observed over windward or higher terrain areas such as Mount Waialeale on Kauai, and the upper Central and Manoa Valleys on Oahu, where over an inch has fallen since sunrise Friday.

The islands will remain in a trade flow as a high centered about 1,200 miles northwest of the area, maintains a tight pressure gradient across the islands. Near term model guidance doesn’t show much change over the next few days. So, this recent slightly more wet weather pattern under partly sunny skies and breezy trades will be on a continuous loop going into the middle of the month. The presence of the proximity eastern upper trough, while slowly exiting through the weekend, will have enough of an influence to keep a weaker mid level slightly elevated weak inversion in place.

As bands of lower to mid level moisture arrive on the easterly flow within this marginally unstable regional environment, there will likely be more frequent showers. While rainfall will not be anchored to any particular area due to the progressive nature of these showers, higher rain accumulation will generally occur over more windward coastal and upslope locations. Heavier, visibility-limiting marine showers will likely occur within the higher moisture band draped across the nearshore waters, and within the Big Island plume through Tuesday. Haze will be confined to mainly leeward Big Island and areas southwest of that island.

Our trades will remain breezy to locally windy into early next week, as a secondary high arrives from the northwest and replaces the current weakening high. The resultant downstream gradient will likely be tight enough Sunday through next Wednesday, to support 40 mph-plus Wind Advisory level wind gusts, especially over better exposed ridge tops and within valleys. The only other minor weather caveat will be when the remnants of a dying cold front hanging up north of the state Monday. This diffuse front in the vicinity of the northern nearshore waters, will provide an upstream moisture source for enhanced rain.

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 series of strong highs to our north will maintain strong trade winds, with near gales for our windier waters and channels around Maui and the Big Island through the middle of next week. Small Craft Advisory has been extended through Sunday night for all Hawaiian waters due to the strong trade winds and elevated seas…and will likely be extended.

Surf along north and west facing shores will rise gradually as a moderate medium to long period northwest (310-330 degree) swell. A High Surf Advisory has been issued for most north and west facing shores of the smaller islands, and may need to be extended if surf heights persists above criteria. This swell will then begin to fall tonight through early next week, and the swell direction will gradually veer toward the north-northwest as it declines.

Surf along east-facing shores will remain rough into next week, due to this persistent fresh to locally strong trade flow over and upstream of the islands. Trades could possibly strengthen further early next week, which could increase the wind swell a touch around Tuesday into Wednesday.

Surf along south-facing shores will remain small, with mainly some wrap around wind swell for select exposures. A small, long period south-southwest swell is possible next Wednesday.

 

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: 

North and South Indian Ocean:

Tropical Cyclone 24S…is located approximately 777 NM east-southeast of Diego Garcia

https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/products/sh2425.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:  How’s the Weather on Mars?

In contrast to Earth, the Red Planet’s middle atmosphere appears driven by gravity waves.

A new study by researchers including those at the University of Tokyo revealed that atmospheric gravity waves play a crucial role in driving latitudinal air currents on Mars, particularly at high altitudes. The findings, based on long-term atmospheric data, offer a fresh perspective on the behaviors of Mars’ middle atmosphere, highlighting fundamental differences from Earth’s. The study applied methods developed to explore Earth’s atmosphere to quantitatively estimate the influence of gravity waves on Mars’ planetary circulation.

Despite it being a very cold planet, Mars is quite a hot topic these days. With human visitation seemingly on the horizon, it will pay to know more about the conditions there so all involved can plan and prepare accordingly. Something that has become possible to explore in detail in recent years is a range of Martian atmospheric phenomena. Naturally, a lot of the methods used for this originate from the study of our own atmosphere, and thanks to this, we can see how things on Mars differ greatly and what the implications of this might be.

“On Earth, large-scale atmospheric waves caused by the planet’s rotation, known as Rossby waves, are the primary influence on the way air circulates in the stratosphere, or the lower part of the middle atmosphere. But our study shows that on Mars, gravity waves (GWs) have a dominant effect at the mid and high latitudes of the middle atmosphere,” said Professor Kaoru Sato from the Department of Earth and Planetary Science. “Rossby waves are large-scale atmospheric waves, or resolved waves, whereas GWs are unresolved waves, meaning they are too fine to be directly measured or modeled and must be estimated by more indirect means.”

Read more at University of Tokyo

Image: The thermal impact of dust storms on Mars is significant, and is thought to play a similar role to that of water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere.