Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Hawaiian Islands Satellite Interpretation Message

Hawaiian Islands Satellite Interpretation Message
Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:30:00 -0500

Based on data through 1800 UTC September 08 2010.

A fairly typical distribution of low clouds is observed over the islands this morning, given that light to moderate trade winds prevail in a stable atmosphere. Initial visible satellite images reveal scattered cumulus /cu/ banked up along windward slopes of the islands, with only small isolated showers falling from the cu moving over the islands from the east.

On Kauai, scattered cu are along the lower windward slopes of Mount Waialeale, but the leeward half of the island is mostly sunny, as are windward coastal areas. Cu are broken in coverage over oahu's Koolau range, and aside from a small area of scattered to broken stable stratocumulus /sc/ over the leeward coast from Nanakuli to Makaha, the remainder of the island is cloud free. Small patches of broken cu are along the lower windward slopes of the west Maui mountains, with similar sc and cu coverage over the eastern lower slopes of Haleakala, and the extreme eastern tip of Molokai. The remainder of Maui county is under nearly clear skies, although a small area of thin, but broken to overcast in coverage, sc is located over windward waters just north of windward Maui. The Big Island is mostly sunny this morning, with just a small patch of broken to overcast sc over the lower windward slopes above Hilo town. This area of stable low cloud has shrunk in size since sunrise this morning.

Aside from the area of broken sc over Maui windward waters, near shore waters of the islands contain few to scattered cu. Low cloud coverage increases somewhat a little further upstream to the east of the islands, with patches of broken to overcast cu and sc located about 50 to 150 miles northeast of Kauai and Oahu, 30 to 140 miles northeast of Maui, and about 50 to 200 miles northeast of the Big Island. Low cloud motion near the islands is toward the west at speeds between 17 and 20 mph.

High clouds are scattered to broken over waters well southwest of the islands, and are associated with closed low aloft about 975 miles west-northwest of Kauai, near 26°N 175°W. Scattered thunderstorms are located near the core of the low, from 23°N to 29°N between 172°W and 177°W. A trough aloft that extends south from the low is located along a line from the low to 12°N 175°W, with scattered thunderstorms near the base of the trough, from 07°N to 12°N between 170°W and 178°W. The high clouds to the southwest of the islands are developing within the southwest flow aloft associated with the trough aloft.

A pair of weak disturbances located about 600 to 800 miles south and southeast of the Big Island are triggering isolated thunderstorms, but lack significant organization, although upper level winds appear to be marginally conducive for further development.

Central Pacific Infrared Satellite image for 1800 UTC


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