Hawaiian Islands Satellite Interpretation Message

Hawaiian Islands Satellite Interpretation Message
Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:30:00 -0500

Based on data through 0000 UTC September 16 2010.

The Hawaiian islands continue to be on the southern edge of a north-south gradient of low clouds, with scattered to broken stratocumulus /sc/, and embedded showery cumulus /cu/, near and upwind of the islands, while few low clouds prevail over waters north of the islands, from 25°N to 32°N between 140°W and 170°W.

Moderate trade winds continue to prevail over the islands, and while this usually means clouds favoring windward areas, many leeward areas have some form of low cloud cover this afternoon. The entire island of Kauai is covered in broken low clouds, with both sc and cu over the island, and over waters out to 30 miles to the east. Broken cu prevail over the entire island of Oahu, but the central plateau has some breaks in the low cloud ceilings. Broken cu are over the extreme eastern tip of Molokai, but are also located along the southwest coast. The southern half of Lanai is covered in broken to overcast cu and sc, while the northern half of the island is mostly sunny. Aside from scattered cu from Hana to Kipahulu, the north and east facing slopes of Haleakala on Maui are mostly sunny, while broken to overcast sc and cu are over the southwestern and western lower slopes. The windward side of the west Maui mountains have their typical broken low clouds along the lower slopes, but the central valley is mostly sunny. The Kona and Kau slopes of the Big Island are covered in overcast sc, with isolated cu embedded, blanketing skies over the lower slopes from Puako counter-clockwise to South Point to wood valley. The lower slopes along the Hamakua coast have similar cloud coverage, with scattered to broken cu along the slopes above Hilo town. The summits and upper elevations of both Maui and the Big Island are sunny, as is the area between wood valley and Volcano on the Big Island.

While scattered to broken cu prevail over near shore waters east of Kauai and Oahu, and over waters immediately east of the Big Island, near shore windward waters of Maui county are mostly sunny. However, the leading edge of a 100 mile wide clump of showery cu and stable sc lies about 50 miles east of Hana on Maui. Low cloud motion near the islands is toward the west at speeds near 22 mph.

The islands of Kauai and Oahu have rid themselves of the high clouds that have been around, on and off, for the past several days. The source of the high clouds, a slow moving low aloft to the west of the islands, has sufficiently distanced itself, and the nearest high clouds are now about 500 miles west of Kauai. The low aloft is centered about 1050 miles west of Kauai, and it continues to drift west. Isolated thunderstorms continue to develop near the core of the low, and are currently located from 20°N to 24°N between 174°W and 177°W.

Isolated thunderstorms are developing in association with a weak tropical low passing well south of the islands, near 11°N 153°W. The westward moving disturbance lacks significant organization, with isolated thunderstorms developing elsewhere within the near equatorial trade wind convergence zone south of the islands.

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BIRCHARD

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