Hawaiian Islands Satellite Interpretation Message
Sat, 25 Sep 2010 13:30:00 -0500
Based on data through 1800 UTC September 25 2010.
A front pushing southward across the northern fringes of the area is weakening the trade wind flow across the main Hawaiian islands.
The ragged front is comprised of a 175 mile-wide band of scattered to broken cumulus clouds stretching along 30°N 154°W, 27°N 164°W, and 29°N 176°W. The front is moving to the southeast at 12 mph east of 164°W and to the south at 10 mph west of 164°W. The broad upper level trough driving the front covers a large portion of the central and eastern north Pacific, but its strength lies well north of 30°N, leaving the portion of the front south of 30°N with little upper level support.
The front has weakened and displaced the subtropical ridge southward to just over 200 miles north of Kauai. Scattered to locally broken cumulus clouds travelling along the trade wind flow near the main Hawaiian islands are moving from the east northeast at 12 to 15 mph near the smaller islands and at 15 to 18 mph around the Big Island.
Under these conditions, a rather typical low cloud pattern is found across the islands, with patches of broken low clouds confined to windward slopes and mostly clear leeward skies. The exception is the south Kona district of the leeward Big Island, where broken low clouds are observed on lower slopes from Kealakekua to Milolii.
The pattern aloft over the region is complex but weak. An upper low just west of 180 gives way to a compact upper high centered near 25°N 168°W, followed by a weak upper low just northeast of the Big Island near 21°N 154°W. Farther east a strong upper ridge dominates. This entire pattern is shifting westward slowly. The upper low near the state is likely causing the cloud field around the islands to be dominated by cumulus clouds. About 130 miles east of the Big Island, stable stratocumulus clouds prevail under the upper ridge.
A weak tropical disturbance near 12°N 167°W is moving to the west southwest at 12 mph, away from the main Hawaiian islands. Thunderstorms with tops to 46 kft continue to flare along the northern flank of this weak system.
DWROE
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