Hawaiian Islands Satellite Interpretation Message

Hawaiian Islands Satellite Interpretation Message
Sun, 02 Jan 2011 12:30:00 -0600

Based on data through 1800 UTC January 02 2011.

Water vapor imagery shows an upper level low near 14°N 164°W, or about 650 miles southwest of the Big Island. The low, which is moving to the south at 15 mph, is at the southern end of a north to south oriented upper level trough west of Kauai.

West of the low and trough, the atmosphere above 24 thousand feet is bone dry. East of the low and trough in an area bounded by 08°N and 19°N between 150°W and 165°W there is a mixture of thick cirrus clouds and isolated thunderstorms. Most of the thunderstorms are south of 17°N. The thunderstorm closest to the islands is 130 miles west of South Point on the Big Island. The tallest thunderstorms extend up to 45 thousand feet along 08°N, which is where the ITCZ is located.

Thin cirrus extends from 19°N northward over the islands to 23°N. The cirrus is being drawn to the north and northeast by a jet stream running from 20°N 165°W to 24°N 160°W to 25°N 150°W. Peaking through the thin cirrus one can see a trade wind distribution of low clouds. The clouds were scattered to broken over the mountains of Kauai, the Koolau mountains, the sea cliffs of Molokai, the windward slopes of Haleakala and the west Maui mountains. Skies elsewhere over and near the smaller islands, skies are mostly clear.

The windward coast and lower slopes of the Big Island, and adjacent coastal waters have broken to overcast low clouds. Most of these clouds appear to be showery. The clouds over land are stationary while those over water are moving to the west at around 20 mph.

---

CRAIG

---

To change your subscriptions or preferences or stop subscriptions anytime, log in to your User Profile with your e-mail address. For questions or problems with the service, contact support@govdelivery.com.

This service is provided by NOAA’s National Weather Service.

GovDelivery, Inc. (800-439-1420) sending on behalf of NOAA's National Weather Service · 1325 East West Highway · Silver Spring, MD 20910