Hawaii Weather

National Weather Service

Tuesday, February 18, 1997

Oahu

Today's forecast

Tonight and tomorrow, brief showers windward and mauka. Lee areas mostly fair. Lows near 70. Highs near 80. Winds decreasing to 10-20 mph.

Extended forecast

Thursday through Saturday, fair to partly cloudy with some windward and mauka showers. Lows 65-70. Highs near 80.

Kauai, Maui, Molokai, Lanai

Tonight and tomorrow, brief showers windward and mauka areas. Lee areas mostly fair. Tradewinds decreasing to 10-20 mph.

Big Island

Windward: Tonight and tomorrow, partly to mostly cloudy with brief showers. Winds variable 5-15 mph

Leeward: Tonight, clearing in the evening, becoming fair. Tomorrow, sunny in the morning, becoming mostly cloudy in the afternoon with a few upslope showers. Winds mostly trades, becoming 10-20 mph.

Marine advisories

Caution advised due to marginal wind and sea conditions for all waters.

Coastal waters: Tonight, east winds 20 knots, seas 8 ft. Tomorrow, east winds 15 knots, seas 4 ft.

Channels: Tonight, east winds 25 knots, seas 12 ft. Tomorrow, east winds 20 knots, seas 8 ft.

Volcano

Instruments show no activity at Kilauea Volcano.

Temperatures

At Honolulu Airport

Yesterday's high - 82°F

Record high 1989 - 84°F

Average February high - 81°F

Today's low - 73°F

Record low 1986 - 57°F

Average February low - 65 °F

Relative humidity, 7 a.m. - 78 percent

Rainfall

At Honolulu Airport

Last 24 hours as of 2 a.m. - Zero

Actual so far this month - Trace

Normal so far this month - 1.51 in.

Actual so far this year - 6.92 in.

Normal so far this year - 5.06 in.

Surf forecast

(Today - Tomw)

Ala Moana - 1-2ft. - 1-2ft.

Makaha - 2-3ft. - 2-3ft.

Sunset Beach - 2-4ft. - 2-4ft.

Makapuu - 2-4ft. - 2-4ft.

Sun and moon

Sunset - 6:31 p.m. tonight

Sunrise - 6:59 a.m. tomorrow

Moonrise - 3:49 p.m. today

Moonset - 5:06 a.m. tomorrow

Phases of the moon: Full Feb. 22, last qtr. March 1, new March 8. (Courtesy of Bishop Musum Planetarium)

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High-tech gear will cut
weather office hours

By Rod Thompson
Big Island correspondent

HILO - The National Weather Service is reducing its office hours on the Big Island and Kauai, but new technology means more information is available, the agency has announced.

Beginning April 1, the Hilo and Lihue offices will go from 24 to 16 hours per day: midnight to 4 p.m. The Kahului office already has been reduced to 91/2 hours a day, said spokesman Jim Weyman.

But new technologies have been installed in the past six years, including satellites, Doppler radars, automated rain gauges and supercomputers, and are bringing more information for the public, he said.

For example, 80 automated rain gauges around the state now feed data directly to Honolulu. Anyone calling the Hilo weather office for Hilo weather is getting information that has already gone to Honolulu first, Weyman said.

Four new Doppler radars, one each on Kauai and Molokai and two on the Big Island, also provide data directly to Honolulu.

Volunteer Skywarn Weather Spotters, Federal Aviation Administration control tower and airlines will supply information.

The various systems will be linked by a computer called the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System by 1999.

Then the offices in Hilo and Lihue will be reduced further to data-collection offices. The Kahului office would be closed by 1999.

Neighbor island residents will still be able to call local numbers for forecasts made up to 4 p.m.

Meetings on the changes will be March 17 at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall and March 18 at the Seven Seas Luau House in Hilo; both start at 7:30 p.m.

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