From owner-wx-tropl@LISTSERV.ILLINOIS.EDU Sat Dec 18 13:32:52 2010 Received: from vacuum.cso.uiuc.edu (vacuum.cso.uiuc.edu [128.174.5.113]) by cozumel.ust.hk (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id oBI5Wobv026174 for ; Sat, 18 Dec 2010 13:32:51 +0800 Received: from vacuum.cso.uiuc.edu (vacuum.cso.uiuc.edu [128.174.5.113]) by vacuum.cso.uiuc.edu (8.14.2/8.14.2) with ESMTP id oBH0RZF7027712; Fri, 17 Dec 2010 23:32:35 -0600 (CST) Received: by LISTSERV.ILLINOIS.EDU (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 14.5) with spool id 4811584 for WX-TROPL@LISTSERV.ILLINOIS.EDU; Fri, 17 Dec 2010 23:32:35 -0600 Received: from relay06.cites.uiuc.edu (relay06.cites.uiuc.edu [128.174.196.8]) by vacuum.cso.uiuc.edu (8.14.2/8.14.2) with ESMTP id oBI5WYDo023763 for ; Fri, 17 Dec 2010 23:32:34 -0600 (CST) Received: from weather3.admin.niu.edu (weather3.admin.niu.edu [131.156.8.48]) by relay06.cites.uiuc.edu (8.14.4/8.14.2) with ESMTP id oBI5WS8R009542 for ; Fri, 17 Dec 2010 23:32:34 -0600 (CST) Received: by weather3.admin.niu.edu (Postfix, from userid 501) id 49EB63FE087E; Fri, 17 Dec 2010 23:32:28 -0600 (CST) X-Proofpoint-Spam-Reason: safe Message-ID: <20101218053228.49EB63FE087E@weather3.admin.niu.edu> Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2010 23:32:28 -0600 Reply-To: wxmaster@COX.NET Sender: WX-TROPL Tropical Storm and Hurricane WX products From: LDM Weather Subject: Central Pacific: Satellite Interpretation Message To: WX-TROPL@LISTSERV.ILLINOIS.EDU Precedence: list 751 ATHW40 PHFO 180532 SIMHI HAWAIIAN ISLANDS SATELLITE INTERPRETATION MESSAGE NWS CENTRAL PACIFIC HURRICANE CENTER HONOLULU HI 0530 UTC SAT DEC 18 2010 BASED ON DATA THROUGH 0500 UTC DECEMBER 18 2010 THE WESTERN EDGE OF A WEAK WEST NORTHWEST TO EAST SOUTHEAST ORIENTED SURFACE RIDGE IS LOCATED ABOUT 315 MILES NORTH OF HONOLULU. THE PRESSURE GRADIENT SOUTH OF THIS NEARLY STATIONARY FEATURE WAS MAINTAINING RATHER LIGHT SOUTHEASTERLY FLOW ACROSS THE STATE EARLY THIS EVENING. THERE WERE MAINLY SCATTERED LOW CLOUDS OVER THE HAWAIIAN COASTAL WATERS EAST OF KAUAI. THE INDIVIDUAL LOW CLOUD ELEMENTS WERE GENERALLY MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST AT 10 TO 15 MPH OVER THE COASTAL WATERS FROM OAHU TO THE BIG ISLAND. THE HIGHEST TOPS OF THE LOW CLOUDS OVER THE OCEAN IN THE SAME AREA WERE ESTIMATED TO BE AROUND 5 THOUSAND FEET. HOWEVER...BROKEN LAYERED CLOUDS WITH EMBEDDED TOWERING CUMULUS CLOUDS AND RAIN WERE LOCATED NEAR THE EXTREME WESTERN HAWAIIAN COASTAL WATERS WEST OF KAUAI AND NIIHAU. SOME OF THIS PRECIPITATION APPEARED TO BE LOCALLY HEAVY...WITH A FEW OF THE ECHO TOPS ESTIMATED TO BE ABOVE 20 THOUSAND FEET ACCORDING RADAR ESTIMATES. THE INDIVIDUAL RAIN PRODUCING ELEMENTS WERE MOVING NORTHWARD AT ABOUT 15 MPH ACCORDING TO RADAR REFLECTIVITY DATA. IN ADDITION TO THE LOW CLOUDS OVER THE HAWAIIAN COASTAL WATERS...STREAKS OF CIRRUS WERE ALSO MOVING HIGH ABOVE SKIES OVER THE ISLANDS. THE LAYERED CLOUDS AND PRECIPITATION JUST WEST OF KAUAI...AS WELL AS THE HIGH THIN CLOUDS MOVING ACROSS THE ALOHA STATE WERE ALONG THE EXTREME EASTERN EDGE OF A LARGE COMPLEX WEATHER SYSTEM THAT EXTENDED ALL THE WAY TO THE INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE. AS OF 700 PM HST FRIDAY...WITH THE LIGHT WINDS ACROSS THE STATE... AFTERNOON CLOUD BUILD UPS OCCURRED AS LOCAL SEA BREEZE CIRCULATIONS CONVERGED OVER THE INTERIOR OF MOST ISLANDS EARLIER THIS EVENING. MOST OF THESE LOW CLOUDS WERE BEGINNING TO DISSIPATE AFTER DUSK THIS EVENING. SCATTERED LOW CLOUDS REMAINED OVER PARTS OF THE INTERIOR OF KAUAI. SCATTERED TO LOCALLY BROKEN LOW CLOUDS WERE ALONG THE KOOLAU AND WAIANAE MOUNTAIN RANGES ON OAHU. ONLY A FEW LOW CLOUDS LINGERED OVER PARTS OF MOLOKAI...WHILE SCATTERED TO LOCALLY BROKEN LOW CLOUDS WERE AFFECTING PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHWESTERN LANAI. ON MAUI...SCATTERED TO BROKEN LOW CLOUDS WERE OVER THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS AND ALONG PARTS OF THE LOWER SLOPES OF MOUNT HALEAKALA. BROKEN TO OVERCAST LOW CLOUDS WERE ALONG THE SOUTHEASTERN COASTAL SECTIONS OF THE BIG ISLAND. SCATTERED TO BROKEN LOW CLOUDS WERE ABOVE PARTS OF THE KONA COAST...WHILE MAINLY SCATTERED LOW CLOUDS WERE OVER SOME SECTIONS OF THE NORTHEASTERN BIG ISLAND. ACCORDING TO LOOPS OF WATER VAPOR IMAGERY AND SATELLITE DERIVED UPPER LEVEL WINDS...AN UPPER TROPOSPHERIC LOW WAS CENTERED JUST EAST OF THE DATE LINE NEAR 24N 178.5W. THIS FEATURE HAS BEEN DRIFTING SLOWLY SOUTHWARD DURING THE PAST 6 HOURS. EAST OF THIS UPPER LEVEL LOW...THE CORE OF A SUBTROPICAL JET EXTENDED FROM NEAR 13N 176W TO 20N 172W TO 30N 172W. A BROAD AREA OF LAYERED CLOUDS WITH SHOWERS AND EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DIFFLUENCE ALOFT DUE TO THIS JET WAS IN THE AREA WITHIN 1000 MILES EAST OF A LINE FROM 13N 176W TO 21N 174W TO 30N 174W. A SURFACE LOW...WHICH WAS A REFLECTION OF THE UPPER LEVEL LOW ALOFT WAS ALSO EVIDENT IN SATELLITE IMAGERY NEAR 24N 178.5W. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WERE WITHIN 180 MILES OF THIS LOW...WHICH HAS CHARACTERISTICS OF A SUBTROPICAL SYSTEM BASED ON RECENT ASCAT PASSES AND ITS SATELLITE SIGNATURE. ELSEWHERE...ANOTHER UPPER TROPOSPHERIC LOW WAS SPINNING NEAR 16.5N 147W...OR ABOUT 580 MILES SOUTHEAST OF HILO. THIS LOW ALOFT HAS BEEN DRIFTING TOWARD THE EAST NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 10 MPH DURING THE PAST 6 HOURS. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS FEATURE WERE IN THE AREA FROM 07.5N TO 14.5N BETWEEN 140W AND 149W. $$ HOUSTON +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ To unsubscribe from WX-TROPL send e-mail to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.ILLINOIS.EDU with "unsub wx-tropl" in the body of your message. For help with WX-TROPL write to cnovy@cox.net. For more information on tropical weather products, see the NHC Homepage at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov.