The weather isn't always perfect in Paradise
We can't do much about it but we can find out what it's about to do to us.

Weather services display satellite data tailored to fit their markets. The University of Hawaii's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) redistributes National Weather Service data, posting animations similar to those popular with local television meteorologists and forecasts in plain, non-technical language. New in 2001 is the NWS Hawaii Doppler Radar website, providing updated images every 10 minutes in clear air mode, 5 to 6 minutes in percipitation mode.

The Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City provides high resolution images of both infra-red and water vapor primarily for use by pilots. They also post SIGMETs (SIGnificant METeorlogical Information) about weather that is potentially hazardous to aircraft such as turbulence, ash and thunderstorms.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration maintains 4 buoy stations near Hawaii to monitor our weather at sea-level. Boat shaped, 20 feet long, made of aluminum and fitted with solar powered electronic packages, they've been known to operate for up to 10 years without failure and have never capsized. Over 300 miles from Honolulu, they are moored in an arc from West-Northwest thru Southeast in water more than 3000 feet deep. Barometric pressure, air and water temperature and wind and wave energy spectra is transmitted to a GOES satellite every hour. Data quality control is performed before retransmission and posting on each buoy's website, a half-hour later. Approaching Kona (southerly) storms and the Big Wave swells of winter are registered 8 to 12 hours before their arrival, depending on wave period.

 The Mokapu Datawell Directional Buoy was recently deployed approximately 3 miles SE of Moku Manu island, near Mokapu Point. A representation of the data it collects as well as a collation of reports from all regional Hawaii buoys (on a single page) is provided by the Scripps Research Laboratory.

The Tropical Prediction/National Hurricane Center identifies and begins tracking significant weather phenomenon at their origins off the coast of Mexico. They issue watches, warnings, forecasts and analyses of developing Pacific cylones and offer Hurricane tracking charts for downloading in PDF and Post Script formats, suitable for printing at home.