Issued: May 23, 2013 7:00 PM HST

Based on data through 7:00 pm May 23 2013 HST

Low cloud ceilings are prevalent over coastal and lower upslope sections of the Hilo, Puna, Kau, and Kona districts on the Big Island this early evening. More broken to overcast low cloudiness exists in the southern and southwest areas of east Maui. Elsewhere skies are clear to partly cloudy. Low cloud motion is from the east to east-northeast at 10 to 20 mph across the island chain, with speeds decreasing from east to west.

The leading edge of a north-to-south oriented band of broken low clouds, a mix of stable and showery elements, is about 50 miles east of the Big Island as of bulletin time, and is heading west to west-southwest with the prevailing trade flow. A smaller cluster of scattered to broken low clouds is immediately east of Maui, and just north and northeast of the Big Island. Conditions are otherwise clear to scattered over the adjacent coastal waters.

Low clouds and showers associated with a front far northwest from Kauai are affecting Midway atoll. The boundary is currently west of Midway as the surface winds at the site are from the southwest near 20 mph. The front appears to be heading east between 15 and 20 mph along 30°N.

Showers and thunderstorms are firing along the intertropical convergence zone far south of Hawaii. The most active cells are igniting from 06°N to 09°N between 141°W and 146°W as of this writing. More convection is located from 05°N to 08°N between 163 and 168°W.

KINEL