Belonging to the broad framework of hybrid systems, conewise linear systems (CLSs) form a class of Lipschitz piecewise linear systems subject to state triggered mode switchings. Motivated by state estimation of nonsmooth switched systems, this paper exploits directional derivative and positive invariance techniques to characterize finite-time and long-time local observability of a general CLS. For the former observability notion, directional derivative results are developed from the simple switching property, and they yield improved observability conditions. For the latter notion, we focus on the case where a nominal trajectory has finitely many switchings. In order to characterize long-time behaviors of the CLS, necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for the interior of a positively invariant cone. By employing these conditions, we establish connections between finite-time and long-time local observability; underlying positive invariance properties are unveiled. Published by Elsevier Ltd