October 21-November 11th, 2010

Glenn James will be on vacation through November 11th, and will resume the updating of this page upon his return. In his absence, please find the current weather forecasts for each of the islands in the upper left hand side of any page on this website. You can check the live links below, to access sources of weather related information.

There's more information about my vacation further down this page:


Air Temperatures
The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii

Lihue airport, Kauai –  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –  
Kaneohe MCAS, Oahu –  
Molokai airport – 
Kahului airport, Maui – 
Ke-ahole airport (Kona) –  
Hilo airport, Hawaii –   

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of

Kailua-kona
–  
Molokai airport –  

Haleakala Crater –      (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit –   (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)

Precipitation Totals The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of 

Lihue, Kauai  
Wilson Tunnel, Oahu
Molokai 
Lanai
Kahoolawe
West Wailuaiki, Maui
Hilo airport, Big Island

Marine WindsHere’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map 

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with this Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean. Finally, here's a Looping IR satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image.

Hawaii’s MountainsHere’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two webcams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon weather conditions.

Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the
National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. Of course, as we know, our hurricane season won't end until November 31st here in the central Pacific.

 Aloha Paragraphs


http://stayhawaii.com/images/listing_photos/44_palmoceanviewsmall1.jpg

Beautiful Hawaii
 

 


As noted above, I'll be taking my annual vacation time from work now. There are live links to weather maps, satellite imagery, looping radar, and web cams for the mountains on Maui and the Big Island…just up the page from here. In addition, you can always get the latest weather forecasts for each of the islands, by going to the upper left hand side of this page.

I'll be flying from Kahului, Maui, directly to the airport in San Francisco, where my good friend Bob will be picking me up. He's an old college friend, who lives in the Sierra Nevada foothills. He teaches at San Francisco State, Davis, and a couple of junior colleges in the Sacramento area. His wife and kids allow him to head out into the wild blue yonder with me each year. We'll stay in SF the first night, and then head up the coast towards Gualala and Point Arena. We've rented a place called the Cove House for three nights, which sits right on the bluff overlooking the ocean. There's an outdoor hot tub, and a fireplace, and is very private. I'm expecting stormy weather, so it will be interesting, more on that later.

Then we'll drive back down to San Francisco, get a hotel, and Bob will drive me to the airport. I'll fly down to Long Beach, where my parents, brother and sisters will pick me up. I'll stay there for a week, enjoying their company, and just hanging out with my family. My brother and I typically try to find all kinds of work to do around my parents house. It will be great to reconnect with everyone there, and enjoy the good weather that typically graces the southern California area.

Then, I'll fly back up to SF, and another friend, this time a lady named Susan, will pick me up at the airport.
She's an attorney, and lots of fun to hang out with. We'll likely roam around the City perhaps until the next day, enjoying the food, and maybe go dancing, along with the general sight seeing for me. We'll then drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, up through Marin County to Sonoma County. I'll go stay with another friend named Greg, who lives in western Sebastopol. Greg is an interesting fellow, who has business dealings in San Francisco and Mexico, and is well known for his poetry. I'm sure there will be lots of ping pong being played, and maybe even some cold water surfing along the coast there too. Susan and I will likely be going out dancing plenty at night!

Then it will be down to Marin County, to stay with another friend, named Linda who is an avid bird watcher…for several days. The vacation will come to an end then, as I fly back to Maui on the 11th of November. It will be good to get back to the islands as usual, regrouping from my long vacation, and getting back to work. >>> Along the way, in the area below, I'll give ongoing reports to you, during the travels I've described above. There will be times when I'm out of touch of course, like during the time up on the north coast with Bob, as likely there will be no computers to use. I trust you will all be well, and I look forward to writing some posts soon. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Extra: Very cool video!

Extra:
Space Balloon video

October 21st through October 27th
I left Maui and flew to San Francisco, and was picked up by my friend Bob, as noted above. We drove to a hotel in SF's Union Square, and got our stuff secured in our double room. We were both excited about going out dancing, and since it was a Thursday night, there were several options. We walked around looking at a couple of places, and ended up going to a place called Ruby Sky. It was a fabulous choice, as the place was large, with lots of room to dance. There was a disc jockey, spinning the tunes, and lots of Asian ladies to dance with, so I felt right at home…sort of like being in Hawaii. The music was so good, that we didn't end up leaving until 3am! I guess that's the big city for you…and the dance floor was still crowded then.

In the morning, the weather had turned cloudy, and after packing up, we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County. We had a nice breakfast in Sausalito, and then immediately headed up highway 1 towards Sonoma County…and Mendecino County beyond that. We swung toward the coast in Cotati, where Bob and I both went to college at Sonoma State University back in the 1970's. We needed to stock up on food, as we were heading towards a vacation house on the north coast.

We stopped at the Whole Foods store in Sebastopol, and bought a bunch of supplies. The drive out to the coast towards Jenner was such fun. I lived in Jenner for 2 1/2 years, a good part of the time that I attended college. When we hit the coast it was foggy, like pea soup kind of stuff, that hid the shoreline most of the way up towards Gualala. At any rate, we got to our place, which was called the Cove House, and settled in. The first thing of course was to spark up the wood burning fireplace, pour a nice glass of wine, and get out into the hot tub for further conversations about everything from A to Z!

The entire time we were at this place we had a good storm, that was happening right outside our totally glass filled front windows. Now many of you might think that that would be a problem, at least for most people. Bob and I are a bit different than most folks, at least when it comes to weather. He and I are both died in the wool weather nuts, and enjoyed the heck out of the clouds, rain, wind, and fog of course. We had no internet connectivity, so had to just use our eyes and senses to keep track of what was happening outside. As it turned out, there were three systems that went through the area.

Bob and I are the kind of people that are always consulting with satellite images, weather maps, computer models, and all the rest. So it was good for us to unplug for several days, and get back to basics, seeing the weather moment to moment, rather than tracking it on the computer screen. At any rate, we had both bought gore tex rain pants, and we both had great rain proof jackets. This allowed us to be outside in the rain, taking hikes, walks, and jaunts on the local isolated beaches. It was so much fun to get back to our place afterwards, and to jump right into the hot tub…so we could enjoy the weather some more!

At the end, on the last morning, the skies cleared, and we reluctantly left the coast. We headed north past Point Arena, and turned east towards Boonville, a little town in Andersen Valley. This area is famous for Pinot Noir wine, and we have our favorite place to stop for tasting of that delicious red wine…called Goldeneye. We hung around there for what turned out to be a good couple of hours, talking, and enjoying the warm sunshine. We've been going there for long enough, that we know a couple of the nice ladies that work there.

Then we took the long drive back south to San Francisco, where we got to early in the evening. We checked into our hotel, which turned out to be a really nice place. It didn't take us long to put our stuff away, and then get out on the streets to enjoy people watching. We had a nice dinner at an up scale restaurant serving fish, along with a glass of wine. Bob had to leave early the next morning to get back to his family, and work in Sacramento. I checked out of the hotel, and took a shuttle down to the airport. I love the SF airport in terms of people watching, and enjoyed that before I took the quick flight down to Long Beach…where I'm at now with the James Family. I'll write more about this reality again during my next installment, please be well until then, Aloha for now…Glenn.

October 28th through November 2This period covers the time that I've spent with my family here in Long Beach, California. As always it has been so good to spend time with my Mom and Dad, and my brother and sisters…plus my sisters kids. As I mentioned above, a lot of time was spent working together with my brother. He has lots of building skills, so he is in charge of the work, and I'm his helper. As soon as he and I arrive at my parents house, we begin to make a long list of projects that we work on.

We literally work everyday, usually all day, in knocking off these work items. He lives in Conroe, Texas, and does this kind of work for a living. As you know, I'm a Maui weatherman, so I sit in front of a computer at the Pacific Disaster Center in Kihei for work. It doesn't take long before my body begins to feel the work, this different kind of work load. The truth is that we both enjoy working together greatly, and it gives us focused time to be together.

One of my sisters lives at home, and the other lives with her husband out in Anaheim, here in southern California. I got to spent lots of time with them too, as we had many dinners together, and lots of daytime relating too. I was here on Halloween evening, and had the pleasure of handing out candy to the many kids that swung by the house in their costumes. It reminded me when I was a kid, and my parents took us kids out in the neighborhood to get a sack full of candy. We handed out candy kisses, and peanut butter cups.

Because there were so many of us here, I voluntered to sleep outside. I bought a queen sized air mattress, and my Mom piled on lots of warm blankets. The best night out there, was when a cold front swept through the area…dropping rain early one morning. The weather was warm and clear before that, and turned that way again right after the front cleared the area. Today is suppose to reach 88F degrees in Long Beach, then rise to 90 degrees tomorrow!

As I write these words, this is my last morning at home, before flying back up to San Francisco, and then up to Sonoma and Marin Counties. The weather is likely to be nice and warm up there too, so I'm lucking out. I'll catch up with you as I can during this third phase of my vacation, while I'm in Sebastopol. I'll likely have a bit more time to get on a computer, and should be able to write more often, I think at least. At any rate, again, it's been a great vacation so far, and look forward to the rest of it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

November 2 through November 6
 –
Hi again, I'm at my friend Greg's house here in Sebastopol, which is in western Sonoma County…about an hour or so north of the Golden Gate Bride. I have classical piano music playing on my iPhone4, and sipping on a short cup of Peet's French Roast coffee. There's wood logs burning in the fireplace, with a light rain and foggy morning out the windows. Looking back, I took the airporter from the San Francisco airport, and was picked up in Petaluma by my friend Susan. We had lunch along the river there, before heading to her place.

She went out to work for a while, leaving me to bask in the warm sunshine of autumn. When she returned, we had a delicious dinner, and a tasty glass of Pinot Noir. I retired early, although she is a night owl of sorts, and stayed up late. The next morning we had a quick breakfast, coffee, and headed out to the Sonoma coast. We walked down to the sandy beach at Salmon Creek, and enjoyed being so close to the huge breaking surf. We came back to her place, where I got to hang out again, reading, eating apples fresh picked [by me] off the trees in her back yard…and relishing the warm glow of the of the late afternoon sun. 


Later in the day my friend Greg picked me up, and we headed to his place further out towards the coast. We shared a great meal, and enjoyed a visitation of one of his close friends. I slept well that night again, woke to a partly sunny/partly foggy morning. The last several days have all sort of blended together, with lots of high clouds, and cooler temperatures, leading to this wet morning. Going back over the last few days, trying to remember the details again…there were soccer games with his son, breakfasts, lunches and dinners, filled with good cheer and great food.

At the moment, Greg has gone off to play indoor volleyball, and Susan will be coming over soon. I'm not sure what we'll end up doing, but given our past together, it will likely revolve around walking outside somewhere. We had one such nice walk the other day, after a nice lunch in a small town called Graton. This walk was along a path next to a series of grape vineyards, which had taken on the beautiful colors of red and yellow.

At any rate, I leave Sonoma County tomorrow, Monday, and head down to Linda's house in Marin County. I'll spend a couple of days there, before flying back to Maui. Linda is a birder, who travels all over the world seeking out our feathery friends. Likely, we'll be walking around, which is what we both like to do. I'll probably be able to come back online before I fly out, to share with you what I've been doing. Coming full circle here, I glance out the windows at the lightest mist falling through the Redwood and Douglas Fir trees. Talk to you again soon, be well, Aloha…Glenn. 

 

November 6 through November 10 Looking back over the last several days, it brings me to the tail end of my vacation, having spent almost a week in Sebastopol and environs. There were so many fun times, and trying to go back and capture them all, seems nearly impossible in the moment. Let me run down and pick an apple off the tree, perhaps that will revive my memory. Ok, with a couple of bites of cool crisp Fuji apple in my mouth, perhaps that will prompt my memory in the right direction. It's just that vacations are so chock full of stuff, and it quickly becomes a slight blur, at least for me.

Lets see…one of the high points was a nice cold front that swept through Sonoma County. I had been anticipating it for several days, and greatly enjoyed collecting firewood and kindling, to enjoy while the storm beared down from the north. I got up early, after hearing rain on the roof, and enjoyed the wet sight out the big picture windows. I immediately went in and lit the fire, and with one eye on the flames, and the other out the window to the rain, found myself in seventh heaven!

Later that same day my friend Susan came over and picked me up, for a drive through the showers, to the Sonoma coast near Bodega Bay. We parked out at Bodega Head, and waited for the passing showers to stop, which finally happened. We had a great walk, looking down the steep cliffs to the wave filled ocean below. As we drove back along the Bay, see saw a clam chowder house, and got two bowls to go, along with those little crackers that came with them. We walked out on this walkway into the Bay, alongside this small boat harbor. We sat in the late afternoon warm sunshine, brushed by the cool post cold frontal breezes. Just across the waterway from where we were enjoying the soup, two seals jumped up on the ramp by the boats, and began barking at us.

 

Later that evening another one of Greg's friends came over, and we enjoyed a small glass of wine, by the same fire that I had started early that same morning. We ended up driving back out to the small town of Bodega, to a bar where a friend of Greg's cooks. This was an interesting place, with pool tables, loud music coming out of the jukebox, and lots of tatoos on both the men and women. The three of us came back to his place, and we jumped on the ping pong table for a good round of table tennis. It was good that we played again, as I had lost several games, and Greg was starting to act like the resident king pin. I was finally able to push him back, and win a game by a fairly wide margin, allowing me to begin crowing about my own ping pong prowess then.

There were so many other good points to share with you about Sebastopol, although its time to tell you a little about my brief time in Marin County…another of my favorite places in California. My friend Greg drove me down here to Linda's, where we were able to have a great conversation heading south down Highway 101. I sat outside on Linda's deck waiting for her to come home, enjoying the view, and reflecting on the great adventures that I'd had for almost the last three weeks. She made us a great vegetable miso soup, and we watched a movie she had, before I retired to bed. During that night Linda ended up getting sick, and woke to a funky day.

I acted as her nurse, until late in the afternoon when she finally started to come around slightly. I made a nice organic chicken noodle soup for her, while she drank tea. I had a glass of wine. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, a fast moving cold front swept through during her sick day yesterday! I had collected firewood, and had a fire ready to go, and was just waiting for the first rain drops to fall…before lighting it. It was so sweet to sit there in the late afternoon, with foggy and cloudy skies, and drops falling out of the sky, while enjoying the flames of a freshly lit fire in the fireplace…I simply love that combination!

Whatever she had went quickly away during the night, and I awoke to her calling in to me…wanting to know if I had any interest in hiking Tennessee Valley? I of course immediately said yes, and we left shortly thereafter for the drive towards the Marin coast. We were one of the first ones there, and the sun hadn't even reached the tops of the hills yet. We walked out along the trail far enough to be able to see the ocean, and some American Wigeons, Coots on a pond….in addition to a Northern Harrier hawk. The sun greeted us on the walk back, along with the most fresh smells released by the previous nights rains.

It's now around noon on this last full day of my vacation, and we're planning on hiking around Phoenix Lake, close to Mount Tamalpais. I love this walk, and Linda and I do it once or twice each visit. At any rate, its a sunny day, perfect for hiking out in the woods, which will lead to my final glass of red wine this evening, and dinner. Linda is fond of watching TV programs, including the The Daily Show, with Jon Stewart, and the Colbert Show, starring Steven Colbert. These are very funny, with a liberal political edge, which I find myself laughing to as well. It wouldn't surprise me if Linda wants to hike Tennessee Valley again early Thursday morning, before breakfast, and then driving me to the Marin Airporter.

I fly out of San Francisco early Thursday afternoon, and arrive back on Maui at 545pm. My friend David will pick me up there, and then it's back to work, and back to tracking the weather in Hawaii. Let me check quickly, to see what's coming up. Looks like increasing trade winds, along with high level cirrus clouds coming up from the deeper tropics. Then, which is quite interesting as well, an old cold front's moisture will be carried to our windward sides Thursday night into Friday. This of course is the broad brush outlook, and I look forward to getting back to updating this website with more detail soon. Finally, it's been so good to be on vacation, I've so much enjoyed myself in many, many ways! At the same time, it will be great to get back home, to begin my life in the islands again, and of course get back to work as well. Talk to you again soon, Aloha…Glenn.