Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday:
Lihue, Kauai – 84
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 86 (record high for the date – 91 in 1984)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 83
Molokai airport – 82
Kahului airport, Maui – 85
Kona airport 86
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 81
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Sunday evening:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 85
Princeville, Kauai – 79
Haleakala Crater – 54 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 39 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Sunday evening:
0.95 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.43 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.67 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.49 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
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 during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. 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 Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,500 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. This web cam is available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon shining down during the night at times. Plus, during the nights you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise and sunset too…depending upon weather conditions. The Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui just came back online, after being on the blink for several weeks.
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. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. Here's a tropical cyclone tracking map for the eastern and central Pacific.
Aloha Paragraphs
The whales are returning to Hawaii now!
Our trade winds will remain locally breezy, then mellow out some Tuesday through Thursday…then picking up again into next weekend. Glancing at this weather map, it shows high pressure systems to our northeast, with an associated ridge of high pressure running westward to the north of the islands. Our locally trade winds will continue in the moderately strong realms into Monday. It looks like we'll get into a lighter wind flow going into the middle part of the new week.
Trade winds continue…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Sunday evening:
28 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
32 Honolulu, Oahu – NE
31 Molokai – NE
36 Kahoolawe – SE
29 Lipoa, Maui – ENE
16 Lanai – NE
32 Upolu Point, Big Island – NE
We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Sunday evening. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find low clouds generally offshore of the islands…although they are being carried over the islands locally. At the same time we see high cirrus clouds to our southwest, west and north, which continue to move over the islands at times on the upper winds. We can use this looping satellite image to see those low clouds moving along in the trade wind flow. There are those high level clouds coming our way from the west, which have thickened up again on this last day of the weekend. Checking out this looping radar image we see showers over the ocean, moving along in the trade wind flow…impacting the windward sides in places.
Sunset Commentary: The trade winds are being driven by moderately strong high pressure systems to the northeast of the islands Sunday night. These moderately strong high pressure cells are located well offshore, with their connecting ridge of high pressure located along more or less 30 degrees north latitude…to the north of our islands. These moderately strong trade winds will gradually pull back in strength through the first day or two of the new week ahead. The winds remain strong enough now, that the NWS forecast office in Honolulu is keeping a small craft wind advisory for those windiest areas in Maui County and the Big Island. There’s a good chance that some change in our wind speeds, and possibly directions will occur from Tuesday through Thursday, then picking up again into next weekend.
Showers will continue to be drawn over the windward sides of the islands, as showery clouds get carried our way on the trade wind flow at times. The long lasting high cirrus clouds continue to stream over the islands, which dimmed and filtered our Hawaiian sunshine during the day Sunday.
Looking ahead, we'll see a possible change coming our way by mid-week. There are several different themes that the models have been suggesting, although this threat of change seems to be pulling back some now. It's still too early to know exactly how this period of lighter winds will manifest…stay tuned for more over the next few days. The models are now showing returning trade winds by Friday into next weekend, with possible showers Saturday from a retired cold front being carried our way on the trade winds then.
This past Friday evening after work I met my neighbor Jeff, his daughter Jill, and our mutual friend Joy, the JJJ club in Kahului. We met at Whole Foods and got take out food, sitting outside and talking while we ate. We then walked over to the theater to see another one of those radical action films, this one called Killer Elite, starring Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Robert DeNiro…among many others. Synopsis: an ex-special operations agent is lured out of retirement to complete a near-impossible mission, and to rescue his mentor. The Yahoo site critics are giving this film a C+ grade, while the viewers are giving a slightly better B rating. The tough graders on the rotten tomatoes movie review site are giving a low 24 number out of 100. I was a little nervous about seeing this rather rough edged film with two ladies, although Jeff assured me that they could handle this film as well as we could. As expected, it was a "rough and tumble" film, with all kinds of killing going on along the way. I enjoyed seeing Jason, Clive, and Robert DeNiro, who were all tough guys to da max. Jill gave it a B, I gave it a soft B, and both Jeff and Joy gave a B-. I think we all rather enjoyed it, although we all said we were very much looking forward to seeing Ides of March with George Clooney and Ryan Gosling too. I'd say that most of you, almost all of you probably, could give this Killer Elite film a pass. You hard core folks might enjoy it for the most part though, if for no other reason than to see these well known actors doing their thing. Oh, and yes there was a leading lady, although she played a pretty minor role. Here's the trailer, just in case you have the slightest interest.
I had planned on just staying home Saturday evening, although that idea changed at the last moment. I ended up picking up my friend Joy, and driving down to Whole Foods for a take out dinner. Meanwhile, my neighbor Jeff had some business to attend to, and we all met up at the movie theater afterwards. We saw the new film The Ides of March, starring George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood. Synopsis: during the frantic last days before a heavily contested Ohio presidential primary, an up-and-coming campaign press secretary finds himself involved in a political scandal that threatens to upend his candidate's shot at the presidency. The critics have been giving this film a B grade, while the viewers are coming in with a slightly reduced B- rating. Jeff gave it a cool C+, Joy gave it a solid B, and I went even higher with a B+. It was an intense film, which I was very entertained by. I really like George Clooney and Ryan Gosling, and Philip Seymour Hoffman too. It found it engaging, and it keep my attention riveted on the screen throughout the entire 1 hour and 40 minutes. I was very glad to see this film, and would feel comfortable encouraging many of you folks to see it, especially if politics intrigue you. Here's the trailer for The Ides of March.
Here in Kula, Maui at around 530pm HST Sunday evening, skies are partly cloudy again, with an air temperature of 70.7F degrees. There continues to be a rather thick canopy of high cirrus clouds, which should provide some nice sunset colors. The atmosphere is rather hazy too, giving a muted look to our skies. The trade winds continue blowing, as they have been, and will continue to do for the time being. There will be those occasional showers, although that's very common with such a fairly routine trade wind regime in force. ~~~ I'll be back early Monday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Sunday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
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