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

Lihue, Kauai –                         77  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –      81  

Molokai airport –                     77
Kahului airport, Maui –            79 

Kona airport     –                     M   

Hilo airport, Hawaii –               77

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 730am Sunday morning:

Hilo, Hawaii – 70
Lihue, Kauai – 62

Haleakala Summit    39       (near 10,000 feet on Maui)

Mauna Loa Summit –  M      (13,000+ feet on the Big Island)

Hawaii’s MountainsHere’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 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. Here's the Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui…if it's available.

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.  The 2012 hurricane season is over in the eastern and central Pacific…resuming on May 15th and June 1st 2013.

 

Aloha Paragraphs

http://www2.ambientdesign.com/gallery/files/4/4/2/4/oldmanwinter__2_24_08.jpg
Old Man North Wind…chilling our tropics through Sunday!
 
 

High Surf Warning ~ extra large surf on the north
and west shores ~ be careful if you go near
those beaches where large waves are breaking!

Wind Advisory ~ Haleakala Crater, Maui plus Big
Island summits…gusts to 45 mph


Small Craft Advisory ~ for extra large northwest swell 

Gusty northerly breezes, keeping a wind chill in our
tropical air this weekend…generally dry weather

~~~Air temperature at 745am HST Sunday morning,
  clear skies, cool and breezy…at my upcountry
Kula, Maui weather tower: 57.6F
degrees~~~



The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Saturday evening:

27       Lihue, Kauai – NNW 
35       Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE   

30       Molokai – NNW   
   
31       Kahoolawe – NNE
22       Hana, Maui – NW
 

33       Kohala Ranch, Big Island – NNE


Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of late Saturday evening:

 

0.01          Kokee, Kauai
0.09          Kaneohe, Oahu

0.01          Molokai

0.00          Kahoolawe
0.00          Lanai

0.12          Puu Kukui, Maui
0.85          Laupahoehoe, Big Island  


We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean
.  Here's the latest NOAA satellite picture – the latest looping satellite imageand finally the latest looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands.


                   ~~~ Hawaii Weather Commentary ~~~
 


Our winds will be locally strong and gusty…from the north through Sunday. Here's a weather chart showing high pressure centers located far to the northeast, and to the west-northwest of Hawaii. At the same time, we see the tail-ends of several weak cold fronts to the northeast and east of Hawaii. Our winds will remain northerly for the time being. Winds will gradually shift to the northeast by the holiday on Monday. This trade wind flow, during the first part of the new week, will become stronger and gusty. Rainfall will begin to appear along our windward coasts and slopes, although with just a few wandering over into the leeward sides at times. 

Here's a satellite image, showing low level, and very stable clouds over the state…with some clear areas in places too.  A very dry and cool air mass continues to move over our area of the north central Pacific. These breezes will blow in the light to moderate range, locally quite gusty in nature. The dry air, and robust northerly winds will keep folks feeling chilly tonight through Sunday. The air flow will gradually veer around to the more classic trade wind direction by the holiday on Monday, which will gradually become warmer than the current winds. They will become quite strong Monday into Tuesday…lasting through mid-week at least. So, it would be wise to keep that extra blanket on your bed for the time being, and maybe even slip on a pair of socks too. This is unusually chilly weather for our islands, as we get a good taste of winter 2013. ~~~ As has been the case the last couple of Saturday's, I'll be heading over to Kihei this evening, to jump on the dance floor of a local bar. I was looking online at this bar, and its described as a dive bar, which I found kind of interesting. I realized that I didn't really know what a dive bar was, so I just looked it up: "A well-worn, unglamorous bar, often serving a cheap, simple selection of drinks to a regular clientele." I don't think of it in that way, I just found the band to be playing good dance music, which is the main draw for me. Now that I think about it, I've never ordered a drink at this place. At any rate, I'll be back Sunday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you're spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Friday evening film, again there were so many good ones to pick from! This time I chose one of the action films, called Jack Reacher, starring Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo, Alexia Fast, Robert Duval…among many others. The synopsis:
Six shots. Five dead. One heartland city thrown into a state of terror. But within hours the cops have it solved: a slam-dunk case. Except for one thing. The accused man says: You got the wrong guy. Then he says: Get Reacher for me. And sure enough, ex-military investigator Jack Reacher is coming. He knows this shooter-a trained military sniper who never should have missed a shot. Reacher is certain something is not right-and soon the slam-dunk case explodes. Now Reacher is teamed with a beautiful young defense lawyer, moving closer to the unseen enemy who is pulling the strings. Reacher knows that no two opponents are created equal. This one has come to the heartland from his own kind of hell. And Reacher knows that the only way to take him down is to match his ruthlessness and cunning-and then beat him shot for shot.

The critics are giving good scores for this film, saying: "Jack Reacher is an above-average crime thriller with a smoothly charismatic performance from Tom Cruise." This all sounded good to me, so I drove down to Whole Foods for a quick take out dinner, and then walked over to the theater…with high expectations in mind. I was thoroughly delighted, as this film was really good! Tom Cruise knows how to give a magnetic performance, with his aggressive style. He has an unwavering sense of self, leading with old school dynamite. In sum: it delivers some refreshingly dark, down-to-earth crime action. As for a grade, well, I'd say it deserves a solid B++, and highly recommended to those of you who enjoy this kind of stuff. Here's the trailer, just in case you might be interested in taking a peek. 

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea:
  There are no active tropical cyclones

Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

Eastern Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Central Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Western Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

South Pacific Ocean:  Tropical cyclone 10P is now active in the southwest Pacific, located approximately 370 NM west-northwest of Pago Pago, American Samoa. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) shows this cyclone with 35 knot sustained winds, with gusts to 45 knots. 10P will be steadily increasing in strength, reaching between 60-70 knots in 48 to 72 hours. Here's the graphical track map, along with a satellite image.  

North and South Indian Oceans:  There are no active tropical cyclones 


Interesting:
 
Climate change and changes in weather can affect species in many ways. From altering migration patterns, to varying plant growth leading to deviating diets, to extending or decreasing hibernation periods, climate can ultimately influence the success of a species. In an attempt to study some of these effects, a group of Norwegian scientists have found that extreme climate events can cause population fluctuations not only among single species, but also in a relatively simple high arctic community.

Scientists, with lead authors from the Centre for Conservation Biology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), investigated how climate and weather events influenced Arctic populations specifically in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, an arctic island that is home to just four winter species: the wild Svalbard reindeer, the Svalbard rock ptarmigan (a type of bird), the sibling vole, and the arctic fox.

Here, population fluctuations were mainly driven by rain-on-snow events, where rain seeps through the snowpack and pools on top of the frozen soil. It then freezes into an impermeable shell that prevents animals from grazing and reduces food accessibility for populations, causing extensive simultaneous population crashes in all three herbivore species in the following seasons after the extreme weather.

The arctic fox, on the other hand, did not experience population decline mainly due to the abundance of reindeer carcasses, which serves as the foxes' main winter food source. Even though the synchronized die-offs decrease the number of live prey available for foxes to eat, the high number of reindeer carcasses generates a food surplus, which ultimately leads to higher fox reproduction.

However, the reindeer that have survived the extreme weather events will thrive due to the reduced competition for resources and the following winter will have almost no reindeer carcasses. At the same time, the other herbivores that may be a secondary food source for the foxes will not be able to recover after the icing.

This results in low fox reproduction and a strong reduction in the arctic fox population size one year after the herbivore die-offs. "We have known for a long time that climate can synchronize populations of the same species, but these findings suggest that climate and particularly extreme weather events may also synchronize entire communities of species," says lead author Brage Bremset Hansen.

"Svalbard's relatively simple ecosystem, which lacks specialist predators, combined with large weather fluctuations from year to year and strong climate signals in the population dynamics of herbivores, are the likely explanations for how such clear climate effects can be observed at the ecosystem level."

The findings are published in the 18 January issue of Science.