Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 75
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 79
Molokai airport – 75
Kahului airport, Maui – 78
Kona airport – M
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 78
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 810am Monday morning:
Honolulu, Oahu – 72
Port Allen, Kauai – 61
Haleakala Summit – 50 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Loa Summit – M (13,000+ feet on the Big Island)
Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’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
High Surf Advisory for north and west shores of Niihau,
Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui
Small Craft Advisory ~ for large northwest swells
North to northeasterly breezes, with generally dry weather
~~~Air temperature at 810am HST Monday morning,
totally clear skies, calm winds…at my upcountry
Kula, Maui weather tower: 50.5F degrees~~~
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Sunday evening:
21 Poipu, Kauai – NE
35 Kuaokala, Oahu – N
29 Molokai – NE
35 Kahoolawe – NE
22 Kapalua, Maui – NNE
32 PTA Keamuku, Big Island – NE
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of late Sunday evening:
0.02 Lihue, Kauai
0.02 Waihee Pump, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Maui
0.00 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 image…and finally the latest looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands.
~~~ Hawaii Weather Commentary ~~~
Our winds will be gradually turning to the northeast now into Monday. Here's a weather chart showing a high pressure center located just to the northwest of Hawaii. At the same time, we see a weak low pressure system well offshore to the east, with a weak cold front out in that direction as well. Our winds will remain north to northeast for the time being, gradually shifting to the northeast and east-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 more regularly by mid-week onwards, with a few wandering over into the leeward sides at times. Looking even further ahead, the models show our next cold front approaching the state this coming Friday, bringing showers our way next weekend. This front is just a possibility now, and it may fizzle out before arriving…stay tuned.
Here's a satellite image, showing low level, and very stable clouds over parts of the state…with many clear areas 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 moderate range, locally quite gusty in nature. The dry air, and robust north to northeast winds will keep folks feeling slightly chilly again tonight. However, the air flow will gradually veer around to the more classic trade wind direction Monday, which will bring warmer temperatures to the state. They will remain quite strong and gusty through mid-week at least.
As was the case the last couple of Saturday's, I drove over to Kihei Saturday evening…to jump on the dance floors of a couple of local bars. I was looking online at these particular bars, and they were described as dive bars, which I found kind of interesting. I don't think of them in that way, I just found the band, and the DJ at the other bar, to be playing good dance music, which was the main draw for me. Once again, I had lots of good fun dancing over there…on the south coast of Maui. I ran into one of the folks who I work with at the Pacific Disaster Center there, its a small world. My neighbors, Jeff and Svetlana showed up too, after they had got through with their swing dance class in Kihei. We hung out, and danced together, which was a nice connection for me, as I was on my own until then. I've already got plans in the making with a few friends, to go again this upcoming weekend. ~~~ A friend of mine and his girlfriend have invited me over for a bbq chicken dinner this evening, they live in Piiholo, more or less upcountry from Makawao town. Another friend of ours, who lives here in Kula, will pick me up for this get together. There will also be a 2 1/2 year old little girl there too, which I'm sure will add a fun turn to our evening. ~~~ I'll be back with your next new weather narrative Monday morning. I hope you have a great Sunday 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 (Garry) remains active in the southwest Pacific, located approximately 200 NM north-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 65 knots in 48 hours. Here's the graphical track map, along with a satellite image.
Tropical cyclone 11P (Oswald) is now active in the southwest Pacific, located approximately 90 NM east-northeast of Mornington Island, Australia. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) shows this cyclone with 35 knot sustained winds, with gusts to 45 knots. 11P will be increasing a notch in strength, maintaining that 40 knot level, or so through the next 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: As people in Beijing and northern China struggle with severe air pollution this winter, the toxic air is also making life hard for plants and even food crops of China, say researchers who have been looking at how China's plants are affected by air pollution. Beijing's extreme smog event this week has made headlines, with the American Embassy calling the pollution levels "hazardous" and Beijing writer Zheng Yuanjie blogging that "the air smells like sulfur perfume, as the capital city currently looks like a poisonous huge gas can," according to a report on Al Jazeera.
"In the last 50 years there has been a 16-fold increase in ozone pollution" in the Beijing area, said Hanqin Tian of Auburn University in Alabama, who studies the effects of China's pollution and climate change on plants. He said the soup of pollutants, including harmful sulfur and nitrogen compounds "is definitely expanding into new areas; into the countryside."
Ozone is particularly harmful to plants because it damages the pores on leaves, called stomata, which plants use to regulate how much water transpires from the leaves. That, in turn, affects how much water a plant must take up through its roots. Changes in water uptake by plants have been documented in other parts of the world, including the United States, as having major impacts on regional groundwater and surface water supplies.
“So you could affect the water cycle,” said Hanqin Tian. That's probably not such a good thing in a changing climate and in northern China, where droughts have become a chronic problem, he explained. The ozone pollution in this case is not the naturally occurring ozone layer up in the stratosphere, which protects Earth's surface from ultraviolet radiation.
Rather, it's an entirely man-made byproduct of internal combustion engines in cars. In studies of the long-term productivity of plants, Tian Hanqin and some of his colleagues show that ozone pollution, along with climate change, has been lowering plant productivity in China, which reduces the amount of carbon and other pollutants that the plants can absorb to combat all the emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
The worst effects on plants are likely to be in areas where the growing pollution problem is just fairly new, said Arthur Chappelka, also a plant researcher at Auburn University. Some plants are more resistant to pollutants than others, he said, and the plants that are living today in long-polluted urban areas are likely to be only those that are very pollution tolerant.
Away from the cities, however, where crops are needed to feed China's vast population, the effects of the growing pollution on crops is a significant concern. “In some ways it affects the crop production and food security of China,” said Hanqin Tian. “Air quality is really important for human health, plants and ecosystem and sustainability." The problem is bound to get worse as China continues to develop economically, he said, and so he and other researchers continue to urge the Chinese government to take action to reduce emissions from cars and industries.
Email Glenn James: 
