Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 76
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 78
Molokai airport – M
Kahului airport, Maui – 75
Kona airport – 80
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 80
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 430am Wednesday morning:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 67
Port Allen, Kauai – 63
Haleakala Summit – 39 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 30 (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
Partly cloudy over Kauai and Oahu, with partly to
mostly cloudy conditions over Maui County and
the Big Island…with a few showers
~~~535am HST Wednesday morning: cloudy skies
and calm winds…at my upcountry Kula, Maui
weather tower: 58.1F degrees~~~
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Tuesday evening:
21 Mana, Kauai – NNW
22 Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
09 Molokai – E
10 Kahoolawe – SE
12 Kaupo Gap, Maui – NW
14 PTA West, Big Island – NW
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Tuesday evening:
0.12 Lihue airport, Kauai
0.53 Waiahole, Oahu
0.81 Molokai
0.02 Lanai
0.33 Kahoolawe
0.80 Puu Kukui, Maui
1.17 Pali 2, 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 ~~~
Generally light and variable breezes will prevail for the time being, gradually picking up from the trade wind direction later Wednesday into Thursday…lasting through the rest of the week. Here's a weather chart showing a large, strong near 1039 millibar high pressure system, located far to the northeast of Hawaii. At the same time, we see deep storm low pressure systems far to our north and northwest…with the tail-end of a weak trough of low pressure, which is stretched across Maui County.
Satellite imagery shows what's left of the fragmented cold front stretched across Maui County and the Big Island. This old front, which is now being classified as a trough of low pressure, will keep clouds and some showers around tonight…across Maui County and the Big Island. Here's the satellite image, that shows a closer view of the islands. Here's the looping radar image, so we can keep track of whatever showers that happen to be falling…and there are still quite a few around the eastern side of the island chain.
Looking ahead, we see that the trade winds will be returning later tomorrow…lasting through the rest of this week. Today was a transition day, between yesterday's locally very wet weather, and drier weather arriving later tomorrow…at least on the leeward sides. As the trade winds fill back into the state, they will keep passing showers falling along our windward sides for several days. These trade winds will start off in the light to moderately strong range, then strengthen as we get towards the weekend, on into early next week. In sum: still showers around tonight into Wednesday morning, especially in Maui County and the Big Island. The south and west facing leeward beaches will start to become sunnier as we move forward, as Kauai and Oahu saw today. I'll be back later this evening with more updates, Aloha for now…Glenn.
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: There are no active tropical cyclones
North and South Indian Oceans: Tropical cyclone 13S (Felleng) remains active in the South Indian Ocean, located approximately 330 NM north-northwest of La Reunion Island. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) shows this cyclone with 115 knot sustained winds, with gusts to 140 knots. 13S will remain active over the next 120 hours, moving by offshore to the east of Madagascar. Here's the graphical track map, along with a satellite image.
Interesting: North America's largest land animal will roam the Alaskan wilderness once again if a plan unveiled last week is approved. Wood bison, a subspecies of the more familiar plains bison, once lived throughout Alaska and much of western Canada but haven't been seen in the state's wilderness for more than a century due to hunting and other factors.
That may be about to change: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a plan Jan. 17 to reintroduce the beasts, according to the Alaska Dispatch, a news website. Several groups have been trying to reintroduce wood bison for more than a decade.
Some Alaskans have rejected the idea of introducing an animal listed under the Endangered Species Act for fear that this might interfere with gas and oil development, the Dispatch reported. (Habitats of endangered animals often cannot be used for certain commercial activities.)
Under the new plan, the Alaskan bison would be designated as a "nonessential experimental population" that isn't necessary to the survival of the species, which has rebounded enough in Canada to be considered threatened, as opposed to endangered as was the case previously.
If their population reaches a certain size, the animals would also be fair game for hunters, according to the plan. Alaska natives would get the first crack at them, but the Fish and Wildlife Service said that the plan is to eventually open the herd to the public, given certain constraints.
A public comment period on the plan has begun and ends in two months. Assuming that the plan goes through, which depends upon input from the public and wildlife experts, reintroduction could begin by next spring, Reuters reports.
A total of 132 animals already live in captivity at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage. Under the plan, they would be reintroduced to a grassland area near the lower Innoko and Yukon rivers, according to the Dispatch.
Wood bison are larger than their plains cousins, with adult bulls weighing up to 2,000 pounds or more, according to a statement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In the early 1800s, there were as many as 168,000 throughout Canada and Alaska.
Now there are 10,000 free-ranging wood bison in Canada, including about 4,500 in seven free-ranging, disease-free herds, the agency noted. "Establishing wild populations of this magnificent animal in Alaska would be a significant step toward its eventual recovery and de-listing" from the Endangered Species List, said regional director Geoffrey Haskett in the release.
Wood bison have already been introduced to Russia, where scientists are trying to establish breeding populations of the animals, according to the Edmonton Journal. Wood bison are the closest living relatives to the steppe bison, which went extinct about 5,000 years ago.
Email Glenn James: 
AmandaonMaui Says:
We're looking to have a garage sale in the upper Pukalani/Lower Kula area on Saturday. Should we worry about rain? ~~~Hi Amanda, my first thought was: no, I think things will be back to normal then, with good weather for selling stuff in that area. Best of luck, Aloha, Glenn