Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Monday:
Lihue, Kauai – 76
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 81
Molokai airport – 76
Kahului airport, Maui – 77
Kona airport – 81
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 73
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 530am Tuesday morning:
Kailua Kona – 70
Kapalua, Maui – 68
Haleakala Summit – 30 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 25 (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.
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
Small Craft Advisory for gusty trade
winds for all marine zones across
the Hawaiian Islands
Gale Warning for Maalaea Bay, Pailolo
and Alenuihaha Channels…and Big
Island leeward and southeast waters
High Surf Advisory along east facing
shores of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui and
the Big Island – north and west facing
shores of Niihau, Kauai, Oahu and Molokai –
north shores of Maui..and the west shores of
the Big Island
Wind Advisory for all islands…winds 20-35
mph – with gusts 40-50+ mph
Windward showers, lots of them this week,
drifting into the leeward sections at times
~~~540am HST Tuesday morning: clear and calm…at my
upcountry Kula, Maui weather tower: 49.8F degrees~~~
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Monday evening:
31 Puu Lua, Kauai – ENE
54 Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
37 Molokai – NE
45 Kahoolawe – NE
38 Lipoa – NE
51 Waikoloa, Big Island – NE
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Monday evening:
0.78 Kilohana, Kauai
0.55 Wheeler Airfield, Oahu
0.40 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.01 Kahoolawe
3.65 Puu Kukui, Maui
3.46 Kulani NWR, 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 trade winds will continue to be strong to very strong and gusty, reaching 40-60 mph in gusts locally at times. Here's a weather chart showing a large and strong, near 1037 millibar high pressure system to the north of Hawaii…with a new high pressure cell moving into place to our northwest by Tuesday. At the same time, we see deep storm and gale low pressure systems far to the northwest…one of which has a cold front draping down into the tropics to our far west. Our trade wind weather pattern will prevail, with the winds continuing to be stronger than normal. The outlook for this week calls for blustery trade wind weather to remain active.
Satellite imagery shows low clouds along our windward sides in places, with passing showers at times…with clear to partly cloudy conditions along our leeward sides for the most part. At the same time, we see those brighter and whiter high cirrus clouds that are over the ocean to the east. These high icy cirrus were clipping the Big Island, although are slowly drifting away to the east at the time of this writing. As the gusty trades remain blustery this week, they will bring us windward biased showers at times. The leeward sides will see some clouds too, with a few showers flying over into those areas here and there.
The current trade weather pattern will extend through the rest of this work week, with strong and gusty trade winds prevailing. We continue to have small craft wind advisories stretching across the entire state now, with gale warnings up around Maui and the Big Island. Wind advisories are also in force across all of the island chain now…with high surf advisories active over many north, west, and east facing shores as well. The summits on the Big Island are cold, with snow falling at times. The Aloha state has rather rugged environmental conditions on tap for the time being…at least in quite a few places!
As for rainfall, there will be off and on showers along the windward sides…mostly on! Low pressure aloft will prompt active windward shower activity, enhancing shower intensity at times. As the trade winds remain strong and gusty, some of these showers will drift over into the leeward sides here and there. The weather models are pointing out the chance of low pressure edging over the state during the upcoming weekend, prompting more wet weather then. ~~~ I'll be back with more updates on this windy, and locally showery episode this evening. I hope you've had a great President's Day holiday wherever you happen to have spent it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Youtube music video, Keola and Kapono Beamer…Honolulu City Lights
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: Tropical cyclone 02W remains active in the southern Philippines…located approximately 55 NM east-southeast of Zamboanga, Philippines. Sustained winds are 25 knots, with gusts to 35 knots (29-40 mph). Here's the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) graphical track map, and a satellite image.
South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
North and South Indian Oceans: Tropical cyclone 16S (Haruna) remains active in the Madagascar Channel…located approximately 375 NM west-southwest of Antananarivo, Madagascar. Sustained winds are 35 knots, with gusts to 45 knots (40-52 mph). Here's the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) graphical track map, and a satellite image.
Interesting: Efforts to reduce lead pollution have paid off in many ways, yet the problem persists and will probably continue to affect the health of people and animals well into the future, according to experts speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston. "Things have substantially improved with the virtual elimination of leaded gasoline, restrictions on lead paint, and other efforts to limit releases of industrial lead into the environment.
But the historic legacy of lead pollution persists, and new inputs of industrial lead are adding to it," said A. Russell Flegal, professor of environmental toxicology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Flegal will present a history of industrial lead contamination and explain why the problem won't go away in a AAAS symposium on Saturday, February 16.
The good news, he said, is that atmospheric lead concentrations in the United States have fallen by 89 percent in the past three decades, and average blood lead levels in U.S. children have shown a corresponding decline, from 15 micrograms per deciliter (ug/dL) in 1976 to 1.3 ug/dL in 2008.
The bad news is that blood lead levels are still about 100 times higher than the natural background level, and there is no known threshold for lead toxicity. In other words, even tiny amounts of lead in the body can be harmful.
Lead pollution is a 5,000-year-old problem, Flegal said, citing elevated lead levels in Chinese lake sediments deposited during the Bronze Age. Recent records from U.S. lake sediments show decreases in lead pollution since the phasing out of leaded gasoline began in the 1970s.
But industrial activities around the globe continue to release more lead into the environment. Major sources of lead emissions include the burning of coal, especially in developing countries such as China and India.
Lead from these sources spreads around the globe, so that environmental lead contamination can be detected even in "pristine" environments such as the Arctic and the Swiss Alps, Flegal said.
Email Glenn James: 
Maggie Says:
Aloha Glenn. Because Haiku was in the soup this morning I took a long bike ride across the island from Kihei to Kanaha. It was so windy over in Kihei that it took everything I had to peddle across the flat part of the island into the wind on a 12 speed! The cross winds were so bad that I was almost blown over several times. Back home, I checked the wind, and the meter at Kihei Memorial Park registered a 55mph gust at 12:45pm. I think I peddled into it! But, it was refreshing to be on the dry side of the island — at least for those of us in Haiku who are thinking about building Arks right now….~~~Hi Maggie, wow, what a story, thanks for sharing your wind prone adventure! 55 mph, that’s really up there, and those sideways gusts too, dangerous. Sounds like too many passing showers over there in Haiku. It showered up here in Kula all night, and most of the morning, we finally got some of your wet weather too! I’m afraid we have more to come, both in terms of wind and rain, maybe find some other form of exercise until the winds abate. The winds up here in Kula were gusty all night into the morning, although have really mellowed out this afternoon…try up here on the bike next time, maybe. Aloha, Glenn
Mary Says:
We lost most of our pink peppercorn tree today. I am in North Kihei, at the top of the hill, and the gusts coming off of Maalaea were just too much for it. Gonna have some nicely scented firewood, if I am to make lemonade out of this particular lemon.~~~Hi Mary, you’ve got the big winds, while down in Maui Meadows, they are beyond all this air in a hurry. Sorry to hear of the loss of your peppercorn tree, good thing you’ve got a fireplace…I’d be interested to know how it smells when you torch it. Good luck with the rest of your plants there on the north side, and up the hill in Kihei! Aloha, Glenn
Bill Johns Says:
Hi Glenn:
Every now and then I get a real kick out of the local dynamics of our weather here in Maui Meadows….Yesterday morning I got out my marine power 10×50 binoculars and watched a Young Bros' tug and barge get seriously pounded as it made the passage between Molokini and Kahoolawe on the way to the big island.
Over the last couple of days our strongest wind gust was close to eight miles per hour…I mean it is almost dead calm since the wind event has been forecast. I really pity the seasick tourists who get to ride the snorkle boats around Maalaea Bay. As far as rain, we are in dire need of moisture. Less than one inch in my gauge which is measuring lots of dust.~~~Hi Bill, good to hear from you. I can picture Maui Meadows being in the lee of Haleakala, with light breezes at best. Here in Kula, it has ranged between very strong, blowing stuff around on my weather deck…to not a whisper, and this is just this afternoon. The physical terrain features around the islands, and the wind direction, can make for big differences in how strong our winds are locally. I know that when the strong Kona winds are blowing, you aren’t so lucky. As for the lack of rain in MMeadows, I can picture that too. We have been luckier here in Kula, as the showers have been blowing over from the windward side. It’s all very interesting isn’t it! I hope you get some rain soon, rather than that dust on the bottom of your gauge! Aloha, Glenn
Eliza Says:
Rains continue off and on here in Pukalani, Glenn, which I am very thankful for. More 'on' than off. Closing in on 36 hours of moisture falling. Yay! A friend from the Ha'iku post office area said that Pukalani was more wet than in her home zone. ha The winds… wow. At least they are blowing the way the trees are used to. Otherwise, lots of snapped branches. Enjoy the afternoon ~ Eliza~~~Hi Eliza, thanks for the on-the-spot report in Pukalani. The showers have backed off here in Kula early this afternoon, but the winds continue to rage pretty good. Those showers may get blown here again any moment however, as those showery clouds are just on the horizon…as I glance that way. Aloha, Glenn
T. J. Lee Says:
Aloha Glenn:
We're midway through our annual winter escape to Kauai. As usual we depend on you for weather information. Thanks again. Heading to Poipu or Salt Pond with our grandson today… Hoping together some sun and a little less wind.
Take Care
TJ Lee~~~Hi TJ, good to hear from you there on Kauai. I hope you find some sunshine, and some protection from these blustery winter winds that we’re having here in Hawaii today! Good luck, hi to your grandson too! Aloha, Glenn