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     –                 81 
 
Hilo airport, Hawaii –              79

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 630am Sunday morning:

Honolulu, Oahu – 71
Hilo, Hawaii – 66


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

Mauna Kea Summit – 25      (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.

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://www.clubofthewaves.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/diamond-head.jpg

High Surf Warning for north and west shores
of Niihau, Kauai and Molokai – and north shores
of Oahu and Maui

High Surf Advisory for west shores of Oahu…
and the Big Island of Hawaii

Small Craft Advisory for large to very large
northwest swells…and stronger trade winds

Generally good weather leeward for the most
part…with some windward showers

~~~655am HST Sunday morning: clear, 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 Saturday evening:

17       Poipu, Kauai – NE
36       Kuaokala, Oahu – N

22 
      Molokai – NE 
27       Kahoolawe – ESE

27       Kahului, Maui – NE

33       PTA Keamuku, Big Island – NE

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

 

0.06     Waialae, Kauai
0.09     Maunawili, Oahu

0.00     Molokai

0.00     Lanai
0.00     Kahoolawe

0.10     Puu Kukui, Maui
0.64     Honaunau, 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 trade winds will remain active, increasing Sunday…into the middle of the new week ahead. Here's a weather chart showing a large, near 1032 millibar high pressure system located far to the northeast of Hawaii, with another near 1027 millibar high pressure cell to our northwest. At the same time, we see deep storm low pressure systems far to our north and northwest. The low to our north has a comma shaped cold front draping south and southwest from its center, the tail-end of which is just offshore to the northwest of Kauai. Our trade wind weather pattern will continue…increasing again later Sunday into the new work week.

Satellite imagery shows low clouds, especially along the windward sides of Kauai and the Big Island…at the time of this writing. As the trades hold firm, they will be bring us windward biased showers…although not too many for the time being. The leewards sides will continue to have generally good weather, with lots of sunshine during the day Sunday. Meanwhile, a cold front evident not far to the north and northwest of Kauai, although it isn't expected to make it all the way into the state. 

This front will come close enough however, to keep our trade winds a little lighter than they would be…without the front being there.
As we push into later Sunday though, these trade winds will build in strength, becoming stronger and gusty for several days thereafter. This blustery trade flow, will help to carry whatever moisture is still associated with this frontal boundary, into our windward sides. As these trades will be pretty stiff, they will be able to transport some of this moisture over into the leeward sides of the smaller islands at times too. ~~~ One final thing, be careful if you go to the beaches on our north or west sides Sunday, as the surf will be larger than normal…and dangerous in places! I'll be back later this evening with more updates, and perhaps a few music video's to share with you too. I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Friday evening Film:
  I went to see one of the films that's been around for many weeks, and is up for many awards. I met several friends down at Whole Foods for dinner and conversation, and then walked over to the theater, to see Zero Dark Thirty. This film stars Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Chris Pratt, Kyle Chandler, and Jennifer Ehle…among many others. The synopsis: for a decade, an elite team of intelligence and military operatives, working in secret across the globe, devoted themselves to a single goal: to find and eliminate Osama bin Laden. Zero Dark Thirty reunites the Oscar winning team of director-producer Kathryn Bigelow and writer-producer Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) for the story of history's greatest manhunt for the world's most dangerous man.

This film has received high grades by the critics, and is being called a thriller. I was very impressed by the director, Kathryn Bigelow, who I honestly hadn't heard of before…although I'll look forward to more from her great talents. It's being described as a gripping, suspenseful, and brilliantly crafted film, which I totally agree with. It was no comedy, as there was hard core action, the kind that almost takes your breath away at times. As for the grades from the group I was with, B+, B, A-, B+, although several of the women were still a bit too shocked to provide a grade in the moment, as we gathered after the film. By the way, it was a rather shocking film, no doubt about it, and so very engaging from start to finish! If you have any interest, here's the trailer for this film.


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 14P (Haley) remains active in the southwest Pacific…located approximately 400 NM south of Bora Bora, Society Islands, French Polynesia. Here's the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) graphical track map, along with a satellite image.

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

Interesting:  A Laysan albatross known as Wisdom — believed to be at least 62 years old — has hatched a chick on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge for the sixth consecutive year. This is pretty old to give birth for any species. During the morning hours on Sunday, the chick was observed pipping its way into the world by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Pete Leary, who said the chick appears healthy.

Wisdom was first banded in 1956, when she was incubating an egg in the same area of the refuge. She was at least five years old at the time. 5 to 62 and still giving birth to youngsters. That is a dedicated mom. The Laysan Albatross is a large seabird that ranges across the North Pacific. 99.7% of the population is found on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

This small (for its family) two-tone gull-like albatross is the second most common seabird in the Hawaiian Islands, with an estimated population of 2.5 million birds, and is currently expanding (or possibly re-expanding) its range to new islands.

"Everyone continues to be inspired by Wisdom as a symbol of hope for her species," said Doug Staller, the Fish and Wildlife Service superintendent for the Papah?naumoku?kea Marine National Monument (Monument), which includes Midway Atoll NWR. Staff and volunteers stationed on Midway are responsible for monitoring the health of the beautiful seabirds that arrive every year by the hundreds of thousands to nest.

Upon the seabirds' arrival, field staff monitor them and gather information for one of the longest and oldest continuous survey data sets for tropical seabirds in the world. Wisdom has worn out five bird bands since she was first banded by U.S. Geological Survey scientist Chandler Robbins in 1956. Robbins estimated Wisdom to be at least 5 years old at the time, since this is the earliest age at which these birds breed.

Typically, they breed at 8 or 9 years of age after a very involved courtship lasting over several years so Wisdom could be even older than 62. Bruce Peterjohn, chief of the North American Bird Banding Program at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, MD, said Wisdom has likely raised at least 30 to 35 chicks during her breeding life, though the number may well be higher because experienced parents tend to be better parents than younger breeders.

Albatross lay only one egg a year, but it takes much of a year to incubate and raise the chick. After consecutive years in which they have successfully raised and fledged a chick, the parents may take the occasional next year off from parenting. Wisdom is known to have nested in 2006 and then every year since 2008.

Life expectancy in birds is closely correlated with size — the larger the species, the longer it is likely to live. But the relationship is far from exact. Some groups of birds tend to have long lives for their sizes, especially the — albatrosses,and shorebirds(gulls and terns, and auks).

Other groups, for instance titmice and chickadees, wrens, and game birds, are shorter-lived than their sizes would predict. Birds can be very long-lived in captivity. One Sulphur-crested Cockatoo lived most of his 80-plus years in a zoo. Captive Canada Geese have lived for 33 years, House Sparrows 23 years, and Northern Cardinals 22 years.

In nature, the life-spans of these species are much shorter. "As Wisdom rewrites the record books, she provides new insights into the remarkable biology of seabirds," Peterjohn said. "It is beyond words to describe the amazing accomplishments of this wonderful bird and how she demonstrates the value of bird banding to better understand the world around us.

If she were human, she would be eligible for Medicare in a couple years yet she is still regularly raising young and annually circumnavigating the Pacific Ocean. Simply incredible." Sue Schulmeister, manager of the Midway Atoll NWR, said, "Wisdom is one is one of those incredible seabirds that has provided the world valuable information about the longevity of these beautiful creatures and reinforces the importance of breeding adults in the population.

This information helps us measure the health of our oceans that sustain albatross." Almost as amazing as being a parent at 62 is the number of miles this bird has likely logged — about 50,000 miles a year as an adult — which means that Wisdom has flown at least 2 to 3 million miles since she was first banded.

Or, to put it another way, that's 4 to 6 trips from the Earth to the Moon and back again with plenty of miles to spare.