Air Temperatures The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday:

85 Lihue, Kauai
85 Honolulu, Oahu
84 Molokai
87 Kahului, Maui
86 Kona, Hawaii
84 Hilo, Hawaii


Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops on Maui and the Big Island…as of 743pm Sunday evening:


Kailua Kona 81
Hilo, Hawaii – 74


Haleakala Summit –   M 
(near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 37 (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 working.

 


Aloha Paragraphs



http://c.fellt.com/sonny/files/2013/08/600x/TOM_9772sonnyphotosSurfShackTommy.jpg

Our trade winds remain active…with showers mostly along
windward sides – increasing early Monday into mid-week





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

23  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
29  Kuaokala, Oahu – NNW
27  Molokai – NE
28  Lanai – NE
30  Kahoolawe NE
30  Kahului, Maui – NE
29  Kamuela airport, Big Island – NE


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


0.46  N Wailua ditch, Kauai
0.61  Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.11  Molokai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Lanai
1.68  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.97  Waiakea Uka, 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 Narrative ~~~



The trade winds remain quite strong and gusty, at least locally…becoming light to moderately strong into the new week. Here’s a weather chart showing high pressure centers far to the north-northwest, and northeast of the state. There are no surface low pressure systems located close to the islands at the time of this writing. Fairly steady trade winds during the next 5-days or so, not too strong…nor too light.

There will be a windward showers…increasing tonight into the first couple of days of the new week. Satellite imagery shows low clouds over the ocean just to the east and northeast, especially near the Big Island and Oahu and Kauai. High cirrus clouds are located offshore to the east and northeast of the Big Island…with another thin strip tot he southwest of Kauai. Here’s the looping radar image, showing light showers moving by, mostly over the offshore waters, arriving over the windward coasts and slopes locally. Showers will become more numerous along our windward sides again Monday and Tuesday…a few of which could be rather generous on the Kauai end of the island chain.


In sum: The trades will begin calming down Monday…becoming light to moderately strong through the week.
The NWS forecast office in Honolulu is keeping the small craft wind advisory alive over parts of Maui County and the Big Island…although it should be coming down soon. There will be showers falling along our windward sides, especially during the night and early morning hours.  As we push into the new work week, our winds will drop a notch, along with an increase in showers…especially around the windward sides of the island chain. ~~~ I went to a birthday party in Haiku last evening with my neighbor, close to where I used to live for all those years, before I moved up here to Kula. There were lots of nice folks there, good food, music…and I even got to dance some! This morning, after I get back from my walk soon, I went out to breakfast with my neighbor Jeff. We’ll then go up and see the results of the recent construction on his girl friends new property, up the mountain from here.  I’ll be back early Monday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise, I hope you have a great Sunday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Friday evening film: This week I went to see a film that has garnered a low rating from the critics, although lots of viewers seem to have enjoyed sitting through it. It’s called The Chronicles of Riddick, starring Vin Diesel, Judi Dench, Karl Urban, Thandie Newton, Colm Feore, and Alexa Davalos…among others. The synopsis: Vin Diesel returns as the nocturnally gifted antihero Riddick in this sequel to the 2000 cult item Pitch Black. Riddick, on the run from the law and evading mercenaries eager to claim the price on his head, seeks refuge on the planet of Helion, only to discover he’s walked into a world in chaos. Helion has been seized by the Lord Marshall (Colm Feore), leader of the Necromongers, a race of blood-thirsty warriors determined to wipe out humanity throughout the universe. Aereon (Judi Dench), leader of Helion’s “elementals,” pleads with Riddick to join them in their fight for survival; Riddick agrees, hoping to fill out some of the blank chapters in his history along the way. As he plots his battle strategy against the Necromongers, Riddick becomes reacquainted with Kyra (Alexa Davalos), whom he knew as a girl but has since grown into a strong and beautiful woman eager to join him in the fight against the Lord Marshall.


This film is being billed as an action adventure, and a sci-fi fantasy. This kind of film will have all the rowdy trouble that one could possibly bring to the screen, pulling me into it as usual! Well, as I suspected, I was enthralled by this film, and ended up liking it quite a bit. It had all the necessary survivalist grind of the hero, coupled with the comical odds against him. This is a mean, testosterone-steeped sci-fi flick, which is over-the-top for the most part. I was solidly entertained by this B movie, and and feel comfortable giving it a soft B+ for its polished efforts. So there we have it, I sat through yet another thriller, packed with nerve jangling moments, which were ridiculous…and I was sitting there in the dark theater, enjoying the heck out of it! Here’s the trailer, in case you have the slightest interest in viewing it.


World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


Atlantic Ocean:
Tropical depression 11L remains active in the central Atlantic. Here’s a NHC graphical track map…along with a NOAA satellite image

Here’s a
satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean


Caribbean Sea:
There are no active tropical cyclones

 

A BROAD LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM LOCATED OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN CARIBBEAN
SEA IS PRODUCING WIDESPREAD CLOUDINESS AND DISORGANIZED SHOWERS
ACROSS THAT AREA...THE CENTRAL CARIBBEAN SEA...JAMAICA...AND
HISPANIOLA. ANY DEVELOPMENT OF THIS LARGE DISTURBANCE SHOULD BE
SLOW TO OCCUR OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS WHILE IT MOVES SLOWLY
NORTHWESTWARD...AND THIS SYSTEM HAS A LOW CHANCE...10 PERCENT...OF
BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS. ENVIRONMENTAL
CONDITIONS ARE ONLY EXPECTED TO BE MARGINALLY CONDUCIVE FOR
DEVELOPMENT WHEN THE SYSTEM MOVES OVER THE NORTHWESTERN CARIBBEAN
SEA AND THE SOUTHERN GULF OF MEXICO LATER THIS WEEK...AND THIS
SYSTEM HAS A MEDIUM CHANCE...30 PERCENT...OF BECOMING A TROPICAL
CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 5 DAYS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND GUSTY
WINDS ARE POSSIBLE OVER PORTIONS OF HAITI AND JAMAICA TODAY...AND
WILL LIKELY SPREAD ACROSS THE CAYMAN ISLANDS AND EASTERN CUBA ON
TUESDAY.


Gulf of Mexico:
There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s a satellite image of the Caribbean Sea…and the Gulf of Mexico.

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

Eastern Pacific:
There are no active tropical cyclones



SHOWER ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE LOCATED
A COUPLE OF HUNDRED MILES SOUTHWEST OF THE GULF OF TEHUANTEPEC
REMAINS LIMITED.  ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS DO NOT APPEAR CONDUCIVE
FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THIS DISTURBANCE DURING THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS
WHILE IT MOVES WESTWARD AT 5 TO 10 MPH.  THIS SYSTEM HAS A LOW
CHANCE...NEAR 0 PERCENT...OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE
NEXT 48 HOURS AND A LOW CHANCE...10 PERCENT...OF BECOMING A
TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 5 DAYS.


Here’s a satellite image showing this area just off the south coast of Mexico.


Here’s a wide satellite image that covers the entire area between Mexico, out through the central Pacific…to the International Dateline.


Central Pacific Ocean:
There are no active tropical cyclones


Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)


Western Pacific Ocean:
Typhoon 20W (Wutip) remains active over the South China Sea. Here’s a JTWC graphical track map…along with a NOAA satellite image

Tropical depression 21W
is now active over the northwest Pacific. Here’s a JTWC graphical track map…along with a NOAA satellite image


South Pacific Ocean:
There are no active tropical cyclones

 

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


Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC


Interesting:
  New UN climate change report – The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been leading the effort in collecting scientific evidence of climate change and in looking to answer the most important question, is it caused by human activity? Some argue that it is caused mostly by natural variability, and non-human factors. The new IPCC report, released this week, provides more evidence that human activity is a major cause.


The UN is calling for a global response to combat climate change, following new findings by the IPCC stating it is “extremely likely” that humans have been the dominant cause of unprecedented global warming since 1950. “The heat is on. Now we must act,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a video message to the launch of the report of the UN-backed IPCC.


“This new report will be essential for Governments as they work to finalize an ambitious, legal agreement on climate change in 2015,” Mr. Ban said. “The goal is to generate the political commitment to keep global temperature rise below the agreed 2-degree Celsius threshold.” The IPCC report, released today in Stockholm, Sweden, calls global warming “unequivocal,” and confirms that there is a 95 per cent probability that most of the warming since 1950 has been caused by human influence.


The report stresses that evidence for this has grown “thanks to more and better observations, an improved understanding of the climate system response and improved climate models.”


“The IPCC report demonstrates that we must greatly reduce global emissions in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change,” said the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Michel Jarraud. “It also contains important new scientific knowledge that can be used to produce actionable climate information and services for assisting society to adapt to the impacts of climate change.”


In its report, the IPCC notes that continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes in all components of the climate system. It adds that limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.


“Climate change is a long-term challenge but one that requires urgent action, not tomorrow but today and right now, given the pace and the scale by which greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere and the rising risks of a more than 2-degree Celsius temperature rise,” said the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Achim Steiner.