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

77  Lihue, Kauai
80  Honolulu, Oahu
77  Molokai
77  Kahului, Maui
79  Kona, Hawaii
81  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 – 76
Hana, Maui – 70


Haleakala Summit –   45 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 34 (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.

 


Aloha Paragraphs


http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg

http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif

We’ll see showers mostly over Maui County…and the Big Island

Generally light north to northeast breezes…becoming trade
winds later Monday

An upper level low pressure system may enhance whatever
showers that are around late Monday into Tuesday

High Surf Advisory…for north and west shores of
Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, north shore of Maui, and
west shore of the Big Island

Small Craft Wind Advisory…coastal and channel
waters around Kauai through the Big Island




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

18  Puu Opae, Kauai – NW
18  Waianae Harbor, Oahu – NW
14  Molokai – NW
17  Lanai – N
12  Kahoolawe – NW
15  Kaupo Gap, Maui – SE
18  Upolu airport, Big Island – SW


Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Sunday evening (545pm totals):

0.09  Kapahi, Kauai
1.17  Makua Range, Oahu
1.49  Molokai
1.02  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
2.71  Kaupo Gap, Maui
1.28  Kapapala Ranch, 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 ~~~



Our winds will be lighter from the north and northeast…then become trade winds later Monday. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. Here’s a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…centered on the Hawaiian Islands. ~~~ We find a gale low pressure system to the north of the islands, with its dissipating cold front near the Big Island.  The winds in the wake of the front will be cooler from the north and northwest, and then gradually swing around to the trade wind direction into Tuesday. The next cold front will arrive mid-week, with southeast to southwest breezes preceding it..with another round of north to northeast breezes in its wake Thursday. It appears that we’ll get back into a trade wind flow Friday…into next weekend.

Satellite imagery shows a cold front now dissipating over the Big Island…with clouds over Maui County and Oahu in its wake. There are clouds associated with the cold front, although there are clear areas in the wake of the front over Kauai and Oahu. There are those brighter white areas to the northwest and north, which are high cirrus clouds. Then are some towering cumulus well to the northeast. Here’s the looping radar image, showing the bulk of the showers falling over Maui County…with some stretching down to the Big Island in places too. Most of these are light to moderately heavy showers, being carried along on the southwesterly wind flow around the front. Looking at this larger satellite image, which is in the looping mode, we can see clouds being pulled northeastward across our area, up into the circulation of the low pressure system to our north. 

This weekend’s cold front passed over Kauai and Oahu, and is stalling between Maui and the Big Island…bringing a round of good showers with it. This is stalling somewhere near Maui County and the Big Island. This dissipating front will act as a focus for off and on showers over those eastern islands…then dissipate Monday. The one problem will be that an upper level low pressure system will move overhead, making our air mass unstable later Monday into Tuesday…prompting isolated locally heavy showers, or even a thunderstorm then. Then, the next cold front arrives around Wednesday, with more showers arriving then into Thursday. As we get into Friday and next weekend, the trade winds are forecast to return, with windward showers expected. There will need to be fine tuning to all of the above, as we move forward of course. ~~~ I’ll be back again early Monday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Sunday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui early this morning, at the 3,100 foot elevation, at my upper Kula, Maui weather tower, the outdoor air temperature sensor was reading 61.3F degrees at 645am this morning. It was cloudy with light rain showers falling. Now that its a bit lighter, I can see that we are socked in with fog too. I had plans to have breakfast out with my neighbors, although I think it best to scrap that plan, and just hunker in here at home…considering the weather.

~~~ It’s now early afternoon, at 1210pm, with foggy skies and off and on misty drizzle continuing. The air temperature was 66.7 degrees. I think the cold front is over Maui now, as the winds have pretty much shut down completely.

~~~ Well, I’m pretty sure that half the world is watching the Super Bowl game, although I’m probably one of the three or four who isn’t. It’s still lightly raining here on Maui, at least up here in Kula at my place. The fog just won’t give up either, and the air temperature is a cool 65.7 degrees at 315pm. The cold front is stalling now, and as I mentioned above, I’m pretty sure its over Maui. It’s close enough to the Big Island, that its sending some showers down over that island too, with a few leftover showers falling on Molokai and Lanai as well. The other islands, Kauai and Oahu, are seeing clearing skies, with both Lihue, Kauai…and Honolulu, Oahu both reporting sunny weather this afternoon.

~~~ It’s now early evening, with the heavy clouds finally breaking up to some degree. I can see patches of blue, very small patches I might add, at 550pm. It’s stopped misting, and the winds are calm…while the air temperature is 65.8 degrees. It’s been an unsettled weekend, in terms of weather, with our latest cold front moving through the state. We should see somewhat improved weather Monday, although as noted above, an upper level low pressure system, with its associated cold air, may trigger more instability in our overlying atmosphere. This in turn could set the stage for locally generous showers, with even the outside chance of a thunderstorm in a few places. This will be the last update of the week, and I’ll look forward to catching up with you early Monday morning again.

Friday Evening Film: This time around I’m going to see a war movie, and since I’m a Vietnam Veteran, it will be interesting. Yes, I was drafted into the army a long time ago, and what’s worse, was in the infantry…can you imagine! At any rate, this film is called Lone Survivor, starring Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch, Taylor Kitsch, Eric Bana and Alexander Ludwig…among others. The synopsis: the story of four Navy SEALs on an ill-fated covert mission to neutralize a high-level Taliban operative, who are ambushed by enemy forces in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan. The critics are being pretty good to this film, and the trailer makes it look interesting…albeit on the intense side. I’ll let you know what I thought Saturday morning, and until then, here’s the trailer. ~~~ There were four of us who saw this film, and we all came out of the theater in shell shock! It was a very well done film, but oh so heavy and intense. Violence during the film was at a high pitch throughout, it just wouldn’t stop coming at you, as you sat in your theater seat…being pounded down by it! I can’t say that I greatly enjoyed this film, although it was seriously good. This week I’m going to have to skip the grade, as I’m not sure what to say.



World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


Atlantic Ocean: The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th.
Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary


Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

Caribbean Sea:

Gulf of Mexico:

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: The Eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15th through November 30th. Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary


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: The Central Pacific hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th. Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary


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


Western Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones


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: US Solar Employment Growing at 10 Times the National Average – When it comes to job creation, it appears that the U.S. economy has undergone radical change over the past couple of decades as the full extent of neoconservative economic, trade and tax policies, along with rapid technological change, have been more fully realized.


Historically wide and growing disparities in wealth and income in developed and developing countries alike was a focal point of discussion for the world’s super-wealthy at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, while the need to create more and better jobs and economic opportunities for all Americans was the theme of President Obama’s State of the Union (SOTU) address Tuesday evening.


The potential to spur sustainable, well-paying job growth — as well as lasting environmental and social benefits — has been one of the principal reasons the president has espoused policies and legislation that promote and foster development of renewable energy and clean technology. Though policies, legislation and regulations aimed at fostering “green” job growth have been criticized, refuted, opposed and undermined, the latest report from the Solar Foundation reveals that the U.S. solar energy sector continues to create jobs at a much higher rate than the economy overall.


56 new U.S. solar jobs a day — for over a year


Nearly 24,000 Americans got jobs in the U.S. solar industry in 2013, bringing the total number of U.S. solar industry jobs to 142,698 as of November 2013, according to the Solar Foundation’s, “National Solar Jobs Census 2013.”


“Employment in the U.S. solar industry has been rising at a nearly 20 percent rate since 2012, 10 times faster than that for average national employment, according to the Solar Foundation’s report. The U.S. solar energy sector added an average 56 new employees a day between September 2012 and November 2013, surpassing forecasts.”