Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / March 20 – April 21, 2014

You 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. 

Here’s the latest weather chart…covering the Pacific Ocean – Here’s a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…focused on the Hawaiian Islands.

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

Glenn will be on vacation in California until April 21th

In his absence, you can get the latest weather information
for everywhere in the state, by clicking on the links for the
island forecasts…on the upper left hand margin of this page,
below where it reads Glenn’s Daily Weather Narrative

     
I will provide a travelogue of my activities around California…
these writings will appear below:

March 20th – I fly from the Kahului airport to San Francisco, which is exciting as we leave winter and enter our spring season today.  Upon arriving there this evening, I’ll take the airporter north across the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ll be heading to my friend Linda’s place in Marin County, where another long term friend of mine Bob…will be there too. The three of us will pal around for five days, until I fly down to Long Beach, to meet up with my Mom at her place…and my Brother Steve flies in from Texas for a week. This first part of my vacation, in Marin County will consist of day trips around the SF Bay area. I’ll be keeping you abreast of these adventures on pretty much a daily basis. I’ll catch up with you soon from northern California, be well until then. Aloha…Glenn.

March 21st – Hi, I’m in California, making it easily across the big ocean, before having  a nice time visiting with Bob and Linda when I got here. She had a warm bowl of home made oyster chowder waiting, while Bob poured me a tasty glass of California zinfandel. We talked for about an hour, and then all went to our respective beds…all of us noting we sleep very well. We got up this morning, and took the quick drive out to the head of the Tennessee Valley trail. We had a nice walk out to the beach, and then back, before going to a breakfast place that we all like…that serves all organic food. We’ve been sitting out on Linda’s deck, in the warm sunshine drinking coffee, after a chilly cloudy start to the day. Linda has to go to work, before she goes out tango dancing tonight. Bob and I are going into San Francisco to walk around, and then have dinner at a well known restaurant called Greens. I’ll catch up with tomorrow, and let you know how our trip into the City was, and about the dinner too.

March 22nd – Wow, what a day we had yesterday! The three of us started off by hiking Tennessee Valley to the beach in the morning. We had breakfast afterwards, and then came home and hung out, as I wrote about above. Bob and I drove into downtown San Francisco in the afternoon, and got into a parking garage, which wasn’t all that easy. We set off on foot south to Market Street, rubbing elbows with the hustle and bustle of mankind…and there were lots of them! I haven’t been in crowds of so many people for years. We were drawn to a big wine shop in the Ferry building on the Embarcadero, as there were lots of young people indulging…as it was Friday afternoon just after work. We enjoyed people watching, and sipping on a glass of red wine. When we got done there we walked towards Fisherman’s Wharf, where we were stopped by the cacophony of seal chatter on Pier 39…which has been given to the seals to hang out…and is quite a tourists attraction. Then we walked through North Beach and Chinatown back to our car, logging 7.5 miles in the process! We drove over to Fort Mason and parked the car again, where we found a huge gathering of, mostly young people, who were in this area eating and drinking. We ate at Greens, and afterwards, went back to this big gathering, and joined in with the dancing. We got back to Linda’s about 11pm, and hit the hay.

Bob and I are just getting ready to head up Highway 101 to Sonoma County, where we’ll have lunch and a cup of coffee. I don’t know too much more than that, although we’ll start our next adventure by meeting our friend’s Greg and Susan in west Sebastopol. Bob wants to hang out in the Redwoods, and I want to go to the beach in Jenner…so we’ll do some sort of program wrapped around those areas. We’ll go back to Greg’s after that, and likely pop a good bottle of red wine, and think about what we’ll do for dinner. I’ll catch up with you at some point over the next day or two. By the way, the weather here in northern California is absolutely perfect for our outdoor activities. Speaking of weather, I understand some parts of the Hawaiian Islands had thunderstorms recently…sorry I missed that! 

March 23rd – On this day, Bob and I started the day off by hiking out to the end of Moonshine Road, where Greg lives in Sebastopol. It was a cool and foggy start to the day, but good to get out early and stretch my legs. We got back and visited with Susan and Greg, in their respective homes, before heading over to Graton for breakfast at the Willow Wood. We had gone to Jenner at the end of the Russian River yesterday, although we were still in the mood for more hiking. We ended up driving over to Mount Saint Helena, parking the car, and hiking about half way up that summit. It afforded us great views, and was good to get up on that mountain again. I think the last time I hiked to the top, was with a girl friend at the time…under a full moon at night. We drove back into Santa Rosa after that and took in the new film The Grand Budapest Hotel, which I thought was great, and Bob didn’t think so highly of. Thereafter, we drove back to Susan’s, where she cooked a full-on great meal, and we contributed a nice bottle of wine…and an apple pie. I went to bed pretty early, as I was tired, and slept very deeply again.

March 24th – We left Greg’s place in the morning, and drove into the Sebastopol Whole Foods again. As almost always, I ended up getting a big salad, which I just love. We took the drive down south to Linda’s in Marin County, and finally had time to kick-up our heels for a while. Then we drove over to Phoenix Lake, and walked around it, which was about six miles or so. We stopped at the store on the way back, and bought organic chicken thighs, and some other stuff. We popped a bottle of red wine, and started the bbq on her back deck, while roasting some potatoes, and making a salad. We sat out there conversing and enjoying each others company, until we finally came in and had dinner. It was totally delicious! Linda was tired and went to bed early…while Bob and I took a nice long walk in the dark.

March 25th – As usual, Bob and I started off the morning with a brisk walk out an about. We had to cut it a little short…as it began to lightly shower. We came back to Linda’s, and she had a nice fruit salad waiting for us. We quickly went out to collect firewood, before it started to come down more heavily. Bob’s doing some work, and will leave early this afternoon for the Central Valley, where he has a meeting at UC Davis (where he teaches), and then has a class to teach at Sacramento City College as well. I think Linda and I will hunker down here, and just enjoy the rainy weather. She said that she will cook us up some of her famous red sauce pasta for dinner, which is very fine with me. We’ll likely watch some TV this evening, and since I don’t watch TV at home, that will be fun. I fly down to Long Beach tomorrow, to begin an eight day visit with my Mom…with my brother flies in from Texas in the evening. I’ll catch up with you before I leave tomorrow, or the next day from my Mom’s. Take care, Glenn

March 26th – My brother and I are here in Long Beach, visiting for a week or so with my Mom. It’s so pleasant to be back on the home front with my family, its comforting. We do a lot of talking over coffee and breakfast, and during the day too, leading up to a glass of wine before dinner…and then around the dinner table until bed. This evening will be a little different, as my Mom like to watch a program called Doc Martin, while my brother and I will likely watch some baseball games. The weather here has been great, a few showers last night, and then a mostly sunny to partly cloudy day today. We have a couple of weak cold fronts, coming, which will be fun for me to check out. The second of the two will be the more vigorous, although both of them are expected to arrive during the night hours.  Rather than kick right into working gear as soon as we arrive, my brother Steve and I are sort of holding off, so we’ll have some stuff to do each day. This evening I’ll be pouring a glass of red wine called The Prisoner, which I like quite a bit. My brother likes Coors Lights, while my Mom will sip on a glass of Cabernet from a vineyard called Three Wishes.

March 29th – It’s been family time here in Long Beach, an enjoyable time indeed! Probably the biggest news that’s happened in the last couple of days, was the 5.1 earthquake that struck Southern California last evening, along with all the lighter aftershocks. My Mom, brother and I were sitting in the front room talking, when I felt the first tremor. I immediately got up and walked to the door, and while I passed by, said “let’s go”. As it turned out, it hadn’t registered for them…that we were having an earthquake until my Mom saw a light swinging. I came back in a short while later, and we started watching all about this event on the TV. A second aftershock sent me outside, and again they didn’t quite get that it was happening until I was on my way out.  We ended having 40 aftershocks before we went to bed, there may have been more. The experts have informed the public to be on alert through the next week, as there could be more in the future. I guess I’m just particularly sensitive to the Earth, when it starts to move under me! It was exciting and intimidating at the same time, and the TV news was on it big for the next hour or more. We finally went to bed, although we were all ready to jump up…at least until sleep took the edge off.  BTW, I’m very aware of the unsettled weather there in Hawaii, which should gradually ease up later Sunday into Monday, with strong trade winds…and windward showers taking its place thereafter.

March 31st – Here we are at the end of the month, and I’m still here visiting with my family in Long Beach…having a good time. We’ve been doing little odd jobs around the house here, and going out on small shopping sprees too. My brother and Mom both really like In and Out Burgers, so they have been over there a couple of times. My brother Steve has golfed twice with our brother-in-law, on a couple of local courses in the area. My Dad had died exactly two years ago on one of the days they golfed, and it happened that the course that they played on, was my Dad’s favorite. So, they took some of the ashes that we have, and spread them around while they played. My Mom and I are taking morning walks around the neighborhood…we enjoy looking at the landscaping. My sister has come over several times before work, when we make her lunch. Tomorrow we have a cold front that’s expected to arrive, bring some showers with it. I have plans to have lunch with a classmate from 6th grade, her name is Vicki Tupper, it should be interesting…as we haven’t seen each other since way back then! Yesterday my Mom and I went to a nursery and picked up a few new plants which she was very happy with, one was a Fuchsia Winston Churchill, and the other was a Abutilon Tropic Rose. We planted them, watered them…and we keep going back to enjoy how they look in the front yard.

April 2nd – Boy oh boy, how time flies, it’s already almost time to leave Long Beach, on the next leg of my vacation. My brother leaves to fly back to Texas the same day that I fly back up to San Francisco. Yesterday was a fun day, as I met up with Vicki Tupper, and we hung out for several hours down in Seal Beach. We hadn’t seen each other since back in 6th grade, and had only recently begun conversing a couple of months ago. As you can see from her 6th grade picture in the paragraph above, she was a lovely girl…and continues to be an attractive woman to this day. It rained again last night, which was the second time during the night, that it has rained the last few days. I haven’t seen a drop of water fall myself, although heard the rain outside both times…as I keep my window open. Since today is the last full day of our visit, we’ll be taking care of the last few things on our list to do. I’m starting to get excited about my next adventure, which will be spent with my friend Bob, and his cousin Pat. We’re going to be spending 4-5 days in and around Death Valley, and even hiking up to the top of Telescope Peak, which is just over 11,000 feet! I’ll have more to say about that tomorrow, before I fly up north.

April 3rd – This time in Long Beach is coming to an end, and I’ve had a very nice time being with my Mom and siblings! We’ve shared many meals together, and always a glass of wine out in the patio at sunset too. My Mom and I have walked together early each morning, which has been a pleasure too. I love my Mom and brothers and sisters…it is very special being with family! I fly up to San Francisco this afternoon, where Bob will pick me up. We will then drive through the night, or most of it, to Death Valley…in the far southeastern part of California near Owens Valley. I’ve never visited this part of the state, and with the spring wild flowers in bloom, and good weather on the horizon, this should be a great trip. We’ll meet Pat, one of Bob’s cousins there, and the three of us will spend 4-5 days together. Pat has a 4wheel drive pick up truck, so we’ll get up into the higher country, and car camp. As I was mentioning above, we’ll do lots of day hikes, including one big hike up to Telescope Peak. Since I’ve never been to DV before, I honestly don’t have a clue what to expect. Pat worked for the National Park Service during her career, and she knows all about this area, so she will be sharing her knowledge with Bob and I. I won’t have internet connectivity until around the 9th or even 10th…so I’ll be out of touch for a while. Looking at Hawaii’s weather, drier weather should prevail over the next few days, then more showers from a cold front, followed by cooler and drier weather thereafter. Here’s wishing you well until we meet again next week. Aloha, Glenn.

April 8th – Hi again, I’m back from my Death Valley trip, where I had a fabulous time! Bob picked me up at the San Francisco airport at 5pm back on the 4th of the month, and we drove down to Los Gatos to have dinner. We picked up coffee, and drove through the night until 200am the next morning, where we finally found an out of the way camping spot. It was very windy, and the ground was all pebbly…and I slept for just a few hours at most. We got up and made coffee and oat meal for breakfast, and got right back on the road to the heart of Death Valley. We met Bob’s cousin Pat at Furnace Creek, and got it together with ice and stuff, before taking off into the deep desert. The first night we camped out in a wash, and hiked into a deep canyon…called Marble Canyon for several miles. The next morning after coffee and breakfast, we drove over to Cottonwood Canyon, and had a great hike, where I saw and heard my first rattle snake! We saw another snake too, which we looked up and found to be called a night snake. These first two days had been fairly low in elevation, and a bit too warm for my liking…we wanted to get up into the higher country, so we drove a long distance across the desert to Wildrose campground. We had a short hike before having dinner that evening, and lighting a fire…and stood around for a while before getting into our sleeping bags. The next morning after breakfast we drove from the campground (4,000 feet), up to the trailhead to our next hike, which was at 7,000 feet. It was 4.2 miles up a trail to the top of a 9,000 foot mountain, where we found quite a bit of snow. We had thought we would be climbing Telescope Peak, but found out it was too snow covered, and I didn’t have the right kind of shoes, so we skipped that. The view from Wildrose Peak was incredible, where we could see a mountain peak in Neveda, and the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains too. The hike was close to my limit, in terms of length and steepness, which was of 2,000 feet of vertical ascent, and 8.4 miles in length. I was glad to have done it, as I realized that I still had it in me to hike up a mountain. 

When we got back to camp from the climb, we departed fairly soon thereafter, as Bob and I were driving back to his place near Sacramento…in Folsom. We drove across the desert to the Owens Valley, up through Lone Pine, Independence and Bishop. We stopped for takeout dinner in Bishop, and continued up Highway 395 past Mammoth, June Lake, to Highway 89. We were passing snow along the way, both in the beautiful mountains of the Sierra, and right down to our road level many times. We arrived at Bob’s around 1130pm, and were very glad to get out of the car. We unloaded most of the stuff, went up to his place, and poured a glass of wine…sitting out on his deck reviewing the great time we’d had. I slept really well on a mattress on his floor, which felt good after four nights roughing it outside on the ground. We had breakfast at Whole Foods, and then walked over to AT&T where I ended up buying a new IPhone 5s, which I’m liking very much. Bob drove me over to Linda’s then, here in Marin County. We all had lunch together, he had a cup of coffee before driving back to Columbia College near Sacramento, where he has a class to teach tonight. Linda just went out and bought us some fresh wild caught Halibut, which we’ll plate with salad and organic cauliflower. I’ll watch a bit of TV with her this evening after dinner, before hitting the hay in her guest bedroom tonight. I plan on staying here in Marin County until Saturday, as Linda has several outings planned, one of which is leading a birding tour around a lake for a school class. I’ll catch up with you again soon, as I have a computer to use whenever I want now. Take care, Glenn.

April 12th – Hi again, I’ve been here in Marin County since I got back from the desert. The weather has been great, supporting all kinds of outdoor activities. Let’s see, looking back over the last few days, I’ve been on two primary nature hikes. The first was around Mt. Burdell, as Linda and I joined in on a Marin County nature walk, lead by a ranger. The emphasis was on spring wild flowers, of which there were lots! There were about 23 or so folks who participated, and many of them seemed to be very well acquainted with the trees, plants, lizards, and of course the flowers too. I was one of the fortunate few who happened to spot a coyote trotting across the trail ahead of our group! The next outing took place yesterday, when we took a great walk around Lake Lagunitas. A 4th grade class from Manor school in Fairfax took a half day hike, led by two birders….one of which was Linda. These kids were absolutely great, and were amazingly knowledgable about nature, I was totally inspired by their energy and enthusiasm. Right at the end of the hike we spotted a River Otter in the lake, which surfaced and hauled out on a log right in front of us!

Other than these fun outings, Linda and I have worked on her property several times, and have taken shorter walks around her area. Linda, besides being a very good birder, is an excellent cook. She and I eat organic food, and she’s Italian, so I’ve been luxuriating in the plates she has been sliding in front of me. Today is the last day I’ll be here for a while, as my friend Susan, whose an attorney in Sonoma County, is coming down to pick me up. She mentioned something about going into San Francisco, or perhaps have a good hike out in the country today. I’m fine either way, and am looking forward to visiting with her. We’ll then head up north to western Sebastopol, where my friend Greg lives…Susan lives on his property too. I don’t have any specific plans through the next week, although will enjoy seeing Greg’s son, and another good friend of mine, Jeff and his wife, who live walking distance from Greg’s. My understanding is that Bob will come out to the coast later next week for a few days, and then he and I will drive back down to Linda’s for a couple of days. At that point I’ll be very near the end of my vacation, and ready to fly back to Maui, resuming the weather narratives for the islands on this page, and my work for the Pacific Disaster Center as well. I’ll have a computer at Greg’s, so I’ll be able to check back in with you again in a day or two. Be well, Glenn 

April 13-15th – Oh my gosh, I’ve let my updates really get away from me! This is the first time, at least that I can remember, that I haven’t written something about what I’ve been up to. Now I have to remember what it is that I’ve been up to during the last week…which will be a challenge. First of all I was picked up here at Linda’s, where I am again now…by my friend Susan. We drove over to Tennessee Valley, and walked out to the beach, which is always a pleasure. We then drove north on Hwy 1 to Point Reyes Station, where we had a lovely dinner. As we drove north after dinner, we stopped at Nick’s Cove, and walked out to the end of a pier, jutting out into the Tomales Bay. We found this little place with the lights on, with a small fire in a wood burning stove, and a couple with their young daughter playing the piano. They left shortly thereafter, and Susan and I were the only ones there…which felt surrealistic for sure! I spotted some folks having a fire on the beach near a restaurant, so we walked over to it, and had a nice visit with a couple of guys from San Francisco sitting there. We then drove up through the rest of Marin County, and finally arrived at Greg’s there in west Sebastopol just before midnight.

The following several days were spent visiting Greg, Gillian, Julian, and Susan. As many of you remember or know, Greg is an award winning poet, Gillian is the department head of the Philosophy Department at Sonoma State University, and Julian is their son…while Susan is an attorney there in Sonoma County. We had so much fun on a daily basis! One of our favorite things was playing toss and catch, in the house! We had a variety of balls to play with, all of the soft kind. Oops, how could I forget that Greg’s other child was there visiting too. Her name is Madeline, who is attending San Francisco State, and is becoming rather famous as a young playwright. We had a grand time together, as I’ve known Greg for over 40 years, and have been around, off and on, while he has raised his kids…and know Gillian very well too. At any rate, there was lots of fun days leading into great meals together. Speaking of which, one of the high points was when Greg, Maddy, and I drove drove down to Berkeley. We ate at a famous restaurant called Chez Panisse, where we had an excellent dinner! By the way, I was sleeping out on Susan’s deck during this time, hearing coyotes, owls, and even deer trotting by very close to where I was lying!

April 16-19th – Then…Bob came back over to Greg’s, and his presence was added to the mix. Bob was sleeping inside on a couch, and we’d get up early each morning, taking a walk out on Moonshine Road at sunrise. This first morning, we drove over to the Willow Wood restaurant in Graton, which is a small town near Sebastopol. I had been planning on getting a new iPhone during this vacation, so we went to an AT&T store. I got a new 5S phone, and I’m sorry to say that I lost it about two days later! I was lucky to have taken out insurance, so it hasn’t been too bad of a catastrophe. Later that day Bob and I bought a bunch of food to take back to Greg’s, where we had a great meal, and more rather wild throwing of the ball inside. These very frequent ball games were instigated by Julian, who is eight years old, and often turned into loud laughing free for alls that often turned out of control – in a very fun way. The next day we had a wonderful breakfast, before Susan, Bob and I went out to the coast at Salmon Creek. We hiked out through these great dunes to the ocean, running around in the surf with our pant legs rolled up to our knees. We then stopped off at this place for crab sandwiches and clam chowder, eating it in the car while watching for whales passing by offshore. We hiked down this very steep trail to a beach I believe is called Secret Beach, where we hung around in the warm sun…and a chilly breeze coming off the cold ocean. We had another big meal that night, finished off in front of Greg’s TV, watching baseball…and eating organic ice cream sandwiches. Music video: Hall & Oates…Sarah Smiles

April 20-21st – Bob and I left Greg’s in Sonoma County for the drive down to Linda’s in Marin County. We stopped at the store and had a huge salad, and bought stuff to cover the meals for these last few days. We were tired when we arrived, so just chilled out that afternoon. We had a great wild caught, King Salmon dinner, with roasted potatoes, asparagus, and salad for dinner that evening. Accompanying this meal we shared a bottle of Pleiades Old Vines red wine, from Bolinas, which was good. We then retired to the living room, where we lit a really nice blaze in Linda’s fireplace, and just chatted the evening away. The next morning we all woke early, enjoying each others company over breakfast and coffee. We drove over to Baltimore Canyon in the afternoon, where we had a great hike up through big Redwood trees…and a small creek. When we got back, we began the bbq on Linda’s deck, and Bob cooked up some tasty chicken, along with more asparagus, artichokes, roasted potatoes, and one of Linda’s famous salads. Along with this, we popped a nice bottle of Radio-Coteau, Las Colinas, Sonoma County Syrah, which was very good. We followed this feast with a slice of mixed berry pie, and a few scoops of Straus Creamery, Organic vanilla ice cream. It was on a bit of a sad note that Bob left for the drive back home to Folsom, near Sacramento, as he would be babysitting one of his grand daughters this morning. Today is the day that I leave too, flying back to Maui, after an incredible month long vacation to this great state of California! I’ve had the most enjoyable time visiting my family and friends, really one of my best, although they always seem to get better and better over the years. I also appreciate your putting up with me being away for so long, as I’ve certainly missed lots of writing about the weather in Hawaii. I’ll catch up with you again soon, as I’ll begin issuing my weather reports and narratives as of tomorrow. Aloha, Glenn