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

83  Lihue, Kauai
85  Honolulu, Oahu
82  Molokai
88  Kahului, Maui
87  Kailua Kona
85  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 643pm Sunday evening:

 

Kahului, Maui – 82
Hana airport, Maui
– 77


Haleakala Summit –   57
(near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 41 (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.

 


Aloha Paragraphs


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Our winds will be light from the southeast…with
muggy and voggy conditions into the new week

Our weather will be generally quite dry, except
for localized afternoon showers over the interior
sections, and a few along the east and southeast
sides of the islands at times too…locally a bit
heavier over and around Kauai and Oahu




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


13  Waimea Heights, Kauai – SE
16  Kii, Oahu – SE
18  Molokai – ESE
12  Lanai – NNE
22  Kahoolawe – NE
13  Hana,
Maui – SE
23  Upolu airport, Big Island – ENE


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


0.35  Anahola, Kauai
0.35  Waiawa, Oahu
0.07  Molokai
0.11  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.09  Kahakuloa, Maui
0.51  Kahua 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 are coming out of the southeast…while remaining generally light into the new week ahead. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…focused on the Hawaiian Islands. ~~~ We see low pressure systems to our north, along with a late season cold front now stalling to the northwest. We have a moderately strong high pressure system to our northeast…with a ridge extending southwest over Maui County. As a result of these weather features, our local winds will remain on the light side, from the southeast, and even south to southwest over Kauai. The southeasterly breezes will bring voggy weather our way, which will stick around into the new week. 

Satellite imagery shows patchy low clouds over and around our island chain…being carried our way on the southeast and southerly wind flow.
Looking at this larger satellite image, we see these low clouds being drawn up over the islands in places…along with the clouds that formed over and around the mountains. Meanwhile, we see fairly minor areas of high cirrus clouds moving up from the southwest, which will pass over the state at times. Finally, there’s the cold front to our northwest, which is in the process of stalling now. Here’s a looping radar image, showing generally light showers falling, most of which are falling over the interior parts of the islands…along with a few riding up over Kauai on the southerly air flow there.

Our winds remain lighter than normal…with little change in sight. The primary reason for this unusual pattern is the presence of the late season cold front to our northwest. This front won’t make it to our islands, although has pushed a high pressure ridge down over the central part of the state now. This will keep our trade winds at bay, and veer our local winds around to the southwest, south and southeast. These breezes will usher in muggy and volcanically hazy skies over our state. We’ll find clear to partly cloudy mornings, giving way to late morning through early evening clouds developing over and around the interior sections. The air mass will remain quite dry and stable however, so that only spotty showers are expected in most of those upcountry areas…although locally heavier over the western end of the state at times. In a nutshell, the details being described above are not normal, as more typically we would have moderately strong trade winds blowing statewide this time of year, with a few passing showers falling along our windward coasts and slopes. 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, at the 3,100 foot elevation, at my upper Kula, Maui weather tower, the air temperature was 54.9 degrees at 555am on this Sunday morning. Skies were mostly clear overhead, although with low clouds over the ocean in a few directions. I can see a few streaks of high cirrus clouds to the south, which should become more numerous during the day over the eastern islands. Glancing down into the central valley, there’s only a very minor amount of haze, at least thus far into the day. It’s just before sunrise as I write these words, and most of the state is waking to a generally pleasant day…although the daytime temperatures will feel rather warm and humid down near sea level locations. Update at 1055am, the clouds have rather quickly gathered forces over and around the mountains, although no moisture is falling yet. The winds are light, with an air temperature of 71.6 degrees. There’s a bit of vog around the edges, although nothing serious yet.

We’re into our early afternoon now at 1235pm, under rather dark cloudy skies, light breezes at best, a few light mists, and an air temperature of 72.9 degrees. The lightly hazy conditions in the central valley haven’t changed much from earlier in the day. We had a maybe 15 minute period that drizzle fell late in the morning, although it didn’t amount to much. It’s a rather mild mannered day, which is perfect for Sunday, giving people a chance to recharge their batteries before Monday arrives.

It’s now 520pm in the early evening, under cloudy skies, with light showers, and an air temperature of 66.9 degrees. This light shower tried to become a little heavier several minutes ago, although quickly backed-off shortly thereafter. Glancing down into the central valley, I see what looks  like light to moderately thick volcanic haze. I anticipate that this stuff will be part and parcel of our local weather conditions for several more days. Speaking of the future, I don’t see anything that’s going to change very much over the next week.

Friday evening film: Despite all the films that are playing now, none of them, at least the ones I haven’t seen yet, were calling out to me. I took a second and even a third look…and finally found one. This one is called Million Dollar Arm, starring Jon Hamm, Bill Paxton, Suraj Sharma, Aasif Mandvi, Lake Bell, Alan Arkin…among many more. The synopsis: Based on a true story, Disney’s “Million Dollar Arm” follows JB Bernstein, a once-successful sports agent who now finds himself edged out by bigger, slicker competitors. He and his partner Aash (Aasif Mandvi) will have to close their business down for good if JB doesn’t come up with something fast. Late one night, while watching cricket being played in India on TV, JB comes up with an idea so radical it just might work. Why not go there and find the next baseball pitching sensation?


Setting off for Mumbai with nothing but a gifted but cantankerous scout (Alan Arkin) in tow, JB stages a televised, nationwide competition called “Million Dollar Arm” where 40,000 hopefuls compete before two 18-year-old finalists, Rinku and Dinesh (Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal), emerge as winners. JB brings them back to the United States to train with legendary pitching coach Tom House (Bill Paxton). The goal: get the boys signed to a major league team. Not only is the game itself difficult to master, but life in the U.S. with a committed bachelor makes things even more complicated-for all of them. While Rinku and Dinesh learn the finer points of baseball and American culture, they in turn teach JB the true meaning of teamwork and commitment. Ultimately, what began as a purely commercial venture becomes something more and leads JB to find the one thing he was never looking for at all-a family.I’ll be sure to let you know what I thought of this film Saturday. I’m pretty sure it will be good enough, as I’ve always enjoyed throwing and catching baseballs all my life.

I enjoyed this film, I felt it was quite predictable, although that didn’t bother me. I enjoyed the love affair, not only between the leading lady, and the leading man…but between all members of the cast as it turned out. There were touching parts of this film, that took me by surprise a couple of times. It was fitting to see this film, as it turns out, everyday I find myself playing throw and catch with my neighbor, which brings me a really nice feeling. As a child I was really into baseball, and played little league, and took every chance I could get playing down at the local park too. I love playing ball, and these days that means just throwing and catching with friends, or even throwing and catching with soft balls against the walls of my house. As for a grade on this film, I’m coming in somewhere between a strong B and a light B+. Here’s a trailer in case you’re interesting in seeing a snippet of this film.


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 begins today, and runs through November 30th.


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)


North 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: Strong winds keep Antarctica cold…while Australia bakes Rising greenhouse gas levels are causing stronger winds over the Southern Ocean. It’s good news for Antarctica, writes Tim Radford, as the circumpolar winds are keeping its ice caps cold. But Australia is getting hotter and drier – and its problems will only increase.


The answer to one of the enduring puzzles of global warming – the apparently sluggish response of the Antarctic continent to rising greenhouse gas levels – may have been settled by Australian scientists.


And, in the course of doing so, they may also have solved another problem: the parching of Australia itself.


Nerilie Abram, of the Australian National University’s Research School of Earth Sciences, and colleagues outline their findings in Nature Climate Change.


They report that they looked at the pattern of climate in the southern hemisphere and have concluded that the Southern Ocean winds that normally deliver rain to South Australia are being pushed further south towards Antarctica.


Poles apart


Their research was focused on a meteorological phenomenon known – although probably only to climate scientists – as the Southern Annular Mode, which marks the pattern of climate variability south of the equator.


For the last 25 years of climate observation, it has been obvious that changes in the northern hemisphere have not been matched by changes in the south.


There are geophysical reasons for some of the difference. For example, most of the inhabited landmass of the planet is in the northern hemisphere; the North Pole is covered by an ocean, while the South Pole is in the centre of an enormous continental landmass piled high with ice and snow; and the seasons and wind patterns of the two hemispheres run counter to each other.


In short, the two hemispheres are very different.


Weather observations


In addition, weather observations in the northern hemisphere are much more detailed and have been conducted over a much longer period than in the southern hemisphere.


Conspicuously, the Arctic has been the fastest warming region of the planet, and for more than a decade there was argument about whether the Antarctic was warming at all.


Lead researcher Dr Abram and her fellow scientists took the measure of the Southern Annular Mode by looking at annual seasonal data since AD 1000 – recorded in Antarctic ice cores and South American tree rings. They then used the information to build up a picture of the past and the changing present.


“With greenhouse warming, Antarctica is actually stealing more of Australia’s rainfall”, she reported. “It’s not good news. As greenhouse gases continue to rise, we’ll get fewer storms chased up into Australia.


“As the westerly winds are getting tighter, they’re actually trapping more of the cold air over Antarctica. This is why the Antarctic has bucked the trend. Every other continent is warming, and the Arctic is warming fastest of anywhere on Earth.”


Indirect evidence


Direct climate observations in Antarctica date back only about 60 years. That is why climate scientists must work with indirect evidence from ice cores and tree rings.


But although change has been hard to measure on the continent itself, glaciers have been in retreat and ice shelves have collapsed on the Antarctic peninsula. Meanwhile the west Antarctic is beginning to lose ice at an accelerating rate. The winds of change are blowing in the south.


“The Southern Ocean winds are now stronger than at any other time in the last 1000 years”, Dr Abram said. “The strengthening of these winds has been particularly prominent over the past 70 years, and by combining our observations with climate models we can clearly link this to rising greenhouse gas levels.”