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

81 Lihue, Kauai
85 Honolulu, Oahu
84 Molokai
89 Kahului, Maui 
86 Kailua Kona
86 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 543pm Friday evening:

 

Kailua Kona – 85
Port Allene, Kauai – 73


Haleakala Summit –   57 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 45 (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/hi/ir4.jpg

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

Our winds will be light, or a bit stronger in places, from the
southwest through southeast, becoming light and variable
this weekend – followed by the return of trade winds
Monday onwards

Look for localized afternoon showers over the interior sections,
and along the southwest through southeast sides of the islands at
times to – locally heavy around Kauai and Oahu 

We’ll see locally heavy showers arriving into the weekend…
especially over Kauai and Oahu – with even a possible
thunderstorm forming – followed by windward showers
early in the new week ahead


Special Weather Statement from the NWS forecast office in Honolulu:

 

A COMBINATION OF MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR…AND A STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHING THE ISLANDS WILL CONTINUE TO RESULT IN SHOWERY WEATHER FOR PARTS OF THE STATE THIS WEEKEND. MOST OF THE RAIN WILL AFFECT KAUAI…SINCE THE GARDEN ISLE WILL BE CLOSEST TO THE APPROACHING WEATHER SYSTEM. SHOWERS WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES…ALONG WITH A CHANCE OF MORE THUNDERSTORMS.


OAHU WILL BE A LITTLE FARTHER AWAY FROM THE INCOMING SYSTEM…BUT THE AIRMASS WILL REMAIN MOIST AND UNSTABLE ENOUGH TO RESULT IN A FEW THUNDERSTORMS. THESE COULD POP UP RATHER SUDDENLY DURING THE HEAT OF THE DAY.

THE REMAINING ISLANDS COULD SEE A FEW MOSTLY BRIEF SHOWERS DEVELOP OVER HIGHER TERRAIN EACH AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY. HIKERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THE SLOPES OF HALEAKALA…MAUNA LOA…AND MAUNA KEA COULD SEE A FEW LIGHTNING STRIKES…MAINLY MONDAY AFTERNOON.


ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP THIS WEEKEND COULD PRODUCE FREQUENT LIGHTNING STRIKES AND HEAVY DOWNPOURS. CAMPERS AND HIKERS AND THOSE WITH OTHER OUTDOOR PLANS SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO THE WEATHER OVER THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND. KEEP AN EYE TO THE SKIES AND BE READY TO MOVE INDOORS. REMEMBER THAT IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE RAINING WHERE YOU ARE FOR LIGHTNING TO STRIKE.



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

20  Port Allen, Kauai – SW
18  Makua Ridge, Oahu – SW
10  Molokai – ESE
14  Lanai – SW
21  Kahoolawe – SE
17  Hana, Maui – SE
22  Upolu airport, Big Island – NE


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

2.22  Puu Opae, Kauai
1.22  Dillingham, Oahu
0.67  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Maui
0.46  Puho CS, 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 coming up from the southwest through southeast, becoming light and variable this weekend…with the trade winds finally returning on Memorial Day onwards. 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 northwest and north…along with late season cold fronts northwest of Kauai…and a trough of low pressure just to the southwest of Kauai. We have a moderately strong high pressure system to our northeast…with a ridge extending southwest over the central islands. As a result of these weather features, our local winds will remain on the light side, although locally stronger in a few places from the southwest, south and southeast. The models continue to indicate that the trade winds will return by Monday…becoming quite breezy into the middle of the new week.

Satellite imagery shows towering cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds forming over and around Kauai, with generally clear to partly cloudy conditions elsewhere around the state…at the time of this writing. Looking at this larger satellite image, we see those clouds most focused over Kauai…which may spread down through Oahu with time too. Meanwhile, we continue to see the stalled cold front to the northwest of Kauai…although there are beginning to be heavy showers popping-up along the frontal boundary now, especially to the northeast of our latitudes. Here’s a looping radar image, showing generally light showers falling, most of which are riding up on the humid winds coming up from the deeper tropics…to our southwest and south. There are heavier showers near Kauai and Oahu at the time of this writing…with thunderstorms over the offshore waters of Kauai.

An upper level low pressure system is now pushing closer to the state, and will continue to do so…which will bring locally heavy showers and even thunderstorms to Kauai and perhaps Oahu into the weekend. The eastern islands of Maui County and the Big Island are expected to be outside of this heavy shower area for the time being…and may end up having fairly decent weather compared to those western islands. There will be a chance for generous afternoon showers falling around the mountains on those eastern sides of the state…with the best chance later Sunday or Monday. Looking further ahead, we’ll find strengthening trade winds picking up into the new week ahead, bringing wet weather to our windward sides for several days. I’ll be back Saturday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you’re spending it! ~~~ By the way, if you have any interest, head outside tonight later, and look up in the hopefully clear skies, and see if you can see any of those “shooting stars” that may be flying around. It may be a wild guess, but today on NPR, I heard someone say that there may be 100-400 shooting stars per hour! There’s more information further down this page, in the Interesting area. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui, at the 3,100 foot elevation, at my upper Kula, Maui weather tower, the air temperature was 59.2 degrees at 6am on this Friday morning. Skies were clear overhead, although I can see stable looking clouds elsewhere around Maui in places…along with light to moderately thick volcanic haze. Update at 920am under increasingly cloudy skies, light breezes, light to moderately thick vog…and an air temperature of 75.4 degrees.

It’s now 1250pm Friday afternoon, under partly cloudy skies, light winds, an air temperature of 77.7 degrees…and light volcanic haze around too. I just got back from a teeth cleaning appointment in Wailuku, and boy…was it hot and muggy down there! I feels so much better, at least to me personally, to be back upcountry, where it’s manageable…in terms of the heat and humidity. All of the action at the moment is up around Kauai, where there are thunderstorms flaring up over waters around Kauai, as this satellite image shows – along with this radar.

We’re now into the early evening at 535pm, under cloudy skies, a breeze, a short shower just fell too…with an air temperature of 73.3 degrees. If you had a chance to read down through this whole page, you know that we’re looking for locally heavy rains, and even thunderstorms up on the Kauai end of the state. I’ve been pointing this out during the past week, although I’m going to say it again…this is highly irregular! It’s so not normal to have this kind of weather during this last week of May, as typically we’d be seeing fair weather trade winds blowing, with just a few windward showers falling.

Friday evening film: As many of you know, I’m really into my Friday evening films, look forward to sitting in that theatre seat, having the lights go down, watching the many trailers…and finally settling into whatever film that I’m seeing. The one this time, is one that I’m really looking forward to seeing, perhaps more than many. It’s called Chef, starring Jon Favreau, Sofia Vergara, John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr….among many others. The synopsis: Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) suddenly quits his job at a prominent Los Angeles restaurant after refusing to compromise his creative integrity for its controlling owner (Dustin Hoffman), he is left to figure out what’s next. Finding himself in Miami, he teams up with his ex-wife (Sofia Vergara), his friend (John Leguizamo) and his son to launch a food truck. Taking to the road, Chef Carl goes back to his roots to reignite his passion for the kitchen.The critics are giving this film high scores, you know like…right up there in the high 80’s.

What I was gathering from reading a few reviews, is that its charming, funny and real…these words took most of the guess work out of wondering whether I’d like it or not. As it turned out, I did like it quite a bit, as it was a fun film for the most part. There was a young boy and his father that played the starring roles, which was touching at times. As you probably figured out from the title, food, cooking food, and lots of eating food where the primary focus. I enjoy all those things to, so it was engaging on that front. The sound track was great, and I found myself tapping my feet many times during this almost 2 hour film. I was surprised that there weren’t more people in the theater, as many seats were empty, probably at least 1/2 empty on this opening night. As for a grade, I’d say it was a strong B movie, one well worth seeing for me. Here’s the  trailer just in case it might have an interest in seeing it.


NOAA expects near-normal or above-normal Central Pacific hurricane season / For 2014, the outlook calls for a 40% chance of a near-normal season, a 40% chance of an above-normal season, and a 20% chance of a below-normal season. They expect 4 to 7 tropical cyclones to affect the central Pacific this season. An average season has 4-5 tropical cyclones, which include tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes.


This outlook is based upon the expectation of El Niño developing during the 2014 hurricane season. El Niño decreases the vertical wind shear over the tropical central Pacific, favoring the development of more and stronger tropical cyclones. Since 1995 the central Pacific has been in an era of low activity for hurricanes, but this pattern will be offset in 2014 by the impacts of El Niño.

This outlook is a general guide to the overall seasonal hurricane activity in the central Pacific and does not predict whether, where, when, or how many of these systems will affect Hawaii.


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: Hurricane Amanda remains active offshore south of the Mexican coast. Here’s the NHC graphical track map, with a broad satellite picture of the northeastern Pacific…along with a close-up satellite image of this system. Here’s what the computer models are showing for this still strengthening.


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 begins on June 1st…and runs 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: Camelopardalid Meteor Shower – Coming to a circumpolar constellation near you: an all-new, never-before-seen, awkwardly named meteor shower that just might knock your astronomical socks off.


It’s called the Camelopardalid meteor shower, and, unlike annual showers such as the Perseids and Leonids that have been occurring for hundreds or thousands of years, it will occur for the first time the night of May 23 and early morning of May 24.


A meteor shower happens when the Earth passes through debris left in space by a comet (the Perseids, for example, are debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle); the debris, little chunks of rock and other material, burns up in the atmosphere to form what some people call shooting or falling stars.


The Camelopardalids will be debris from Comet 209P/LINEAR, a very dim comet that orbits the sun every five years; the comet was discovered in 2004 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project, a partnership of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, NASA and the U.S. Air Force.


But, while the Earth has been passing through Swift-Tuttle debris to create the Perseids for thousands of years (the first written account of the shower was in 36 A.D.), this will be the first time the Earth has passed through Comet 209P/LINEAR’s leftovers.


Meteor showers vary in intensity: Some produce more meteors than others, and some years a particular meteor shower is better than other years.


It all depends on how much debris the Earth passes through, and some astronomers are predicting that all of Comet 209P/LINEAR’s debris trails from 1803 through 1924 will intersect Earth’s orbit, so the Camelopardalid meteor shower will be a meteor storm producing hundreds of meteors per hour.


So, how good will it be?


“That’s always a good question, more so with this meteor shower because it’s the first time we’re seeing it,” said Rich Talcott, senior editor of Astronomy magazine. “Over the past 15 or 20 years, astronomers have done a very good job at figuring out, OK, here’s where the debris streams will lie. I’m thinking the odds are pretty good we’ll get something nice May 24.”


Meteor showers are named for the constellation from which the meteors seem to radiate; that point is known as the radiant, and radiant for the Camelopardalids will be the constellation Camelopardalis (the giraffe).


Camelopardalis is a circumpolar constellation, which means that, rather than rising moving from east to west across the night sky, it goes around Polaris, the North Star, so it’s up all night.


It’s also easy to find because it’s close to the Big Dipper and Little Dipper, two easily recognizable constellations. From Lee County’s latitude, 26 degrees, Polaris is 26 degrees above the horizon, which is good news for area Camelopardalid watchers, said Carol Stewart, astronomer at the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium.


“In Southwest Florida, we have an advantage over Northern latitudes because the meteors will come in at us from a lower altitude,” she said. “Those are called ‘Earth-grazers,’ and they’re longer-lasting and run farther across the sky.”

Aside from clouds, a meteor watcher’s worst enemy is a bright moon, which can wash out all but the brightest meteors.

On the night of May 23, however, the moon is not present, and it doesn’t rise until 3:41 a.m. May 24; when it does rise, it will be a waning crescent, so it won’t affect the meteor shower.


Astronomers predict peak activity for the shower will be from 2 to 4 a.m. May 24, but Stewart will be looking at a wider window.


“They could start as soon as it gets dark the night of the 23rd,” she said. “I’m going to go out and check every hour. We don’t know because this is the first time, and I don’t want to miss it.”