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

82  Lihue, Kauai
80  Honolulu, Oahu
78  Molokai
86  Kahului, Maui
84  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 843pm Sunday evening:

 

Kailua Kona – 79
Poipu, Kauai
– 68


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

 


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

http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Yellow and red colors indicate the heaviest rain

Our winds will be be generally light from the southwest, south and
southeast, bringing muggy weather over us – followed by the
return of strengthening trade winds later Monday onwards

Look for localized showers over the islands – heavy in places
with a thunderstorm…especially on Kauai and Oahu,
perhaps over Maui County with time

We’ll find less muggy weather on the Memorial Day holiday…
with active windward showers into the new week – still locally
quite generous for a few days


 




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


09  Poipu, Kauai – NE
24  Kuaokala, Oahu – SW
08  Molokai – WSW
12  Lanai – NNE
15  Kahoolawe – SE
15  Hana,
Maui – SE
25  South Point, Big Island – ENE


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


1.33  Wailua, Kauai
5.69  Punaluu Stream, Oahu
1.10  Molokai
1.23  Lanai
0.06  Kahoolawe
0.45  Kula Branch Station, Maui
0.23  Puu Waawaa, 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 up from the southwest through southeast…with the trade winds finally returning Monday 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 a low pressure system to our north-northeast, along with its late season cold front/trough of low pressure near Kauai. We have a moderately strong high pressure system to our northeast…with a ridge extending westward well to the north of the state. As a result of these weather features, our local winds will remain on the light side, although locally stronger in a few places. The forecast continues to indicate that the trade winds will return Monday…becoming quite breezy into the middle of the new week onwards.

Satellite imagery shows an impressive area of towering cumulus and thunderstorms over and offshore from Kauai and Oahu…with partly to mostly cloudy conditions elsewhere.
Looking at this larger satellite image, we see clouds associated with this unusual weather event most focused over and around Kauai…which are spreading down towards Oahu and Maui County in places. Here’s a looping radar image, showing generally light to moderately heavy showers falling, although some are locally heavy two, which are riding in on the humid winds coming up from the deeper tropics…to our southwest, south and southeast. None of the islands will be immune from heavy showers, with the islands from Kauai down across Oahu to Maui County, possibly seeing the continued threat of heavy showers or even a thunderstorm. As the trade winds increase Monday, this will limit the thunderstorm activity, and refocus most of the showers onto the windward coasts and slopes.

An upper level low pressure system, with its associated cold air aloft, will keep our overlying atmosphere unstable and shower prone tonight. The most pronounced threat continues to reside over the western side of the state, while the Big Island remains on the dry side. This leaves Maui County somewhere in the middle, and it could go either way tonight…time will tell. As we move into the night, there will be a tendency for the heavy showers and thunderstorms to shift over the offshore waters. We’ll find strengthening trade winds picking up soon, bringing active showers to our windward sides for several days, and at the same time gradually taking away the threat of heavy showers. As the upper level low migrates eastward on Monday, there will be a chance that the daytime heating of Maui and the Big Island may trigger some heavy showers…or even a random thunderstorm during the afternoon hours. I’ll be back again 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 59.9 degrees at 550am on this Sunday morning. Skies are mostly cloudy, although its not raining at the moment, along with calm winds. The radar image above shows lots of showers just to the southwest of Lanai and Maui, with lots more clouds over Molokai and over the ocean to the north of there too. The primary focus this morning, at least for those heavier showers, remains just offshore from Kauai at the moment. The Big Island, other than a few showers along its southeast flank, is generally dry. Today will be a very active day for showers, especially over and around Kauai. Update at 1105am, thick fog, a few light sprinkles, light winds, and an air temperature of 69.8 degrees.

We’re into the early afternoon hours now at 1240pm, under cloudy skies, no showers at the moment, light winds, and an air temperature of 69.3 degrees. Radar shows that Maui County is still quite a ways from the heavy showers and thunderstorm…which are now offshore to the south of Kauai and southwest of Oahu. The western end of Molokai has a batch of light to moderately heavy showers falling. Looking down the mountain from here in Kula, I can see a heavy, dark based area of clouds, which look like they are laden with water. If they drift up here, then it looks very likely that we’ll get into our next episode of showers.

It’s now 615pm on this Sunday evening, under cloudy skies, no showers at the moment, light breezes, and an air temperature of 65.5 degrees. Here on Maui things never really got going today, at least in terms of heavy showers or thunderstorms. Kauai and Oahu took the brunt of that sort of activity, with a flash flood warning, and a flood advisories going on during the afternoon hours for a time. There’s still the chance we could see some of those heavier showers approaching our island tonight, although if they don’t arrive, we’ll have one more chance…which will be Monday afternoon. The Big Island will share in this last chance reality, although we won’t know until tomorrow.

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’ve been looking forward to seeing. 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 in most cases.

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 were 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.


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 hurricane. Amanda is now the strongest May hurricane on record (category 4) in the eastern Pacific basin during the satellite era. If Amanda were to reach an intensity of 140 knots, it would become the earliest category 5 hurricane on record, beating out Hurricane Ava of 1973.


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: African nation seeks $1 billion to save its rainforest The Democratic Republic of Congo is seeking a billion dollars for a plan to protect up to 9 million hectares of rainforests, reports the Financial Times.


In a presentation given at the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, DR Congo Minister of Environment Bavon N’sa Mputu Elima said his country needed foreign assistance to protect forests. He cited Indonesia as a precedent for such an approach.


“We have more forests than Indonesia and they got $1 billion,” he was quoted as saying, referring to a 2010 agreement Indonesia signed with Norway that would pay the nation up to a billion dollars if it successfully reduces deforestation from a specified level. Indonesia lost almost 10 million more hectares of forest than DRC since 2000, according to data from Global Forest Watch.


“The DRC accepts its responsibility to protect its forests for the benefit of humanity,” the Minister said. “But as a developing country we require a partnership with industrialized nations to provide the financial support needed by the program.”


Deforestation in DRC has been on a downward trend since the early 1990’s but environmentalists fear that growing stability and associated investment could drive an increase in forest clearing and degradation from industrial logging, oil palm expansion, and mining. DRC is therefore seeking payments under the U.N.-endorsed REDD+ program, which aims to provide performance-based compensation for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation. Money from the program would go into a green development program that funds livelihoods and activities that help maintain forest cover.


Wildlife Works, a U.S.-based company that operates a REDD+ project in Kenya, has been helping the Congolese government design the program.


“The program is unlike anything attempted before and will utilize the UN’s REDD+ mechanism to protect nearly 9M hectares of primary tropical rainforest, in a 12M-hectare landscape, almost the size of England,” said the company in a statement. “The program area is home to approximately 1.8M people and to many magnificent endangered species, including the forest elephant and the bonobo, the great ape known as the closest relative to humans that lives only in the DRC.”


The Congo Basin and surrounding region has the second largest extent of rainforest after the Amazon