Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday:
83 Lihue, Kauai
86 Honolulu, Oahu
83 Molokai
86 Kahului, Maui
85 Kailua Kona
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 Tuesday evening:
Kailua Kona – 81
Hana airport, Maui – 73
Haleakala Summit – 50 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 37 (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
Active trade winds…no end in sight
Windward showers arriving in an off
and on manner…quite generous here
and there locally – a few elsewhere
Small Craft Wind Advisory…windiest
coasts and channels – around Maui
County and the Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph), along with directions…as of Tuesday evening:
17 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
31 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – NNE
27 Molokai – NE
30 Lanai – NE
27 Kahoolawe – NE
18 Lipoa, Maui – NE
29 Upolu airport, Big Island – NE
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Tuesday evening (845pm totals):
0.94 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.91 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.31 Molokai
0.13 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
1.26 Puu Kukui, Maui
1.10 Kawainui Stream, 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 ~~~
Gusty trade winds will prevail through this week…into next week. 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 have a large, moderately strong, near 1029 millibar high pressure system located far to our north-northeast, with its associated ridge extending west and southwest…to the north, northwest and west of the state. Our local winds will remain gusty, with only minor daily variations in speed and direction. Those places with the most direct exposure to this wind flow will top 30 mph in gusts during the days…lighter at night.
Satellite imagery shows patchy low clouds over parts of the state. Looking at this larger looping satellite image, we see areas of high level clouds well northwest, south and southwest of Hawaii. There are also lower level clouds riding along in the trade wind flow…going in the opposite direction. Here’s a looping radar image, showing mostly light to moderately heavy showers being carried along in our trade wind flow, and being deposited along the windward sides locally. These showers will likely increase somewhat tonight into early Wednesday morning, especially on Kauai…and then diminish during the day.
Showery at times along our windward sides, while the leeward sides will be generally dry…with a few exceptions here and there. The windward sides, as the trade winds remain active, will continue to see showers coming our way at times, most active during the night and early morning hours. Looking ahead through the rest of this week, there will be little change in either windward biased rainfall or trade wind speeds. I’ll be back early Wednesday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Tuesday 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 57.4 degrees at 555am on this Tuesday morning. Skies are clear overhead, although there are lots of showery looking clouds over along the windward sides…stretching over the West Maui Mountains as well.
We’re now into the early afternoon at 1220pm, under dark cloudy skies, showers, light winds…and an air temperature of 69.8 degrees. The clouds got so dark during the last half hour, that I’ve had to turn my desk light on! I honestly can’t remember ever having to do that before, those clouds are thick. The showers are light, although fairly steady at the moment. By the way, it still looks very sunny down in the central valley…which is interesting.
It’s now 520pm early evening, under cloudy skies, light breezes…with an air temperature of 72 degrees. Most of this afternoon I found light showers or a drizzle falling, which has recently stopped. However, just as I write that, the clouds are getting darker again, and I suspect that another light shower is getting ready to fall. I can see patches of sunshine down in the central valley, and what looks like fairly sunny to partly cloudy conditions over on the north shore at the moment. Update at 830pm later this evening, lightly misting, cloudy, calm…with an air temperature of 67.1 degrees.
World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 5 days
Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean
Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 5 days
Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 5 days
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: Tropical cyclone 03E (Cristina) remains active, here’s a NHC graphical track map…and a satellite image of this strengthening system. Here’s what the hurricane models are showing for Hurricane Cristina.
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: No tropical cyclones are expected through Friday morning
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: Tropical Cyclone 02A (Nanauk) remains active in the Arabian Sea. Here’s a JTWC graphical track map…and a satellite image.
Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)
Interesting: Bottom feeding fish helping the fight against Global Warming – Over-fishing is already a concerning problem, but new research indicates that not only could it mean losing fish species, it could also contribute to global warming more than we’d previously thought.
That’s because researchers from the Marine Institute and the University of Southampton have found that fish that feed on our ocean floor and do not come to the surface actually act as carbon sinks. Other examples of naturally occurring carbon sinks include forests and, indeed, the oceans themselves. What’s more, the UK-based researchers have found that deep-sea fish might be capturing more than a million tons of carbon dioxide from UK and Irish waters.
The process starts with what are known as mid-level swimming fish, as well as jellyfish and certain cephalopods like squid. They will often venture close to the surface, feed and then, for a short time, dive to deeper waters. When they do this, they run the risk of becoming prey for larger bottom dwellers who never surface. When this happens, the carbon in the prey animals’ system transfers to the predator fish — and there it stays. True, when one of those predator fish dies it’s likely some of that carbon is released, but even then those fish are often dined on by others at the bottom of the ocean, and so the majority stays in our deep water fish.
The researchers investigated this by collecting muscle tissue samples from fish caught in fish trawls off the west coast of Ireland, at varying degrees between 500 and 1,800 meters. To look at how much carbon was present at each stage they searched the muscle samples and looked for carbon and nitrogen isotopes. By doing this, the researchers are able to see how carbon transfers through the ecosystem and thereby determine diet and the predator/prey dynamics of that area.
This is an important finding because it tells us a number of things. Chiefly, it reveals a vital carbon sink that could help us in a small but significant way to combat adding to the global warming problem. It also tells us how dangerous unregulated fishing and overfishing practices can be. For instance, many of the bottom-feeders are not caught for food but regularly get swept up in fishing trawls regardless. They are killed in this process and then usually thrown back, thus releasing that carbon (which is just one troubling aspect of this practice).
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