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

84  Lihue, Kauai
88  Honolulu, Oahu
86  Molokai
89  Kahului, Maui
86  Kailua Kona
86  Hilo, Hawaii

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Saturday evening:

0.55  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.21  Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.08  Molokai AP, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.11  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.46  Honaunau, Big Island

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Saturday evening:

23  Port Allen, Kauai
29  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
29  Molokai
33  Lanai
35  Kahoolawe
35  Kahului AP, Maui
33  Pali 2, 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/tpac/vis-l.jpg
 Satellite image showing  tropical storm Karina far to the east-southeast…along
with a tropical disturbance to the east-southeast of the Hawaiian Islands…and
another to the south of the Big Island


http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/EP11/refresh/EP1114W5_NL+gif/204735W5_NL_sm.gif



Here’s a real time wind profiler showing retired Julio well to Hawaii’s north,
and tropical storm Karina far to the east…the area closer to the southeast of
the islands is a tropical disturbance, which may become a tropical depression
within the next two days – it has a high chance, and finally…there’s another
disturbance well to the south of the Big Island

Trade winds…strengthening this weekend – carrying just a few
windward showers

Small Craft Wind Advisory…windiest coasts and channels
Maui County and the Big Island



~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~




Gusty trade winds, with generally fine weather…along with a few windward showers at times. 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. We have moderately strong high pressure systems located far to the northeast of the state. Post-tropical cyclone Julio, which is just a remnant low pressure system now, is still located to the north of our islands. Our trade winds will remain quite strong…although may ease up a touch Monday for a few days.
Satellite imagery shows patchy clouds over and around the islands...being carried our way on the trade winds. Looking at this larger looping satellite image, it shows mostly clear to partly cloudy skies over most of the state…while there active thunderstorms far to the southwest, south, and southeast. There’s low clouds being carried our way, although the atmosphere is quite stable and dry…with any resultant windward showers remaining limited through Sunday. Meanwhile, there’s that area well to the southeast, which may become a tropical cyclone over the next two days. Here’s the looping radar, showing a few showers moving across our island chain…almost exclusively along the north and east facing windward coasts and slopes…which will likely increase as we move through the night into early Sunday morning.

The islands continue to move this long lasting trade wind weather pattern…with only minor changes on the immediate horizon. We may see some increasing clouds and showers late Sunday night through next Wednesday, most of which will take aim on our windward sides, although a few elsewhere at times too. Then, deeper into the new week ahead, there may be a second increase in showers, these coming up from the tropics to our southeast…stay tuned. Meanwhile, we aren’t out of the woods in terms of tropical cyclones in our central Pacific. This means that we’ll have to keep a close eye out for new activity to our southeast and east-southeast through the next week and longer. As a matter of fact, we have two areas of disturbed weather, one with a high chance of developing into a tropical depression, and another with a low chance. I’ll return with more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Friday Evening Film: For some reason I’ve been looking forward to seeing this one, I guess ever since I first saw the trailer. It certainly is a far cry from being the normal action thriller…that often frequents our local theaters. It just looked sweet and comfortable somehow, kind of quaint in some ways. The synopsis: In “The Hundred-Foot Journey,” Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) is a culinary ingénue with the gastronomic equivalent of perfect pitch. Displaced from their native India, the Kadam family, led by Papa (Om Puri), settles in the village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val in the south of France. Filled with charm, it is both picturesque and elegant – the ideal place to settle down and open an Indian restaurant, the Maison Mumbai. That is, until the chilly chef proprietress of Le Saule Pleureur, a Michelin starred, classical French restaurant run by Madame Mallory (Academy Award (R)-winner Helen Mirren), gets wind of it. Her icy protests against the new Indian restaurant a hundred feet from her own, escalate to all out war between the two establishments – until Hassan’s passion for French haute cuisine and for Mme. Mallory’s enchanting sous chef, Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), combine with his mysteriously delicious talent to weave magic between their two cultures and imbue Saint-Antonin with the flavors of life that even Mme. Mallory cannot ignore. At first Mme. Mallory’s culinary rival, she eventually recognizes Hassan’s gift as a chef and takes him under her wing.


This was a lovely film, over two hours in length, which wasn’t by any means too long. I loved each of the actors, each of which excelled in my opinion. I so much liked the food in this film, watching it being cooked, served, and in this case…greatly enjoyed. It was a sensuous film in terms of the French countryside, the love that slowly developed along the way, and the feeling that I was able to experience…sitting in my theater seat. If you’ve been waiting for a film that was sweet, warm and caring, this may very well be it. I went to see it with my neighbor Jeff, whose girlfriend is still in Germany, teaching at a University at the moment. He and I both really liked it, and as for me, in regards to a grade, well, here I go again giving another high one…with an A rating. It was tender, and I found myself clapping at the end of the film, along with many others. ~~~ Here’s the trailer, which I suspect you’ll enjoy watching.

Saturday Evening Film: Here I go again, heading down to Kahului for yet another film. There were a couple that were of interest to me, although a friend and I decided on The Giver, starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Odeya Rush, Alexander Skarsgard, Brenton Thwaites, and Katie Holmes…among many others. Here’s the synopsis: the haunting story of THE GIVER centers on Jonas, a young man who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Yet as he begins to spend time with The Giver (Jeff Bridges), who is the sole keeper of all the community’s memories, Jonas quickly begins to discover the dark and deadly truths of his community’s secret past. With this newfound power of knowledge, he realizes that the stakes are higher than imagined – a matter of life and death for himself and those he loves most. At extreme odds, Jonas knows that he must escape their world to protect them all – a challenge that no one has ever succeeded at before. THE GIVER is based on Lois Lowry’s beloved young adult novel of the same name, which was the winner the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.



World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

1.)  A broad low pressure area located midway between the Lesser Antilles and the Cape Verde Islands is producing disorganized cloudiness and showers. Some gradual development of this system is possible during the next few days while it moves slowly westward across the central tropical Atlantic.


Here’s what the computer models are showing, with a satellite image of this area being referred to as Invest 95L.


* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...10 percent 
* Formation chance through 5 day...low...20 percent


Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

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 storm 11E (Karina) remains active in the northeast Pacific, located about 1230 miles west-southwest of the west-southern tip of Baja California – wind speeds 45 mph. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite image – here’s what the computer models are showing about this storm.


1.) Satellite-derived wind data indicate that the area of low pressure
located almost 600 miles south-southwest of the southern tip of the
Baja California peninsula is gradually becoming better defined.
Thunderstorm activity has continued to increase and has become a
little better organized this morning, and environmental conditions
are expected to be conducive for a tropical depression to form
during the next day or so while the low moves generally
west-northwestward at 5 to 10 mph.







* Formation chance through 48 hours...high...70 percent 
* Formation chance through 5 day...high...80 percent 



Here’s a wide satellite image that covers the entire area between Mexico, out through the central Pacific…to the International Dateline.





Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones



1.)  An area of disturbed weather about 960 miles east-southeast Hilo, Hawaii, is moving to the northwest at 5 mph. Scattered thunderstorms in this area remain disorganized. However environmental conditions may support development of a tropical cyclone during the next couple of days.  Here’s what the computer models are showing, along with a satellite image of what’s being referred to as Invest 94C.





* Formation chance through 48 hours…high…60 percent



2.) A weak low pressure area about 650 miles south of Honolulu, Hawaii, was moving west at 10 mph. There is a very slight chance that environmental conditions may support development of this system over the next couple of days.  Here’s a satellite image showing this area marked in yellow.





* Formation chance through 48 hours, low, 0 percent.





Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)



Northwest 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:  Plant Language – TA Virginia Tech scientist has discovered a potentially new form of plant communication, one that allows them to share an extraordinary amount of genetic information with one another.



The finding by Jim Westwood, a professor of plant pathology, physiology, and weed science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, throws open the door to a new arena of science that explores how plants communicate with each other on a molecular level. It also gives scientists new insight into ways to fight parasitic weeds that wreak havoc on food crops in some of the poorest parts of the world. 



His findings were published on Aug. 15 in the journal Science



“The discovery of this novel form of inter-organism communication shows that this is happening a lot more than any one has previously realized,” said Westwood, who is an affiliated researcher with the Fralin Life Science Institute. “Now that we have found that they are sharing all this information, the next question is, ‘What exactly are they telling each other?’.”



Westwood examined the relationship between a parasitic plant, dodder, and two host plants, Arabidopsis and tomatoes. In order to suck the moisture and nutrients out the host plants, dodder uses an appendage called a haustorium to penetrate the plant. Westwood previously broke new ground when he found that during this parasitic interaction, there is a transport of RNA between the two species. RNA translates information passed down from DNA, which is an organism’s blueprint.



His new work expands this scope of this exchange and examines the mRNA, or messenger RNA, which sends messages within cells telling them which actions to take, such as which proteins to code. It was thought that mRNA was very fragile and short-lived, so transferring it between species was unimaginable.



But Westwood found that during this parasitic relationship, thousands upon thousands of mRNA molecules were being exchanged between both plants, creating this open dialogue between the species that allows them to freely communicate. 



Through this exchange, the parasitic plants may be dictating what the host plant should do, such as lowering its defenses so that the parasitic plant can more easily attack it. Westwood’s next project is aimed at finding out exactly what the mRNA are saying. His work is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. 



Using this new found information, scientists can now examine if other organisms such a bacteria and fungi also exchange information in a similar fashion. His finding could also help solve issues of food scarcity.