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

84  Lihue, Kauai
87  Honolulu, Oahu
87  Molokai
90  Kahului, Maui – record highest temperature for Sunday was 93 back in…1953, 1976, 2004
88  Kailua Kona
85  Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.33  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.61  Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.08  Molokai AP, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.18  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.95  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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

30  Port Allen, Kauai
27  Honolulu AP, Oahu
25  Molokai
39  Lanai
35  Kahoolawe
31  Kahului AP, Maui
31  Kawaihae, 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, and  tropical
depression 12E further east…along with a tropical disturbance to the
east-southeast of the Hawaiian Islands…and another to the south of the islands


Here’s a real time wind profiler 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 low chance,
and finally…there’s another disturbance well to the south of the islands

Trade winds…moderately strong – carrying somewhat more
windward showers our way today through Wednesday

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



~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~




Ongoing trade winds, with a modest decrease in speeds during the first half of the new week…then continuing through the rest of the 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. 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 remains quite stable and dry…with any resultant windward showers remaining limited through the day. Meanwhile, there’s that area of disturbed weather to the east-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 increase at times Monday through Wednesday.

We’ll see a modest enhancement to our local showers Monday through Wednesday, most of which will take aim on our windward sides, although a few elsewhere at times too. Then, further into the new week ahead, starting around Friday, there may be a second modest increase in showers, these coming up from the tropics to our southeast. 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 low chance of developing into a tropical depression, and another with near zero chance to our south, both well removed from the islands. I’ll return with more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Sunday 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.

This film was a little thin for me, although I can’t say it wasn’t at least entertaining. I can’t say I wasn’t happy to see it, it was just that the acting was rather weak for me. This included the performance for Meryl Streep, while Jeff Bridges was only a little bit better in my opinion. The younger actors carried this film, if we can go that far. As for a grade, let me be generous and give it a B grade…perhaps edging towards a B- rating. Here’s a trailer for this film.



World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

1.)  Shower activity with a weak and elongated area of low pressure located about midway between the Lesser Antilles and the Cape Verde Islands remains disorganized. Development of this system is not expected during the next couple of days, but beyond that time, environmental conditions could become a little more favorable for development when the system 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...medium...30 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 1500 miles east of Hilo, Hawaii – 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.


Tropical depression 12E remains active in the northeast Pacific, located about 665 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California – wind speeds 35 mph. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite image

1.) An area of low pressure is expected to form in a few days to the
south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec.  Slow development of this system
is possible later this week while the low moves roughly parallel to
the coast of southwestern Mexico.


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.) A low pressure area about 860 miles east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, had been heading slowly west, though it appears to have become nearly stationary over the past few hours. Thunderstorms near this system remain sporadic and disorganized. Environmental conditions, especially at the lower levels, are becoming less conducive for 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…low…20 percent


2.)  A weak low pressure area about 800 miles south of Honolulu, Hawaii, has been moving west slowly. Wind shear at the upper levels of the atmosphere will likely prevent further development of this system over the next two 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.