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

84  Lihue, Kauai
90  Honolulu, Oahu – the record high temperature Saturday was 93…back in 1983, 1991, 1995, 1996
85  Molokai
89  Kahului, Maui
89  Kailua Kona
85  Hilo, Hawaii

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


0.69  Kilohana, Kauai
0.24  Punaluu Stream, Oahu
0.09  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.16  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.36  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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

24  Port Allen, Kauai

27  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
25  Molokai
37  Lanai
27  Kahoolawe
28  Kapalua, Maui

30  Puu Waawaa, 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/tpac/vis-l.jpg


Satellite imagery shows
tropical storm Karina far to the east-southeast,
dissipating post-tropical cyclone Lowell further east-northeast, as well as
category 4 hurricane Marie closer to Mexico
– none of which threaten our
islands


Here’s a real time wind profiler showing tropical storm Karina to the east-
southeast, along with post-tropical cyclone Lowell further east-
northeast…and major hurricane Marie even further east


Moderately strong trade winds…windward showers locally at times



~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative
~~~




Ongoing trade winds continuing through this weekend….into the new 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 a moderately strong, near 1031 millibar high pressure system located far to the northeast of the state. At the same time, there’s a post-tropical cyclone, and weakening tropical storm, and a very dangerous hurricane in the eastern Pacific. Our trade winds will remain moderately strong locally…with some higher gusts. These long lasting summer trades will continue into the new week ahead.

Satellite imagery shows scattered clouds over and around the islands...being carried along in the moderately strong trade wind flow. Looking at this larger looping satellite image, it shows partly cloudy conditions over most of the state…while there are active thunderstorms far to the southwest, south, and southeast. There appears to be a minor band of showery clouds taking aim on our windward sides…which will reach Kauai later tonight. We see the counterclockwise rotating tropical storm  Karina in the picture as well…moving slowly away. There’s low clouds being carried our way, which will drop showers locally…mostly along our windward sides during the night and early morning hours. Here’s the looping radar, showing some showers moving across our island chain, which will continue in an off and on manner through the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, the tropical ocean far to our east remains active…in relation to tropical cyclones. The models are keeping tropical systems well away from Hawaii through the next week, although I’ll be watching closely this summer. In contrast to our rather quiet reality here in the central Pacific, the eastern Pacific has two tropical cyclones churning the waters now, a weakening storm, and an intense hurricane over there too. I’ll be back 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: There’s several films in Kahului that I’d be willing to see, including The Expendables 3, Sin City: A Dame to Kill, among a couple of others. However, tonight I’ve chosen Guardians of the Galaxy, starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, David Bautista, Lee Pace, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker and Vin Diesel…among many others. The synopsis: from Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team-the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits-Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand-with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.

~~~
Critics and viewers alike are praising this film, with ratings well up into the 90’s (out of 100). Guardians was a good film, although I found myself being a little bored. I actually dozed off a couple of times, as did one of the other friends that I was with. There was certainly no let up in the ongoing action packed adventures, it was just a bit slow for me on some level. It was the kind of film that would typically carry me along without a doubt, although despite the high ratings, I was a little disappointed I must admit. As for a grade, I’ll go with a soft B, which is a little surprising even for me. The opening scenes were great, and there were many good things about the film throughout…it just didn’t grab me all that much for some reason. Here’s the trailer if you’re interested in seeing some scenes of this high action thriller.


World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


Atlantic Ocean: 
Tropical storm 04L (Cristobal) remains active in the Caribbean Islands, located about 100 miles north-northwest of Mayaguana Island – wind speeds 35 mph. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite imagehere’s what the computer models are showing about this storm.


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 70 mph. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite imagehere’s what the computer models are showing about this storm.


Post-tropical cyclone 12E (Lowell)
is dissipating in the northeast Pacific, located about 1110 miles west of the southern tip of Baja California – wind speeds 35 mph. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite image
here’s what the computer models are showing about this hurricane.


Hurricane 13E (Marie)
remains active in the northeast Pacific, located about 420 miles west-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico – wind speeds 135 mph. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite image
Category 4 Major Hurricane


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


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: University of Illinois studying bee venom as cancer treatment – Another reason to love bees: they might be able to help us fight cancer.


While venom isn’t usually known as a friendly thing, new research shows that venom from bees, snakes and scorpions could potentially be used to fight certain forms of cancer. While you wouldn’t go and inject someone with a dose of venom, which could have lethal effects, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that if they isolated specific proteins in the venom, these could be used in a safe way to block tumor growth.


“We have safely used venom toxins in tiny nanometer-sized particles to treat breast cancer and melanoma cells in the laboratory,” study author Dipanjan Pan of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said in a statement. “These particles, which are camouflaged from the immune system, take the toxin directly to the cancer cells, sparing normal tissue.”


Previous studies have shown the potential power of venom, but because of the potentially very dangerous side effects of venom injection – damage to nerve cells, for example – hat power couldn’t be properly harnessed. That’s what makes this new research so exciting.


The toxins in question are peptide toxins. The researchers made a synthetic version in the lab, then injected it into the tiny nanoparticles. “The peptide toxins we made are so tightly packed within the nanoparticle that they don’t leach out when exposed to the bloodstream and cause side effects,” Pan said.