Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday:
87 Lihue, Kauai
90 Honolulu, Oahu – record highest temperature for Friday 91…back in 1984, 1987, 1988
86 Molokai
M Kahului, Maui
88 Kailua Kona
88 Hilo, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Friday evening:
0.12 Kapahi, Kauai
0.56 Tunnel RG, Oahu
0.01 Kamalo, Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.22 Puu Kukui, Maui
2.77 Waikii, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Friday evening:
20 Port Allen, Kauai
23 Honolulu AP, Oahu
22 Molokai
27 Lanai
28 Kahoolawe
23 Kahului AP, Maui
23 Upolu AP, 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
We find a cold front to the northwest…with high cirrus clouds
stretched across Maui County and the Big Island – as well
as hurricane Simon far east towards the Mexican coast
There should be a good sunrise Saturday…and a good sunset
again Saturday evening
Light trade winds…followed by light southeasterly breezes this
weekend, accompanied by volcanic haze (vog)…and sultry
conditions – it may take until later in the new week before
the trade winds return Thursday or so
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Our winds will remain on the light side through the weekend…into early early in the new week ahead. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profiler of the central Pacific. We find a moderately strong near 1023 millibar high pressure system far to the northeast…with a ridge running southwest just to the north of the state. There are low pressure systems to the northwest and north, with an associated cold front to our northwest…although won’t reach our islands. The presence of this frontal boundary however, will keep our trade wind producing high pressure ridge close to the islands…thus the light winds. This cold front will veer our light breezes to the southeast during the weekend into early in the new week. As this front pushes the high pressure ridge down over us, our southeasterly breeze will bring volcanic haze and muggy conditions our way.
Satellite imagery shows clear to partly cloudy skies, with some cloudy areas…and an area of high level cirrus clouds spreading over a good part of the state from the southwest. Looking at this larger looping satellite image, it shows high cirrus pushing over some parts of the islands again now. Here’s the looping radar, showing light to moderately heavy showers falling…mostly over the central islands at the time of this writing. The light winds over our area of the central Pacific, in conjunction with the daytime heating of the islands, will prompt more afternoon interior clouds again this weekend…with showers here and there. As light trades are blowing now too, we’ll see some windward biased showers falling, mainly during the nights as well. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Friday Evening Film: There are several good looking films that have arrived here on Maui. I thought I was taking a big chance, although I went to see one of them on opening night. It’s one that looked very engaging, called Gone Girl, starring Rosamund Pike, Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry, Neil Patrick Harris, Kim Dickens…among many others. The synopsis: directed by David Fincher and based upon the global bestseller by Gillian Flynn – unearths the secrets at the heart of a modern marriage. On the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) reports that his beautiful wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick’s portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his lies, deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife? ~~~ The critics in general are giving this film a high 86% rating, while the audiences are giving it an even higher 93%. I joined my neighbors Jeff and his girlfriend Svetlana, and another lady friend of ours for this viewing, It turned out to be very good, with what I thought were outstanding performances. It was entertaining to the maximum degree…a deep running thriller to say the least. It was disturbing and compelling at the same time, the kind of film that draws you in, and keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. As for grades, from the four of us: A-, A-, A-, and I gave it a straight up A rating. Here’s the trailer if you’d like to take a peek.
World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
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: Hurricane 19E (Simon) remains active, located approximately 310 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California…with sustained winds of near 110 mph. Here’s a graphical track map…along with a satellite image / Category 2
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: Typhoon 18W (Phanfone) remains active, located approximately 421 NM south of Iwakuni, Japan …with sustained winds of near 127 mph. Here’s a graphical track map…along with a satellite image
Typhooon 19W (Vongfong) remains active, located approximately 496 NM east-southeast of Andersen AFB…with sustained winds of near 75 mph. Here’s a graphical track map…along with a satellite image
>>> 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: How do we know an extreme weather event might be caused by climate change? – Nowadays, when there’s a killer heat wave or serious drought somewhere, people wonder: Is this climate change at work? It’s a question scientists have struggled with for years. And now there’s a new field of research that’s providing some answers. It’s called “attribution science” – a set of principles that allow scientists to determine when it’s a change in climate that’s altering weather events — and when it isn’t.
The principles start with the premise that, as almost all climate scientists expect, there will be more “extreme” weather events if the planet warms up much more: heat waves, droughts, huge storms.
But then, there have always been periodic bouts of extreme weather on Earth, long before climate change. How do you tell the difference between normal variation in weather — including these rare extremes — and what climate change is doing?
That sort of discernment is difficult, so scientists have had a rule, a kind of mantra: You can’t attribute any single weather event to climate change. It could just be weird weather.
Then they took a close at last year’s heat wave in Australia.
The chances that the continent’s extreme temperatures reflected normal variation is “almost impossible,” says Peter Stott, a climate scientist at the Hadley Center of the Met Office, in Exeter, Great Britain. “It’s hard to imagine how you would have had those temperatures without climate change,” he says.
Stott is one of a group of researchers analyzing the patterns of “extreme weather” events in the past and comparing them with the patterns Earth is experiencing now. The intensity of last year’s Australian heat wave was statistically “off the charts,” he says. Climate change had to be behind it.
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