Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / March 27-28, 2015

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday…along with the minimum temperatures Friday:

81 – 72  Lihue, Kauai
83 – 70  Honolulu, Oahu
80 – 65  Molokai AP
83 – 70  Kahului, Maui
84 – 72  Kailua Kona
81 – 66  Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.26  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.12  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.23  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
2.19  Puu Kukui, Maui
2.58  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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

24  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
24  Honolulu AP – NE
27  Molokai – ESE
33  Lanai – NE
32  Kahoolawe – NE
30  Kahului AP, Maui – NE
33  South Point, Big Island – NE

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



The next cold front is approaching the state well to our northwest


Patchy low clouds mixed with lots of clear skies across the state

A few showers are falling over the nearby ocean, mostly
to the southeast of the Big Island

Here’s the looping radar image for the
Hawaiian Islands

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

The Mauna Kea Summit…on the Big Island of Hawaii

The trade winds over the islands are still locally gusty…and should remain pretty strong through this weekend. 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 high pressure systems to the northeast, with an associated ridge of high pressure to the north and northwest of Hawaii. At the same time, we have a low pressure systems far to the north of the islands, with an associated cold front well offshore to the northwest of the islands. There are locally gusty trade winds still blowing…and likely will remain rather uppity through the weekend into Monday.

A dry and stable atmosphere remains over the state…which will limit our shower activity through the weekend. As the trade winds remain active however, there’s always the chance of a few minor windward showers, with dry conditions along our leeward sides. The models continue to show another cold front approaching the islands by Sunday, although have it stalling before arriving over Kauai. Nonetheless, we may see some increase in showers near Kauai and perhaps Oahu Sunday night into Monday. The longer range outlook suggests that yet another area of showers may move into the state around next Tuesday…stay tuned. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui: The skies are mostly clear over Maui early this morning, with still a few clouds and light showers banked-up against the windward slopes. The low temperature was 50.9 degrees here at my Kula weather tower at 550am, while it was 70 degrees down at the Kahului airport, 72 at the Hana airport, and 45 degrees atop the Haleakala Crater at the same time. The warmest low temperature around the state was 73 degrees at both Kailua Kona and Lihue.

~~~ It’s late Friday afternoon here on Maui, with clear to partly cloudy for the most part, along with some haze around the edges too. It’s a dry day in most areas as well, and certainly up here in Kula, with an air temperature of 75.4 degrees at 415pm.

~~~ It’s early Friday evening here in Kula, with an air temperature of 71.8 degrees, and clear to partly cloudy skies. The haze down in the central valley sure looks like volcanic haze (vog) to me!

Friday Evening Film: There are several pretty good looking films out now, although one in particular, actually there are several, that are rather enticing. Jeff and I will see one called The Gunman, while Svetlana will see Cinderella. Actually, as it turned out, Svetlana came with us to see this film. This piece of work garnered low to very low grades according to the critics, although you can’t always believe what the reviews have to say. At any rate, The Gunman stars Sean Penn, Jasmine Trinca, Idris Elba, Javier Bardem, Mark Rylance, and Ray Winstone…among others. The synopsis: a former Special Forces soldier (Sean Penn), who has PTSD tries to reconnect with his longtime lover, but must first go on the run across Europe to clear his name. 

~~~ This film checked in as a heavy weight, with all the violence that one would expect…and then a bit more than that! I only had to close my eyes once, and it was when I thought a bull fighter was going to kill a bull in the ring. Fortunately, as both Jeff and Svetlana let me know afterwards, the bull survived…or at least they didn’t show that. Let’s face it, if we see Sean Penn in a film, we know it’s going to be edgy, and this sure qualified as that. On the other hand, you also somehow know that it will have a humanitarian bent, which this film had as well. It’s tempting to give too much as a viewer, just because Sean Penn is in the starring role somehow. And by the way, I felt that the leading role as Sean’s love interest in the film, perhaps wasn’t quite the right actress…as she left me feeling slightly let down. As a side note, there were more than enough shootouts as one would expect, and all those big guns were somehow made very loud…making lots of noise throughout. As for grades, I wasn’t as impressed as Jeff, who gave it an A rating, while Svetlana came in with a B+…and I saw it as just a strong B film. In sum, I’m glad I saw the film, and I always like going out to dinner beforehand with my two good friends, although it wasn’t one of my favorite films of the year I’m afraid. If you’re so inclined after reading the above, and knowing full well the name of this film…here’s the trailer.

>>> Atlantic Ocean: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

>>> Gulf of Mexico: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

Here’s a satellite image of the Caribbean Sea…and the Gulf of Mexico.

>>> Eastern Pacific: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 North Pacific hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

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

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Central Pacific: The central north Pacific hurricane season has officially ended. Routine issuance of the tropical weather outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, special tropical weather outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

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

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: Tropical Cyclone 04W (Maysak) remains active in the northwest Pacific, here’s the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image…and what the computer weather models are showing.

>>> 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:  Shifting temperatures will affect flavors, quality of food – Love scrumptious vegan pizza? You’d better enjoy it while you can, because climate change is moving in to hog a slice. According to an Australian report, Appetite for Change, climate change isn’t just going to decimate existing crops — it’s also going to change the way the survivors taste. And not in a good way. The researchers say that we’re going to be eating increasingly bland, tasteless, mushy food because of the way shifting temperatures are affecting farming, and in fact, it’s already started happening.

We’re already aware that climate change is forcing agriculture to adjust. The amount of arable land on Earth is decreasing, and the types of food we can grow are also shifting — some regions are getting too hot and dry for traditional crops, for example. Changes in the climate may eventually wipe out some crops altogether, while others may become extremely rare and expensive. Coffee and cocoa, two extremely popular luxury crops, are particularly unhappy examples of this situation, as the plants are fussy and require very particular conditions to grow. Once those conditions are disrupted, they find it extremely difficult to recover.

The most stark illustration of the problem with climate change and produce may actually come from a Japanese study conducted in 2013. The researchers evaluated nearly 40 years of data on apples, looking at a number of quality metrics like texture, flavor and firmness. Over time, they discovered that apples were mushy, grainy, bland and less tart than before — in other words, our apples were really starting to get pretty terrible. Importantly, they found that trees were blooming earlier than before, and that even when harvest times were adjusted to account for the earlier blooming period, the apples collected were still of poor quality. This reflected a problem not just with the growing season, but also with how the fruit matured — bad news for apple fans.

Poor root vegetables took a particular beating in this study. They rely on rich, loose soil with excellent drainage and good moisture, otherwise they can’t grow to full size and they can become wooden and flavorless. They also need lush, healthy greens to photosynthesize and draw energy into the root — that’s what gives roots their size and flavor. Moreover, it’s important that the plants not “bolt” — go to seed too early — because the roots won’t fully develop if that’s the case. That means thin, woody, straggly carrots and beets without much flavor. Blech. Meanwhile, potatoes will be more prone to blight.

Fruit and nut trees may also get into trouble if the weather doesn’t get cool enough in the winter months to trigger important seasonal changes, while wheat and other grains will suffer too. These could amount to massive expenses for farmers on wasted and failed crops as well as conversions — if, for example, a farmer decides to stop growing almonds, she needs to invest in tearing out the orchard and planting new crops. If she’s planning on replacing her almonds with other fruit or nut trees, she’ll have to wait for years for them to mature.

One small consolation: if you’re vegan or vegetarian, you won’t be facing the crisis for animal products predicted in this study. Changes to the environment are likely to cause a radical decline in the quality of meat, eggs and dairy — all issues you won’t have to deal with. Moreover, that quality decline could lead to a drop in consumption, which would be good for both animals and the planet.