Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 10-11, 2015

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

83 – 75  Lihue AP, Kauai
82 – 70  Honolulu AP, Oahu
81 – 68  Molokai AP
84 – 69  Kahului AP, Maui
83 – 73  Kona Intl AP, Hawaii
80 – 69  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

0.87  Kilohana, Kauai
1.53  Tunnel RG, Oahu
0.78  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.03  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.36  Hana AP, Maui
2.84  Piihonua, Big Island

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

33  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
37  Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
37  Molokai – NE
36  Lanai – NE
31  Kahoolawe – NE
32  Kahului AP, Maui – NE
35  Waikoloa, 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



High cirrus clouds approaching from the southwest again

Clear to partly cloudy, some cloudy areas…
high cirrus clouds should give a good sunset

Showers are falling over the nearby ocean…spreading
onto the windward sides locally

Here’s the looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands

Small Craft Advisory…strong trade winds across all coastal
and channel waters

Celebrating Mother’s Day!

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

Strong and gusty trade winds will continue into mid-week…then easing-up in strength. 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 large and strong high pressure system located to the north-northeast of the state. As a result of these high features, and low pressure well to the south in the deeper tropics, our winds will come in from the trade wind direction. These trade winds will remain strong and gusty in our exposed locations. The outlook shows no definite end to this long lasting trade wind episode…although finally decreasing some around the middle of the new work week.

Showers will continue in an off and on manner…mostly along the windward coasts and slopes. The windward sides will see the most notable shower activity. Most of the incoming showers will arrive during the cooler night and early morning hours…although not exclusively. There may be a couple of showers carried over into the leeward sides at times on the smaller islands, and a few falling in the upcountry area during the afternoon hours on the Big Island and perhaps Maui. In sum, pretty typical springtime trade wind weather pattern for the time being. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Sunday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui...early Sunday morning before sunrise, skies are clear to cloudy, with the most notable low clouds banked-up against the windward coasts and slopes. These windward biased gray stratus and stratocumulus clouds, are dropping quite a few showers on this Mothers Day. Speaking of which, I’d like to wish my own Mom, Mrs. Dorothy James, who lives in Long Beach, California, a very special day! She proof reads this webpage everyday, and if she finds even one word out of place or misspelled, she calls me immediately. My Mom will soon be 93 years old, and I’m so fortunate to be able to say, she’s doing great…driving to the store each day to shop, using the internet (she loves youtube), walking several blocks most days, and tends a big yard…with many beloved roses. So, Happy Mothers Day Mom, I love you, and to the rest of you Mom’s out there…have a very wonderful day indeed!

– We’re into the middle of the afternoon on this Mothers Day holiday. The high cirrus clouds that we saw yesterday, are now coming back into our weather picture. This of course is allowing a much nicer day, so that families and others can get out and enjoy the beaches or wherever. The main issue in our weather today, in addition to the sunnier skies, are the blustery winds. Those areas that are exposed to these windy conditions, and taking the brunt of this air in a hurry. The areas that are less exposed, and in the lee of the mountains, are finding considerably less wind. Case in point, here in Kula, there just light breezes, while Kahului, Kapalua, and Maalaea Bay, to name a few places…are finding gusts up closer to 30 mph. By the way, I’ve wished my Mom a Happy Mother’s Day several times today, and I guess it goes without saying, that one can’t say it too much on this special day.

– We’ve pushed into the early evening hours now, with a mix of low level clouds, and now a new area of higher level cirrus clouds over us. These cirrus should light up at sunset, giving us some color, keep an eye out. My friends Jeff and Svetlana have invited me up to their place, a short distance up the mountain from here, to see a film tonight. I’m not sure what we’ll be seeing, although as you know, we all like being entertained by these movies. Here’s one more Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom…and all the rest of you Mom’s out there! Aloha, Glenn

Friday Evening Film – There continues to be loads of films playing down at the two theaters in Kahului this weekend. This time around Jeff and I and his girlfriend Svetlana, who flies in from Germany today, will see one called Avengers: Age of Ultron. This film stars Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen, and Cobie Smulders…among many others. The synopsis: when Tony Stark jump starts a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as they battle to save the planet from destruction at the hands of the villainous Ultron.

This film turned out to be a fast paced ride through what often felt like a high powered video game. It was like sitting there watching, in 3-D mind you, a film that was very quickly and expertly…flipping through a great comic book. It was a big film, ok ok, a huge film, right out of the Marvel headquarters. The visuals were incredible, sound effects terrific, it was fun and spectacular, and even brought to life a few touching moments. I have a tendency to really like these long films, and this one was an impressive 2 hours and 21 minutes. It wasn’t the best film of the season for me, although it was pretty far up there nonetheless. I thoroughly enjoyed it, while it left Jeff a bit less impressed, giving it a strong B grade. As for my rating, and considering what kind of film it was, I’m turning over an A- for its impressive effort. Here’s the trailer…it will give you a good idea of what kind of action is involved.

>>> 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

Tropical Depression Ana remains inland over the southeast United States. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a NOAA satellite image. Here’s what the computer models are showing for this system – Final Advisory

>>> 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:  Typhoon 06W (Noul) remains active, and expected to gradually weaken from here on out. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map…along with a looping satellite image. Here’s what the global models are showing for this developing tropical cyclone

Tropical Storm 07W (Dolphin) remains active, and will gradually strengthen…as it moves by to the north Pohnpei and then very near Guam. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map…along with a satellite image. Here’s what the global models are showing for this developing tropical cyclone

>>> 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: In-active devices waste billions of dollars of electricity – Approximately $19 billion worth of electricity, equal to the output of 50 large power plants, is devoured annually by U.S. household electronics, appliances, and other equipment when consumers are not actively using them, according to a groundbreaking study released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The report, “Home Idle Load: Devices Wasting Huge Amounts of Electricity When Not in Active Use,” found most of the devices either plugged in or hard-wired into America’s homes consume electricity around-the-clock, even when the owners are not using them or think they are turned off. The annual cost for this vampire energy drain, which provides little benefit to consumers, ranges from $165 per U.S. household on average to as high as $440 under some utilities’ top-tier rates.

“One reason for such high idle energy levels is that many previously purely mechanical devices have gone digital: Appliances like washers, dryers, and fridges now have displays, electronic controls, and increasingly even Internet connectivity, for example,” says Pierre Delforge, the report’s author and NRDC’s director of high-tech sector energy efficiency. “In many cases, they are using far more electricity than necessary.”

These always-on but inactive devices account for nearly 23 percent, on average, of the electricity consumption of homes in California – where electricity usage tends to be lower overall due in part to decades of energy efficiency success – but the share will vary in other states, depending on total electricity use. However, the amount of inactive consumption by household devices can be applied nationally as Americans tend to buy the same appliances everywhere.

The NRDC study is the first large-scale analysis of idle load use, combining usage data from electric utility smart meters in 70,000 northern California residences with field measurements concentrating on idle loads (an average of 65 devices were found in NRDC’s onsite audit). Idle consumption includes devices in off or “standby” mode but still drawing power (such as furnaces and garage door openers); in “sleep mode” ready to power up quickly (like game consoles); and left fully on but inactive (computers).

“Consumers can take such steps to reduce their idle load as using timers, smart power strips, and changing settings on their devices, and manufacturers need to do their part by designing products to minimize energy waste, but ultimately policies like energy efficiency utility programs and standards are needed,” Delforge notes. “Reducing always-on consumption is a low-hanging fruit opportunity to cut climate-warming pollution.”