Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 8-9, 2015

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

81 – 73  Lihue AP, Kauai
78 – 68  Honolulu AP, Oahu
81 – 67  Molokai AP
84 – 70  Kahului AP, Maui
84 – 71  Kona Intl AP, Hawaii
82 – 68  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

2.30  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
2.52  Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
1.04  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.03  Lanai
0.01  Kahoolawe
0.13  Kahakuloa, Maui
0.69  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

22  Poipu, Kauai – NE
29  Kii, Oahu – NE
33  Molokai – E
31  Lanai – NE
35  Kahoolawe – NE
32  Maalaea Bay, Maui – NE
31  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



Low pressure system and a cold front well to the north and
northeast of the state…high cirrus clouds heading our way
from the west – with a colorful sunrise this morning

Low clouds banked-up along the windward sides…
while most leeward beaches are generally clear
to partly cloudy

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

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

Gusty trade winds will continue…picking up a notch into the 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 located to the northeast and northwest of the state. At the same time, there’s a low pressure systems far to the north, with an associated cold front draping down into the area northwest of Kauai. As a result of these high and low pressure features, and low pressure well to the south, 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, increasing today into the weekend onwards.

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. As the trade winds continue, we’ll find off and on windward showers well into the future. There may be a couple of showers carried over into the leeward sides at times, and a few falling in the upcountry area during the afternoon hours on the Big Island and Maui. As the trade winds become stronger into the weekend, we’ll see corresponding windward showers into early next week. 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...early Friday morning before sunrise, skies are clear to partly cloudy, with some cloudy areas…especially over along the windward sides. As noted above, the trade winds will be ramping up later today into the weekend, thus the small craft wind advisory has been extended across the entire state this morning. The winds are at their low point of the day early this morning, although will be increasing in speed more fully by this afternoon. The air temperature here at my weather tower in Kula, was 52.2 degrees at 540am. At the same time down at the Kahului AP, it was warmer 71 degrees…while the reading at the top of the Haleakala Crater was a cool 41 degrees.

– Ok, we’re into the afternoon time frame now, and we just had a quick little shower…light to moderately heavy. We’ve been lucky enough to receive these little showers the last several days, which freshens up our atmosphere nicely! Glancing around in my chair, I see clouds in many directions, although with a big clear area over towards Pukalani and down towards Kahului at the moment.

– I’ll be leaving for Kahului soon, to see that film described below. Looking out the window of my Kula weather tower before I leave, I see enough high cirrus clouds, that I’m thinking that they should turn quite colorful around sunset this evening…you may want to keep an eye out. Otherwise, it was a great day here on Maui, filled with lots of clouds, some showers, and now lots of late afternoon sunshine here in the upcountry area!

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. I’ll let you know what we thought Saturday morning, and until then, 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

Tropical Storm Ana remains offshore from the southeast coast of the 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 storm

>>> 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 strengthen further as it swings by offshore the northern Philippine Islands later in the week. 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 remains active, and expected to gradually strengthen further…as it moves by to the north Pohnpei and then south of 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.”