Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 9-10, 2015

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

83 – 72  Lihue AP, Kauai
81 – 69  Honolulu AP, Oahu
80 – 67  Molokai AP
83 – 71  Kahului AP, Maui
85 – 73  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 Saturday evening:

1.39  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.75  Kawailoa, Oahu
0.75  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.15  Kaupo Gap, Maui
1.32  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

30  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
42  Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
35  Molokai – NE
35  Lanai – NE
32  Kahoolawe – NNE
36  Kahului AP, Maui – NNE
33  Kealakomo, 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



A cold front well to the north and northwest…
high cirrus clouds streaming in aloft from the
west – moving east tonight

Low clouds banked-up along the windward sides…while
high cirrus making for partly cloudy conditions across
the state mostly from Maui to the Big Island

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 ~~~

Gusty trade winds will continue…picking up a notch 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 located to the north and northeast of the state. At the same time, there’s a low pressure systems far to the north, with the tail-end of an associated cold front draping down into the area north of Hawaii. 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…although finally decreasing some around the middle of the upcoming 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. 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 this weekend, we’ll see them carrying windward showers into the new week. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui...early Saturday morning before sunrise, skies are now filled with high cirrus clouds, which are providing a lovely and colorful sunrise. It looks to me like the beginning of yet another fine spring day here on Maui! The only wet clouds that I can spot from here in Kula, are those big gray ones banked up against the windward sides of the island. Otherwise, the large area of high icy cirrus clouds will filter our Hawaiian sunshine quite a bit today most everywhere.

– It’s almost mid-afternoon, and mostly cloudy across this area of the islands. There are a good amount of lower level cumulus clouds, although atop that, there’s a rather dense overcast of high cirrus too. The combination of which is not letting much sunshine through. Here in Kula, where the trade winds aren’t usually very strong, compared to other more exposed location…although there are a few stronger gusts that move through occasionally. The air temperature here at my weather tower is a balmy 74.7 degrees, while at about the same time, the Kahului AP is 81 degrees.

– We’re into the early evening hours now, with still those gloomy high cirrus clouds cutting off our sunshine. These clouds should give us some color at sunset however, like they did last evening. They look like they will have moved off to the east by Sunday, and that should make for a sunnier day than we saw today. We had a brief little shower earlier in the afternoon, although it wasn’t quite as heavy as it was on Friday, nonetheless…it was a nice treat. The air temperature here in Kula at 540pm was a pleasant 68.4 degrees, while it was a warmer 77 degrees at the same time down near the ocean in Kahului. My two astrophysicist friends Jeff and Svetlana have invited me to go dancing with them down in Kihei tonight, which I’m greatly looking forward to, as I haven’t been out on the dance floor for so long! This weekend is my Sister Judy’s birthday, and then of course, as we all know, it’s Mothers Day too…both very good reasons to get out and shake ah leg!

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 right 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 effort. Here’s the trailer…it will give you a good idea of what kind of action to expect.

>>> 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: Super 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 (Dolphin) 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.”