Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / June 21-22, 2015

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

84 – 73  Lihue, Kauai
87 – 77  Honolulu, Oahu
83 – 73  Molokai AP
86 – 74  Kahului, Maui
84 – 75  Kailua Kona
83 – 69  Hilo, Hawaii

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

1.13  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.14  Punaluu Stream, Oahu
0.20  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.74  Ulupalakua, Maui
1.20  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

22  Puu Lua, Kauai – ENE
30  Kuaokala, Oahu – N
22  Molokai – NNE
32  Lanai – NE
22  Kahoolawe – NE
25  Maalaea Bay, Maui – NNE
28  Kealakomo, Big Island – E

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 systems well north and northeast with a weak
dissipating cold front over the nearby ocean

Fragmenting cold front north of Kauai and Oahu – showery
looking clouds to the east of Maui County and the Big Island –
Looping version of this image

A few showers…mostly along the windward sides

Here’s the looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands


Small Craft Advisory…Alenuihaha Channel

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

The trade winds will continue…with daily variations in strength through the new week. 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 1026 millibar high pressure system to the north-northwest of the state, with a weaker near 1022 millibar high pressure cell far to the east-northeast. At the same time, there’s a low pressure system far northeast, with the tail-end of an associated dissipating cold front fading away to the northeast of the state. Our trade winds will ease-up a notch through the first day or two of the new work week. We should see light to moderately strong trade winds through the middle of the week…then possibly becoming even lighter Thursday into next weekend.

Trade wind weather conditions will prevail…with increases and decreases in windward biased showers. The windward sides will see the most frequent showers, mostly at night. Fairly typical trade wind weather conditions should continue through the week, with a few more dynamic shower areas moving through here and there at times. Looking even further ahead, if the trades falter later in the new week as expected, we would see a convective weather pattern taking over. This will manifest as afternoon clouds leading to localized showers, clearing back during the nights for the most part. 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...it’s 540am Sunday morning, with mostly clear  conditions over Maui for the most part. The air temperature here in Kula, at my upcountry weather tower, was 53.1 degrees, while it was 73 down at the Kahului airport, 73 out in Hana…and 48 up at the summit of the Haleakala Crater at near the same time.

– We’re into the first summer afternoon of the year, and it sure feels like it. It’s a good thing that there are refreshing trade wind breezes blowing, bringing some relief from the tropical heat.

– It’s now Sunday evening, and it was another hot day…even up here in the upcountry area of east Maui. It didn’t shower here in Kula, although Ulupalakua picked up some decent rainfall during the afternoon hours.

Friday Evening Film: my movie going friend Jeff is out of the state, and my other regular film buff friend is on Oahu, so I’m on my own for this new film. I know some of you will be rolling your eyes over the one I’m going to see this time. Despite this however, I went to see the one called Mad Max: Fury Road, starring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Rosie Huntington-whiteley, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, and Adelaide Clemens…among many others. The synopsis: filmmaker George Miller gears up for another post-apocalyptic action adventure with Fury Road, the fourth outing in the Mad Max film series. Charlize Theron stars alongside Tom Hardy (Bronson), with Zoe Kravitz, Adelaide Clemens, and Rosie Huntington Whiteley heading up the supporting cast, which contains action adventure and horror.

Let’s see here, let me share a few of the words that come to mind in relation to the film last evening: berserk, artistic, fast and furious, original, grandiose, an exhilarating overdose, sense pummeling, gargoyle horror, witty, absurd, wildly daring…a real battering ram of a long movie! Interestingly enough, the critics are giving this film a very high 98% rating, so perhaps I wasn’t so out of line in falling for this experience after all? I got exactly what I knew I’d find by walking into that theater, sitting down in the seat, and buckling up my seat belt. No if’s, ands, or buts about it, it delivered on what it offered. As for a grade, it qualified as a B+ film, and I was glad that I took the time to see it. Here’s the, how else can I describe it but…wild ass trailer for this film!

>>> 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

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days over the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea or Atlantic Ocean

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

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

No tropical cyclones are expected through the next five days

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: There are no active tropical cyclones

No tropical cyclones are expected through the next two days

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

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: Tropical Storm 08W (Kujira) remains active in the South China Sea, here’s the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image…and what the hurricane models are showing of its movement

>>> 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: US has more oil spills than you think – The US has more oil spills than we thought and the number doubled after production increased six years ago.

8,000 “Significant” Incidents

Richard Stover, PhD, and the Center for Biological Diversity counted nearly 8,000 significant incidents, between 1986 and 2014, in records of the pipeline safety administration. By “significant” they mean causing injury, death, damages exceeding $50,000 in value, a loss of 5 barrels of highly volatile substances, 50 barrels of other liquids or there was an explosion. There have been more than 500 human deaths and 2,300 injuries through-out that period. The number of plant and animal casualties is much higher.

Though most pipeline failures occur where there is a long history of development, they occur through-out the Lower 48. Texas is the worst offender, with 1657 incidents. California had 621 and 48 deaths.

The leading causes of incidents are excavation damages (24.3%), corrosion (18.2%) and equipment failure (17.1%).

After A Pipeline is 20 Years Old

Kristen Monsell, from the Center for Biological Diversity said the possibility of a spill “doubles after a pipeline is 20 years old.” In the case of the recent Santa Barbara spill, for example, “the pipeline was 28 years old” and had corroded to the point the wall was only 1/16 of a inch thick.

“Scientists tell us that we will never know how many animals have been killed (by the Santa Barbara spill) … (Many animals) will sink to the bottom of the ocean. We’ll likely be seeing the impact for years and years to come,” said Monsell.

Animal Casualties

“The day after the oil spill, a report came out that dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico are still dying as a result of the Deep Horizon spill (in 2010). When dolphins swim through oil soaked waters, they breath in toxic fumes from the hydro-carbons. That cause lesions on their lungs and these animals were dying from lung disease.”

The statistics for Deep Horizon are numbing: 128 dead or affected dolphins and whales, 1,146 sea turtles and more than 8,200 birds were collected. There is no tally fish or plant life. Scientists believe these statistics are only a small fraction of the actual casualties.

Monsell wonders about some of the aging infrastructure off California’s coast.

The Center for Biological Diversity calculated the real figures are probably closer to:

– 82,000 birds
– 6,000 sea turtles
– 25,900 marine animals
– much larger quantities of fish, shrimp, crabs and other sea life

There were much fewer known casualties at Santa Barbara. As of June 17, close to 400 birds and animals have been taken in. This included 186 dead birds and 95 dead mammals. Multiplying these figures by a factor of ten, there may have been close to 4,000 dead and injured animals.

If this formula for calculating animal casualties is accurate, the number of dead and injured animals from all 8,000 spills is most likely millions.

Off California’s Coast

Monsell wonders about some of the aging infrastructure off California’s coast.

She added, “The pipeline associated with platform Holly, is in the state waters of California, is 42 years old. When it was constructed they expected to decommission the pipeline and the platform in 2015, or 2020. So we are getting to the end of the lifespan of a lot of these pipelines and associated infrastructure. If we’ve learned anything from the Santa Barbara spill, it’s that all of this infrastructure needs to be decommissioned and we need to move towards clean and sustainable sources of energy.”