Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / June 30 – July 1, 2015

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

85 – 69  Lihue, Kauai
86 – 74  Honolulu, Oahu
87 – 65  Molokai
90 – 69  Kahului, Maui – record high for Tuesday was 91…back in 1996
89 – 75  Kailua Kona
88 – 71  Hilo, Hawaii – 88 tied the record high temperature for Tuesday…back in 1980

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

0.19  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.32  Maunawili, Oahu
0.00  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Maui
0.09  Pahoa, Big Island

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

14  Waimea Heights, Kauai – SW
15  Kahuku, Oahu – NE
18  Molokai – ESE
15  Lanai – SW
25  Kahoolawe – ENE
22  Kaupo Gap, Maui – SE
28  Pali 2, 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 with a cold front north of the
islands…more cirrus approaching from the southwest

Mostly clear with cloudy areas…clouds east heading towards
the state, first on the Big Island…more high cirrus clouds too
Looping version

A few showers…mostly over the islands – looping radar image

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

Trade winds will continue, although remaining lighter than normal for several more days…with localized voggy conditions. 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 moderately strong high pressure systems far to the northwest and northeast of the state. At the same time, there’s a low pressure system to the north, along with its associated cold front and trough. Our trades will remain on the softer side of normal, especially over Kauai and Oahu, with onshore daytime sea breezes, and offshore flowing land breezes during the nights. This unusual weather situation is being caused by the relatively close proximity of the low pressure system to our north, which is pushing a high pressure ridge closer to our area. We should see slowly rebounding trade winds later this week…remaining well established into next week

We’ll see showers popping-up over the islands during the afternoon hours…locally. The windward sides will still see a few showers, although not many are expected, and mostly during the nights. As the trades remain rather soft for the time being, we’ll see a convective weather pattern continuing. This will manifest as afternoon upcountry clouds leading to localized showers, clearing back during the nights for the most part. An area of moisture is looming to the east through southeast of the state, which will bring increased shower activity with time, especially over the Big Island and Maui. This temporary increase in local showers over the eastern islands, should be followed by a more normal passing shower regime along our windward sides. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Tuesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui…it’s 6am Tuesday morning, with mostly clear conditions, along with a bit of light haze in the central valley as well. The air temperature here in Kula, at my upcountry weather tower was 54.3 degrees, while it was 70 down at the Kahului airport, 75 out in Hana…and 46 up at the summit of the Haleakala Crater at near the same time. 

– It’s now early afternoon, under increasingly cloudy skies here in upcountry Kula, Maui. Again looking down into the central valley, I see quite a bit of volcanic haze (vog) now…which is moderately thick at the time of this writing. Meanwhile, the beaches look sunny to partly sunny, with very warm temperatures going on. Here in Kula at the time of this writing, it was 79.7 degrees, while down in Kahului it was 88 degrees, while it was 90 in Kapalua, 84 in Hana…and 61 up atop the Haleakala Crater. The skies are definitely starting to get that wetter look, as the cloud bases look darker and more moisture laden.

– We’re into the early evening hours now, and here in Kula, it’s very cloudy, dark clouds indeed. However, as much as these clouds have tried to rain down, they just can’t seem to unload their moisture. There have been a few sprinkles, although nothing near a bonafide shower. Looking down into the lower elevations, I can see what looks to be bright sunshine beaming down along the beaches. I should point out, that before these clouds cut off my better visibilities, I could see quite a bit of vog down in the central valley. By the way, there’s a very close conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Venus in this evenings skies after sunset! / Now at 640pm, it’s foggy here at my weather tower, with an air temperature of 71.2 degrees.

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

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

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

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

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

No tropical cyclones are expected through the next five days

1. An area of low pressure is expected to form well to the east- southeast of the Hawaiian Islands by the weekend. Some gradual development is possible thereafter while the system moves slowly west-northwestward.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…20 percent

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 09W (Chan-hom) remains active in the northwest Pacific. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image. Here’s what the GFS and NAVGEM computer models are showing.

Here’s a satellite image showing the tropical cyclones above and below…plus a tropical disturbance to the west

>>> South Pacific Ocean: Tropical cyclone 25P (Raquel) remains active in the southwest Pacific. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image.  Here’s what the GFS and NAVGEM computer models are showing.

>>> North and South Indian Oceans: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)

Interesting: How Rainwater Could Save Rupees – Rainwater could save people in India a bucket of money, according to a new study by scientists looking at NASA satellite data.

The study, partially funded by NASA’s Precipitation Measurement Missions, found that collecting rainwater for vegetable irrigation could reduce water bills, increase caloric intake and even provide a second source of income for people in India.

The study, published in the June issue of Urban Water Journal, is based on precipitation data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which provided observations of rainfall over the tropics and subtropics from 1997 to 2015.

“India has severe problems getting potable water to all of its residents,” said Dan Stout, research assistant in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Utah and one of three authors of the study. “We considered collecting water in a relatively small tank, and it’s amazing the effect that doing something that small and simple can have on the Indian people.”

Rainwater harvesting is not a new concept, but the team said it is currently a largely untapped resource in India. Other researchers have studied rainwater harvesting as a potential solution for the country’s water problems, but they mostly focused on its use to replenish groundwater levels, which does not provide any direct benefit for immediate water supply. The water must run off into the ground before being pumped again for use aboveground.

Here, the team examined the possibilities if Indians collected precipitation in cheap 200-gallon tanks that they could easily engineer to fit in densely populated urban areas, such as many of India’s growing cities. The team analyzed satellite data of precipitation in different areas to evaluate the availability of rainwater for direct harvesting—information that would have been nearly impossible to obtain if not for TRMM.

“I spent a decent amount of time trying to find precipitation data in India,” Stout said. “For the most part, it didn’t exist or was kept under lock and key, aside from annual accrued averages across large regions of the country. That was not at all sufficient. Before I found TRMM’s data, I was thinking we would have to drop the project.”

TRMM precipitation estimates show the variation in rainfall at 3.1-mile resolution, even in areas where ground measurements are non-existent.