Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / August 15-16, 2015

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

87 – 78  Lihue, Kauai
89 – 79  Honolulu, Oahu
88 – 75  Molokai
92 – 77  Kahului, Maui – tied the record Saturday…set back in 1952
91 – 81  Kailua Kona
87 – 71  Hilo, Hawaii

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

1.88  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.46  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.20  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.09  Hana AP, Maui
1.29  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

17  Poipu, Kauai – NE
24  Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
21  Molokai – E
27  Lanai – NE
25  Kahoolawe – NE
24  Maalaea Bay, Maui – NNW
22  South Point, Big Island – ENE

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

There are thunderstorms well offshore at the moment…
with newly formed tropical depression 11E towards Mexico

There’s an area of low pressure to our northeast, it will
slowly move towards us, interrupting our trade winds
later Sunday into Wednesday…and may prompt some
heavy afternoon showers then too – not to mention keep
us feeling hot and muggy

A few towering cumulus offshore to our southwest…
with some high cirrus clouds over us locally too

A few showers over and around the islands
looping radar image

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

The trade winds will continue, although will become softer later Sunday into the new week…making for very sultry 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 a large high pressure system to the north-northeast of the state. At the same time we see a trough of low pressure to our east. Our trades will be moderately strong through most of Sunday. Looking ahead, a trough of low pressure passing near the islands, will cause the trade winds to weaken and veer to the southeast Monday into mid-week…keeping very sultry weather over the state. We need to remember as well, that southeast breezes can carry volcanic haze (vog) over the smaller islands, from the vents on the Big Island. It will likely take until next Wednesday or Thursday…before a more normal trade wind weather pattern resumes into next weekend and beyond.

We’ll see most of our showers focused over the interior sections in the afternoon hours…and along our windward sides in places too.  The atmosphere remains quite moist, which will keep the chance of heavy afternoon downpours in the forecast…especially over and around the Big Island. A low pressure trough passing near Hawaii later Sunday into next week, will bring another increase in showers to the state then, with even a few more afternoon thunderstorms firing-off here and there. As the trade winds return around the middle of next week, shower activity will shift back over to our windward sides. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui…It’s 550am Saturday morning, skies are clear to partly cloudy. The air temperature here in Kula, at my upcountry weather tower was 61.1 degrees, while it was a cooler 46 up at the summit of the Haleakala Crater at about the same time. / Now at 710am, I see lots of smoke down in the central valley, which I assume is leftover from a sugar cane burn earlier this morning. / It’s 850am now, and the clouds are quickly increasing across Maui…which will lead to showers later, at least locally.

– We’re into the early afternoon now, and I just got back from a shopping trip down to Paia. It was really sunny and very warm down there, with no sight of rain whatsoever. As I was driving back upcountry, I eased under the cloud cover that continues to bank up along the slopes of the Haleakala Crater here in Kula. It seems less likely for showers now, compared to what it started to look like earlier this morning.

– It’s now early evening, and clouds have taken over most of the island, and certainly overhead here in upcountry Kula. It’s lightly misting, with hardly a breeze to speak of, which is giving a slightly cool and sultry feeling to the air. I have a friend visiting here on Maui, she’s the wife of an old friend of mine from Sebastopol, California. Her name is Roberta, and I’m taking her out to dinner this evening in Makawao. She has a PhD in Psychology, and we always end up having rousing conversations…which are very personal and fun. 

Friday Evening Film: This time around I’m going to see a film that looks good, although certainly has a heavy edge. The critics are very happy with it, calling it wickedly smart…although apparently it leaves viewers on the edge of their seats too. It’s called The Gift, starring Jason Bateman, Joel Edgerton, Busy Philipps, Rebecca Hall, David Denman, and Katie Aselton…among many others. The synopsis: Simon and Robyn are a young married couple whose life is going just as planned until a chance encounter with an acquaintance from Simon’s high school sends their world into a harrowing tailspin. Simon doesn’t recognize Gordo at first, but after a series of uninvited encounters and mysterious gifts prove troubling, a horrifying secret from the past is uncovered after more than 20 years. As Robyn learns the unsettling truth about what happened between Simon and Gordo, she starts to question: how well do we really know the people closest to us, and are past bygones ever really bygones?

As I had thought beforehand, it was a scary film, with the suspense growing more intense as the film went on. There were a couple of scenes that had everyone in the theater gasping a little, including myself. These twists and turns were just often enough to keep me on the edge of my seat, as predicted. As one critic put it: “a tense, uncomfortable work of high melodrama.” Another critic said: “The Gift burns slow, far more concerned with character than it is with easy shocks, and it’s because of this, that when those do come…they hit all the harder.” I was nervous going in, knowing that I was going to be moved, and I was a bit shell shocked coming out of the theater, and during the drive home too…as I anticipated. I’m glad I forced myself to see this film, as the acting was superb, and now I know what my limit is. As for a grade, well, both in terms of scary, and thrilling…it deserved an A- in my opinion, a really well done film. Here’s the trailer…it gives you a sense of what I’m trying to describe.

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

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

A tropical wave accompanied by a surface low pressure system is producing a concentrated area of disturbed weather a few hundred miles south-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. Environmental conditions are expected to be somewhat conducive for gradual development of this disturbance over the next several days while it moves westward at around 15 mph.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…30 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…medium…40 percent

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

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: 

Tropical Depression 11E is now active, with sustained winds of 35 mph, and is located about 490 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. Here’s the NHC graphical track map, and a satellite image…if it were to strengthen into a tropical storm, which is not expected, it would take on the name Ignacio. Here’s what the computer models are showing.

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

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