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

87 – 75  Lihue, Kauai
89 – 79  Honolulu, Oahu
88 – 75  Molokai
90 – 74  Kahului, Maui – the record Sunday was 94 …set back in 1951
91 – 80  Kailua Kona
88 – 71   Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.35  Kilohana, Kauai
0.39  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.28  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.18  Kahakuloa, Maui
1.13  Puu Mali, Big Island

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

16  Waimea Heights, Kauai – SW
24  Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
21  Molokai – NE
21  Lanai – NE
23  Kahoolawe – NE
21  Kapalua, Maui – NE
18  Kaupulehu, Big Island – NW

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

http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_ir_enh_west_loop-12.gif
 There are thunderstorms well offshore…with
Tropical Depression 11E towards Mexico

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/vis.jpg
There’s an area of low pressure to our north, it will
slowly move closer to us, interrupting our trade winds
through Tuesday…prompting some locally heavy
afternoon showers – not to mention have us feeling hot
and muggy…along with volcanic haze here and there too


http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/vis.jpg
A low pressure  system to our north…is causing
thunderstorm cells to form northeast of us


http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
A few showers over and around the islands…a
were heavy, with a couple of thunderstorms
in the general vicinity earlier in the day
looping radar image

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



The trade winds are giving way to lighter southeast breezes…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 very large, strong high pressure system to the north-northeast of the state. At the same time we see a trough of low pressure just to our north. This trough of low pressure is causing the trade winds to weaken and veer to the southeast 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 Wednesday or Thursday…before a more normal trade wind weather pattern resumes into next weekend.

We’ll see our showers focused over the interior sections in the afternoon hours…although with a few along our windward sides at times too. The atmosphere remains quite moist and unstable, which will keep the chance of heavy afternoon downpours in the forecast…especially over and around the Big Island and Maui. A low pressure trough passing near Hawaii into the new week, will bring another increase in showers to the state, with even a few more afternoon thunderstorms firing-off here and there. As the trade winds return around the middle of the new week, shower activity will shift back over to our windward sides. There’s a chance that some of this rainfall may trigger localized flooding, especially during the Monday-Tuesday time frame.

Tropical Cyclones:  I recently looked at the NAVGEM and GFS computer weather models, to see what they were showing for the upcoming week. I didn’t think there was going to be anything coming our way, although as it turns out…I may have been incorrect in that assumption! The usually reliable GFS model actually shows a tropical cyclone moving by to our south, and then swinging it up, striking the central islands from Oahu to Maui. On the other hand, the NAVGEM also shows a storm moving by to our south, although keeps it from taking a turn up into our area. I’ve just begun to watch this outlook, and by the 20-21st of this month (next Thursday-Friday), we’ll either see something brewing to the south of the Big Island…or not. The GFS model shows a storm hitting the state on the 24th…which is a week from tomorrow (Monday). This is quite a ways out there, and I’m not taking it seriously just yet, however, I’m going to be watching closely nonetheless! Stay tuned for more over the next several days, as the models either drop this outlook, or retain it. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Sunday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui…It’s 610am Sunday morning, skies are partly to mostly cloudy, the majority of which are of the middle level altocumulus variety. These clouds lit up into a bright pink and orange at sunrise, which made for a beautiful start to the day! The air temperature here in Kula, at my upcountry weather tower was 62.1 degrees, while it was a warmer 77 down in Kahului, 75 out in Hana, 66 in Kaupo, and a cooler 48 up at the summit of the Haleakala Crater at about the same time.

– We’re into the middle of the afternoon now, with a solid rain shower falling here in Kula. Looking out around, and its not easy as my views are hampered with lots of clouds…this seems rather widespread. It’s cleared slightly now a few minutes later, and I can see thick fog just downslope from here…and I just heard some thunder up the mountain from here. / Now at 240pm, its still showering, and I can see some sunshine down in the central valley.

– It’s now early evening, with clear to partly cloudy conditions, and its muggy too. Here in upcountry Kula, we had some showers, although they didn’t get out of hand, and were fairly short in duration. It looks as if the shower activity has backed off now, and we should see fewer clouds tonight into Monday morning, probably. Monday and Tuesday will be interesting, with another chance for showers, even some heavy ones in some areas. I don’t see any volcanic haze yet, although as the southeast breezes settle in soon, we may get voggy with time. Interesting enough, I just spotted a towering cumulus cloud well offshore to the north of Maui, or perhaps its a thunderstorm…hard to tell from here.

Friday Evening Film:  This time around I went to see a film that looked good, although certainly had 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

Shower activity associated with an area of low pressure located several hundred miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands continues to show signs of organization. Environmental conditions appear conducive for development during the next few days, and a tropical depression will likely form by the middle of the week while the system moves westward or west-northwestward near 15 mph.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…medium…50 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…high…70 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 remains active, with sustained winds of 35 mph, and is located about 705 miles west of the southern tip of Baja California. Here’s the NHC graphical track map, and a satellite image. Here’s what the computer models are showing. This depression is expected to become a remnant low later today…with its final advisory issued then.

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)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean:

Typhoon 16W (Goni)…expected to become a Super Typhoon briefly in 72 hours, remains active with sustained winds of 115 knots, and is located about 392 NM northwest of Andersen AFB, Guam. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map…and a satellite image…and what the computer models are showing.

Typhoon 17W (Atsani)…expected to become a Super Typhoon briefly in 72 hours, remains active with sustained winds of 95 knots, and is located about 358 NM north-northwest of Ujelang. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map…and a satellite image…and what computer models are showing.

>>> 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 EPA proposes regulations to reduce methane emissions from landfills – As part of the Administration’s Climate Action Plan – Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued two proposals to further reduce emissions of methane-rich gas from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. Under today’s proposals, new, modified and existing landfills would begin collecting and controlling landfill gas at emission levels nearly a third lower than current requirements.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential more than 25 times that of carbon dioxide. Climate change threatens the health and welfare of current and future generations. Children, older adults, people with heart or lung disease and people living in poverty may be most at risk from the health impacts of climate change. In addition to methane, landfills also emit other pollutants, including the air toxics benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and vinyl chloride.

Municipal solid waste landfills receive non-hazardous wastes from homes, businesses and institutions. As landfill waste decomposes, it produces a number of air toxics, carbon dioxide, and methane. MSW landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the U.S., accounting for 18 percent of methane emissions in 2013 – the equivalent of approximately 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution.

Combined, the proposed rules are expected to reduce methane emissions by an estimated 487,000 tons a year beginning in 2025 – equivalent to reducing 12.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, or the carbon pollution emissions from more than 1.1 million homes. EPA estimates the climate benefits of the combined proposals at nearly $750 million in 2025 or nearly $14 for every dollar spent to comply. Combined costs of the proposed rules are estimated at $55 million in 2025.