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

82 – 74  Lihue, Kauai
90 – 78  Honolulu, Oahu – record high for Saturday was 91…set back in 1983
83 – 78  Molokai
91 – 76  Kahului AP, Maui – record high for Saturday was 93…set back in 1950
89 – 80  Kailua Kona AP
89 – 72  Hilo, Hawaii

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

5.06  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
4.67  Nuuanu Upper, Oahu
0.53  Makapulapai, Molokai
0.13  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
8.92  Puu Kukui, Maui
3.45  Piihonua, Big Island

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

20  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
21  Bellows, Oahu – NE
27  Molokai – SE
24  Lanai – NE
30  Kahoolawe – NE
21  Kaupo Gap, Maui – NNE
32  Kawaihae, 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

http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_ir_enh_west_loop-12.gif
Hurricane 19E (Olaf) spinning far to the east-southeast…
and a cold front well north and northwest of Hawaii

Here’s a wind profile…of the offshore waters
around the islands – with a closer view

http://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/warnings/ep1915.gif

The weather models turn Olaf north and then northeast away
from Hawaii…with no threat currently

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/vis.jpg
We have unstable conditions over the state…
which will mellow out by Monday

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/vis.jpg
Clear to partly cloudy with cloudy areas…there are towering
cumulus or thunderstorms offshore southwest


http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Localized showers falling…some are heavy offshore
looping radar image

 

High Surf Advisory…south facing shores all islands

Small Craft Advisory…Maalaea Bay, Pailolo Channel,
Alenuihaha Channel and Big Island southeast waters


~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



Our trade winds will be moderately strong in general…into the new week. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a wind profiler of the central Pacific. We find a high pressure system to the northeast of the state. At the same time, we find a couple of low pressure systems far northwest through north of the Hawaiian Islands. There is an associated cold front draping southward from one of these low pressure centers…which is located well north and northwest of the Aloha State. Meanwhile, former tropical cyclone Nora is showing up as a trough of low pressure over the central islands. Our winds will come in from the northeast to east-northeast, with no definite end in sight…well into the new week.

We’ll find showers falling over the islands…at times locally through Sunday.  The general source of these showers is the leftover moisture from now retired tropical cyclone Nora…mixed in with an old cold front. Satellite imagery shows towering cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds offshore around the eastern side of the state, so some of these showers will be locally heavy with flooding. In addition to the clouds and showers that will be falling over the state…our atmosphere will continue to be more humid than normal for the time being. Conditions should improve starting Monday, with most of the showers hugging the windward coasts and slopes then…with generally fair weather along our leeward sides.

Friday Evening Film – My usual movie seeing friends are both out of the state now, so I was on my own again to see a new one. I wanted to see The Martian, although it started so late, and is a 2 1/2 hour film, and with my near 1/2 hour drive home afterwards, I just didn’t feel like being out that late, and have work to do…with such an early rise again Saturday. At any rate, in its place I saw one called Bridge of Spies, directed by Steven Spielberg, and written by Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, and Joel Coen.  This film stars Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, John Scott Shephard, Domenick Lombardozzi, Eve Hewson, Alan Alda…among many others. The synopsis: Tom Hanks stars as the American attorney tasked with negotiating the release of a U-2 spy plane pilot who was shot down over Russia at the height of the Cold War in this historical drama from DreamWorks Studios. Steven Spielberg and Mark E. Platt produce a film written by Matt Charman.

What’s going on here? Every film I see these days turns out to be an A piece of work…and this one definitely qualified! In this day and age, with all the terrible stuff going on in the world at large, or at least what the media feeds us most days, this film brings back hope that good things can happen…or at least used to. I saw this film being masterfully done, from the directorial side, along with the story, and of course the acting. The film was a solid cold war drama, with talent shining brightly in almost every scene, despite it being a rather dark film. Tom Hanks once again, as so many times before…gave a brilliant performance. This film has been receiving high ratings, and who could lose with Steven Spielberg working with Tom Hanks and company! Here’s the trailer in case you have an interest in seeing it – best viewed in full screen.

Saturday Evening Film: My friends Jeff and Svetlana are back from traveling, so they’ve asked me to see The Martian this evening. The critics have been giving this film very high ratings, and is a film the three of us have been looking forward to seeing. It stars Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wigg, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, and Kate Mara…among many others. The synopsis: During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring “the Martian” home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney’s safe return. / Here’s a trailer, and I’ll be back with a review Sunday morning.

Here on Maui…It’s 6am Sunday morning with clear to partly cloudy skies. At

I’ll be back with many more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Sunday wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.


World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

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

1.)   An area of low pressure located inland over southeastern Mexico between Villahermosa and Ciudad del Carmen is producing disorganized showers and a few thunderstorms, primarily across portions of the Bay of Campeche. This system is moving slowly west-northwestward, and some development is possible later today or on Monday after the low emerges into the southern Bay of Campeche. An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate this system this afternoon, if necessary. Regardless of tropical cyclone formation, this system could produce heavy rainfall across portions of southeastern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula during the next day or two.

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

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

>>> Eastern Pacific:

Hurricane 19E (Olaf) remains active in the northeast Pacific Ocean, located 1620 miles east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, with sustained winds of 80 mph. Here’s the NHC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this system…and what the computer models are showing

1.)   A large area of disorganized cloudiness and thunderstorms, extending from Central America westward to several hundred miles south of southeastern Mexico, is associated with a broad area of low pressure. Environmental conditions are expected to be conducive for gradual development of this system, and a tropical depression is likely to form later this week while the low moves generally northwestward. Regardless of development, locally heavy rains associated with the low could occur over portions of Central America and southeastern Mexico during the next several days.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low 20 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…high 80 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

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

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean:


Typhoon 24W (Koppu) remains active in the northwest Pacific Ocean, located 125 NM north-northwest of Manila, Philippines, with sustained winds of 93 mph. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this system…and what the computer models are showing

Super Typhoon 25W (Champi) remains active in the northwest Pacific Ocean, located 300 NM south-southwest of Iwo To, Japan, with sustained winds of 150 mph. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this system…and what the computer models are showing

>>> South Pacific Ocean:


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

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


Interesting: Is tattoo ink safe? – Tattoos really are more than skin deep—and that raises questions about their safety.

Many people enjoy the aesthetic beauty of tattoos. But the brightly colored inks that make tattoos so vibrant and striking also carry health concerns, report authors of a new paper related to tattoo safety.

According to the Pew Research Center, 45 million Americans have at least one tattoo; roughly $1.65 billion is spent on tattoos each year in the U.S.

Little is known, however about the safety and long-term effects of the inks used to create tattoos.

“Tattooing is perhaps the largest ongoing human experiment on the injection of particles and pigments with a complex chemistry into the skin,” said Lars Krutak, research associate in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

Krutak is co-author of a paper in the The Lancet based on a conference on tattoo safety held in Berlin in 2013 by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment.

In the paper, “A medical-toxicological view of tattooing,” the authors discuss the composition and application of tattoo inks, their toxicology and removal, what happens to the pigments and the potential risks from the ingredients in newly developed tattoo ink colors.

Basically, the scientists determine that very little is known regarding toxicity and biokinetics (movement within an organism) of tattoo inks and whether they eventually convert into toxic substances in the human body. A 2010 survey in Germany found that 68 percent of people with tattoos reported a complication, mostly involving colored tattoos. Although modern tattoo inks contain mostly organic pigments, they also contain heavy metals, which may metabolize into toxic substances.

“There are no regulatory requirements concerning the production and sterility of colorants, which can carry multi-resistant bacteria and carcinogens and trigger serious allergic reactions and viral infections,” Krutak adds. “New research is needed to contribute to the future development of safe tattooing, and this article is a first step in the right direction.”

Tattoo removal is also an issue. What happens to the pigments after they are removed, usually by laser, is unknown. Laser removal involves several sessions yet sometimes a tattoo is still partially visible, as inorganic pigments remain in the skin.

Because tattoo inks are classified as cosmetics in the U.S., they are not required to be reviewed or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. With an increasing number of people experiencing adverse reactions from tattoo inks, the FDA is reconsidering this approach.

The article’s authors argue for greater consumer protection— implementing national and international standards, more stringent regulation and establishing legal frameworks to control the use of toxic inks.

A lifetime of internal exposure to a mixture of untested and unregulated pigments necessitates much closer scrutiny, the researchers conclude.