Hawaii Weather Today » 2009

November 10-11, 2009

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday afternoon:

Lihue, Kauai – 81
Honolulu, Oahu – 87
Kaneohe, Oahu – 82
Kaunakakai, Molokai – 84
Kahului, Maui – 86
Hilo, Hawaii – 83
Kailua-kona – 86

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level around the state – and on the highest mountains…at 5pm Tuesday evening:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 85F
Hilo, Hawaii – 74

Haleakala Crater – missing (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – missing (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)

Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Tuesday afternoon:

0.23 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.25 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.39 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.65 Pahoa, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a very strong 1038 millibar high pressure system far to the north of the islands. Trade winds will continue through Thursday…although become lighter at times.

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with this Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around the state during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean. Finally, here’s a L o op ing I R satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image.

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two webcams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon weather conditions.

Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here.

Aloha Paragraphs

Sunset paddling…offshore from the Big Island

It appears likely that our weather will be going through some fairly major changes over the next several days, as an area of low pressure makes our overlying atmosphere shower prone. It looks like shower prone may be too light an expression however, as a flash flood watch already covers the entire state. The main concern is for locally heavy precipitation, as cold air aloft destabilizes the air mass surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. Cold air above, with warm moist air below, is a definite recipe for potential flooding rainfall. All the ingredients are forecast to be in place, to wring out lots of rainfall from the clouds that develop. Some of these clouds may attain very high tops, which brings in the possibility of thunderstorms too. Speaking of high level, here’s a webcam view of Mauna Kea on the Big Island, which may see its first significant snowfall of the autumn season over the next several days.

The latest satellite imagery shows some heavy showers already falling around the islands…although over the ocean at the time of this writing. The most active areas early Tuesday evening were to the southwest and east of the Big Island…and to the north of all the islands. This IR satellite picture shows all the clouds, with the extensive high clouds, that we’ve seen recently, now having pushed far to the east of the islands. We can see lower level clouds being carried our way on the light to locally moderate trade winds. The strongest gusts were occurring at Maalaea Bay on Maui…where a gust of 30 mph was being reported. Typically, this would indicate that our easterly trade winds are turning more northeast, rather than the normal east to east-northeast breezes. The winds will be shifting around quite a bit perhaps, as the trough moves over us from east to west.

The latest computer models definitely show a somewhat prolonged period of off and on, potentially heavy showers. Many areas around the Aloha state will get wet, perhaps everywhere will get an occasional deluge. The following GFS precipitation model shows lots of moisture in our area through the next 180 hours…or potentially through the rest of this week. At this point it’s difficult to know exactly when we might become drier, although as we all know, these conditions don’t last forever. Sometimes it seems that the more hype we have going in, the less likely that it will pan out to be all that bad. This can hold true, but not always! The fact that the NWS forecast office in Honolulu began issuing hydrologic outlook statements going in, often signifies that they feel a strong confidence in what the models are showing. It would be wise to expect heavy rains, and all the associated flooding that may accompany it. Speaking of flooding, here’s a looping radar image, which will show us where the heavy rains are falling.

Wow, what a day, lots of details to work through upon returning to work…after being away for over three weeks! We see that there is some active weather coming our way, as detailed in the paragraphs above. Since Wednesday is a holiday, Veteran’s Day, I’ll be off work. I’m a veteran of the Vietnam war (drafted into that war by the way), so in a certain sense…it’s my day to celebrate being alive. I had planned on going to see a new film this evening, but couldn’t find anything that really excited me all that much. Therefore, I think I’ll just go get something to go from someplace in Kahului, and then head home. I have my computer fixed, so I’ll be able to update this website Wednesday morning. I hope you have a great Tuesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

My recent Vacation:

October 20-21 – Hi everyone, I made it, flew into the San Francisco airport, with its wet runways Monday night. The lady at the Kahului airport, Karen, moved my seat up from 46A to 16A, with endless leg room and a window…which was a great start to my trip. I took the Marin Airporter to my friend’s house, where I found homemade soup, toast and cheese waiting. She had a Pumpkin ale to wash that down with, before I went to bed. Yesterday we started off our day with a nice walk, breakfast, coffee, and watched Democracy Now with Amy Goodman on the television. Later in the day we took a nice long walk into Baltimore Canyon, filled with Redwood trees…and a nice running creek. Finished off the day with wine on the deck to sunset. I slept wonderfully last night, and woke early, ready to start off my second day of vacation. ~~~ Today, Wednesday, we started off with a nice walk, then back home for breakfast. Today’s longer hike was into Tennessee Valley, a great walk down to the ocean. We had a wonderful Mexican food late lunch, before going to Whole Foods for shopping. I love that market, which has everything that I enjoy eating. One of our old friends will join us for dinner this evening, with good conversations guaranteed! Having a fabulous trip so far, and then on Friday will fly down to Long Beach for almost a week with my parents and family. I’ll catch up with you again soon, hope you are doing well. Aloha, Glenn.

October 22-23 Hi again, I had a fabulous day yesterday, starting off with the traditional early walk, this time down to a marsh, under low clouds and fog. Had a couple of eggs that we had bought at a local farmers market, along with potatoes, and toast for breakfast…and of course espresso too. We watched Democracy Now on TV, which is something my friend Linda enjoys most mornings. I like the program, but sometimes feel a little bogged down with all the stuff going on in the world, of which…I’d prefer not to know so much about. We ended up at Tennessee Valley again, walking all the way down to the ocean, where there was an active high surf advisory along the coast. The waves were large and powerful. We took off our shoes, and ran around some on the sand. Being more experienced in such conditions, I was the one responsible for telling Linda when to run back, so we didn’t get wet. We drove back to her house, for another wine and sunset, end to the day. ~~~ Today is Friday, and I took the Marin Airporter down to the San Francisco airport, for a short one hour flight down to Long Beach. My Mom picked me up, and I ended up visiting with her and my Dad during the afternoon. My brother Steve flies in from Texas just after 6pm, and I’ll go pick him up. I’m sure this will be a great family reunion, I’ll come back and let you know what’s going on in a couple of days. Aloha, Glenn

October 24-28 Good morning, it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to sit down and write a few words. The reason…work! Oh yeah, my brother and I have been working our way through a long list of things to do at my parents house. He and I start off our days around 630am, jumping in my Mom’s car, and cruizing over to the coffee place my brother likes to get a cup of coffee to go. Then, it’s over to the donut shop that he picks up pasteries for my parents, and yes…I’ve been indulging some too. We then check the list, go to the store and buy building materials and stuff, and come back for a day of work. He and I are both used to working, so it’s good that we have something to do. At night we all sit around the living room, eating our dinners on TV trays, watching Monday night football, or whatever’s on that particular evening. ~~~ Since I last wrote we had a big family reunion at my sisters daughters house, which was fun. Since my brother and I leave tomorrow, we’re having everyone over again today. This morning Steve and I drove up to the top of Signal Hill and watched the sun rise over the mountains surrounding the LA basin. We’ll be finishing up our work this morning, before everyone comes over for lunch. ~~~ Steve flies back to Texas Thursday, and I fly up to San Francisco…where my good friend Bob will pick me up, then driving up to Linda’s house in Marin County. Bob and I take off up the coast from there, where we’ve rented a place right on a bluff over looking the ocean…located between Gualala and Point Arena. This rental has an outdoor hot tub overlooking the ocean, along with a big stone fireplace, which will be a treat. I’ll catch up with you at some point over the next week or so. Be well until then, Aloha, Glenn.

October 29-November 3 I had a great time being with my Mom, Dad, two sisters, and brother in southern California. I love each of them, and enjoyed our time together. Wow, the best of the best, that’s how I could describe the time between when I last wrote…and now! I flew back up to Marin from Long Beach, and my best friend Bob picked me up, and from there the word fun kicked in big time. The first evening we went out to eat at a place in Larkspur called Left Bank, which served up good eats. The next morning we started off the day early by hiking through the Tennessee Valley, a nice valley down to the ocean. Later that morning Bob and I jumped in his Toyota Prius and headed north on Highway 101. We headed towards the coast by getting off in Cotati, and driving to Sebastopol. Bob and I both went to Sonoma State University in that general area, where we were deeply involved in Geography and Meteorology. We sat around in the warm sun outside the Whole Foods store there, and enjoyed seeing the people walking by. Someone saw the T-shirt I was wearing, which said Hana, Maui on it, which often triggered conversations about the islands. We took the drive out through Guerneville to Jenner, following alongside the Russian River. We finally made it to our vacation rental called Moonstar, which was absolutely perfect!

~~~ Bob had one entire side of this great house, while I took up residence in the other. I was always the first one up in the morning, getting out to the hot tub well before sunrise. It happened to be full moon while we were visiting Moonstar, which was so cool. At any rate, we headed north for breakfast in Point Arena that first morning, after which we drove north to the Russian Gulch for a long hike. This area winds through old growth Redwood stands, ending up at a waterfall. While we were stopped there, admiring the beauty, two women walked up, one of which worked and lived in the nearby town of Mendocino, while the other lived in Novato. What could have been a brief hello in passing, turned out to be nearly an hour long in depth conversation about such things as what does Being Here Now mean? This day happened to be Halloween, and we had found out about a dance in Point Arena that night. Bob and I both love to dance, and to drink a couple of shots of vodka to loosen ourselves up properly before hand…which we did. The music was great, with lots of folks to dance with on the nice size floor. Upon returning to Moonstar at night, we almost always took a hot tub, and went over the fine details of the day.

~~~ The next day, well, it was yet another stunningly beautiful day, as they all were, with glorious sunshine, and not much wind on the ocean. The day started off, at least for me, as the last stars gave way to the gradually lightening of the morning sky. When Bob got up, one thing lead to another, like coffee to an early morning cocktail before the sun even rose! Under general circumstances, having a drink before sunrise would never happen, no way, never. But, we were deep into nature, and somehow things just turned that way, and by the way, was so much fun to watch the ocean, which was right below the bluff this house sat on, surrounded by nine full acres of coastal environment. We watched all the sea birds flying by, the full moon slipping into the ocean, sometimes listening to the Moody Blues, or Neil Young on the stereo, with the speakers out the windows towards the hot tub, sometimes loud! We headed up highway 1 again, all the way up to the small town of Mendocino. We took a right off the highway into the Big River State Park, where we were amazed at how pristine it was. We hiked up through the forest on a nice trail, and then took a sharp right down a cliff to the flood plain below. There were stands of Redwood, Douglas Fir, and a few others lining the river. We spent several hours out in the sun just talking about life in all directions. We then went into Mendocino and had lunch, before driving back south to our place. We ended up at a great restaurant called St. Orres, near our Moonstar for dinner. We sat by the fireplace out front enjoying a glass of wine, and somehow we eventually began talking to these two women who were hanging out too. We ended up talking for several hours with them, inviting them to have dinner with us at our table. We talked about everything under the sun, I mean the full November moon!

~~~ This brought us up to our last full day on the coast, and by then we were a bit tired, after all the long hikes, early and late hours, and to some extent partying. After all the same activities as the day before before sunrise and after, and having a nice breakfast, we headed out for what we thought would be a short walk. As things sometimes turn out, this short jaunt, turned out to be a long hike down the coast, along the entire nine acres of our ocean front property. It was totally fun to just have the time to explore, to sit and ponder the beauty, and of course have another long talk about nature, weather, spirituality, and likely women…knowing Bob and I. This last morning started off in the hot tub, admiring the huge ocean, and lots of waves breaking on the rocks right there in front. We drove north, stopping off in Point Arena at the co-op, saying goodbye to a old friend of mine who owns the store, Peter. We drove north and then east to the small town of Boonville, in the lovely wine grape growing Anderson Valley…known best for its Pinot Noir. We stopped at our favorite vineyard, called Goldeneye, and sat out in the courtyard soaking in the beauty of the grape vines, in their splendid green, yellow, and red leaves…on an exceptionally sunny and abnormally warm day. We tasted some of the wine, and got talking to one of the lady wine servers there, named Jeana, not exactly sure of the spelling. The three of us hit it off so well we ended spending almost three hours there speaking about everything wine, and our own lives too. Bob works for the County of Sacramento, in the area of Geographical Information Systems (GIF), and teaches at San Francisco State College, and two other colleges in the central Valley. He has been accepted to teach classes at UC Davis too, and has applied to Berkeley as well. Jeana lived with her husband and three kids on 40 acres on a ridge above Boonville. Their place is powered by the sun exclusively, and is country living at its finest. Me, well, you know what I do already. We then drove south to Linda’s house in Marin, and sat out on her deck and shared a bottle of red wine, before taking a good walk, and then back for dinner.

~~~ We all got up early Wednesday morning, wanting to fit in one more hike, this time back to Tennessee Valley. We had to get back early so Bob could get cleaned up, fed, coffee’d, and ready for the drive back to Sacramento to begin work at noon. He taught that evening, so it was going to be a long day for h. Linda and I will be doing some stuff, but to tell you the truth, I feel like I need to recouperate a little. This time with Bob, which we do every year, was as I mentioned before, the best of the best, and is probably what I look forward to doing the most of anything that I do in a typical year. I really couldn’t write about everything, as I would have needed twice the space, although now that I think of it, spotting that coyote out in a field along highway 1 was great too…once we got the binoculars on him. So, I’m going to go out on the deck now, and wait for Linda to get back home. I need to go get a new cell phone battery charger, which I accidently left up north. I’ll get back online at least once or twice more before flying back to Maui, and trust that all of you are enjoying yourselves! Be well my friends, Aloha, Glenn.

November 4-6 Picking up the story again, Wednesday afternoon the weather began to look like rain…which finally began later in the day. I stayed home and relaxed, although finally got out to rake all the leaves off the grass before the light rains began. We, Linda and I also mowed the lawns, I grabbed a bottle of wine from the cellar, and we made dinner together. Dinner consisted of Miso soup, with tofu, bock choy, and noodles. We were tired after that, and sat watching a little television, before I went to bed early, to catch up on some much needed sleep. Thursday morning, we headed out on a new walk, taking in the sights along the way. Breakfast consisted of fruit salad, oatmeal, and coffee…along with a previously purchased fancy pastry from the shopping center. Linda took off for yoga, and I retired to reading on the deck, in the nice warm sunshine. We took a drive to San Rafael, to one of the best farmers markets in the area. When we got home, we had a quick java boost, before driving over to Tennessee Valley, with leftover drizzle in the air…but we were determined. Linda suggest a route in the valley that she hadn’t hiked in over 10 years. Along the way we saw four big wild turkeys, which mesmerized me. Further up the trail, we saw a Western Blue Bird, a Mule deer with a large rack of antlers…then we began looking for a Bobcat in the late afternoon sunshine, punctuated by a lovely a rainbow. We didn’t see a cat, but ended up spotting a coyote…which was a major treat! Just after enjoying the coyote company, a Great Horned Owl began hooting in the nearby forest as we were leaving. The day seemed to warrant the opening of a 375ML bottle of 2006 Anderson Valley Goldeneye Pinot Noir, which was delicious. We then cooked a grass fed ribeye steak, plated with small yukon gold potatoes, a salad, and tiny steamed brussel sprouts, sprinkled with grated cheese. Later in the evening, we turned on her computer and watched youtube video’s.

~~~ Friday morning we started off early by walking along a marsh creek, where we saw about 25 Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets, and a Coopers Hawk…don’t forget that Linda is a birder! We came back for an oatmeal breakfast, watched Democracy Now with Amy Goodman on the television. I called a friend who used to work at the Pacific Disaster Center on Maui, who now works in downtown San Francisco. Linda dropped me off at the Ferry building, and I ferried to San Francisco, with a heavy drizzle falling. I got a window seat and immediately started talking with a gentleman who pulled in across from me. We chatted through the entire voyage across the bay about this and that. We docked, and I was astonished by the crowds of people, and the level of loud talking surrounding me. I found a reasonably quite nook, and called my friend Jeff Logan on the cell phone, who walked from his office, and met me. We hadn’t seen each other in many years, so it was great to catch up some while having a Thai lunch together. We then went to his office, called CustomWeather, where I met many of his fellow workers. We spent about two hours there, which was great, looking out of his office windows at all the people walking by below, and the surrounding tall buildings. Then we took the bus from SF across the Golden Gate Bridge, to Larkspur, near Corte Madre and San Rafael. We met his wife Mele at a restaurant called Benissimo, where we had a nice Italian dinner and a glass of red wine. Later, after dinner and great conversation, we headed over to a place where meditation was taking place, along with a talk by a man named David. Afterwards we went to Jeff and Mele’s place for Chamomile tea. They both have Harley Davidson motorcycles, and showed me a great slide show of their travels to the Sierra Nevada mountains, and the canyonlands of Utah. It was a very long day, and I was pooped when I got back to Linda’s at around 1130pm. I heard Linda get in past midnight, after her Tango dance evening in San Francisco.

November 7-8 Saturday was rather a low key day, at least through most of the morning into the early afternoon hours. Linda and I got invited over to some friend’s house for dinner and a glass of wine. We drove part way, and then walked the rest of the way. There were five lovely ladies at this dinner party, which was especially enjoyable for me! We all knew each other, although I did meet one new friend. This person was driving one of the ladies to the SF airport, for a long flight to Sri Lanka, where she will be teaching yoga for the next five months. My friends Jeff and Mele, who live nearby had called me earlier in the day and invited me to go to see a new film with them. They picked me up, and we went to see the new Michael Jackson film called This Is It. This film was excellent, especially because I have admired MJ’s music and dancing skills from way back. A couple of their lady friends had saved us a seat, which was fortunate, as the theatre was totally packed. I loved the film, and hope to see it again when I get back to Maui. The five of us then went to a restaurant/bar nearby, and sat around raving about the film over a glass of wine. All of the above would have generally made for a good day, but no, we weren’t quite through yet. We all went over to one of the ladies house for more fun, which turned out to be dancing in her front room to MJ video’s. I’m not sure where she got these long playing video’s, but they were excellent. Jeff and Mele drove me back to Linda’s after all this, and I slipped under the warm down comforter on my big bed, which felt so good!

~~~ Today is my last full day of vacation, so that I’m right at the tail-end of my time away from the islands. Linda and I just hung around through the morning, having another wonderful breakfast together. I love sitting out on her deck watching all the birds while I sip on my coffee each morning. We had a mutual friend stop over during the afternoon, who had just flown in from Australia. His girlfriend had just picked him up from the airport in SF, and they were on their way home to Santa Rosa. Shortly thereafter Linda and I took off for a long walk out in nature. I wish I could tell you where we went, but unfortunately I didn’t catch the name of this place. I would ask Linda, but she’s out Tango dancing again this evening. I do know however that it was along the slopes of Mount Tamalpais, which are exceptionally beautiful. We ended up stopping by one of Linda’s friends on the way home, who lives in a small canyon. His name is Nick, and he served Linda a small glass of red wine, while we went out in his back yard and observed all the birds that frequent that area. Nick has all kinds of bird feeders placed in the trees surrounding his house, so there is a marvelous number of bird species that were flitting around like crazy. They were busy talking about birds, and using their binoculars to take closer looks. We made it back to Linda’s, where I retired to the back deck with a glass of red wine myself. This particular bottle, which I got out of the cellar, was a very nice Atascadero Creek 2002 Sonoma County Green Valley, Pinot Noir from Railroad Vineyard. I’m sitting here now, after watching the sunset, and snipping the most incredibly fragrant red rose in Linda’s yard!

~~~ I’m waiting for Linda to get home, so had some time to write these last two paragraphs. We’ll have dinner together, probably watch some television, and then it will be time to gear up on Monday, for the flight back to Kahului, Maui. One of my neighbors is picking me up from the airport at around 5pm, leading into Tuesday…my first day back to work. This will be the last sharing that I will be doing before slipping back into my regular routine Tuesday. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my vacation as much as I have enjoyed using these writings as sort of a journal. By the way, we have some potentially heavy rains coming to the Hawaiian Islands around Wednesday and Thursday, with possible flooding and maybe even a thunderstorm or two! I’ll catch up with you either Monday evening, or certainly by early Tuesday morning. Be well until then, Aloha for now…Glenn.

November 9 Hi everyone, I’m home here in Kula, Maui, and it’s so warm in Hawaii…at least compared to northern California. I have more to say, but my neighbors have invited me for dinner, as I have no food, and need to shop soon. When I turned my computer on I found it to be not working properly. This of course leaves me high and dry in terms of updating this website, at least at home. I’m using my neighbors right now, and hopefully I’ll have mine fixed soon. I should be able to get on another computer again Tuesday, so will be back online then. Be well, Aloha, Glenn.

October 18-19, 2009

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday afternoon:

Lihue, Kauai – 83
Honolulu, Oahu – 89
Kaneohe, Oahu – 84
Kaunakakai, Molokai – 88
Kahului, Maui – 89
Hilo, Hawaii – 87
Kailua-kona – 88

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level around the state – and on the highest mountains…at 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon:

Port Allen, Kauai – 88F
Kaneohe, Oahu – 81

Haleakala Crater – 59 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 41 (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)

Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Sunday afternoon:

0.31 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.30 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.12 Molokai
0.02 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
1.04 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.17 Pahoa, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a high pressure systems located generally to the northeast of the islands. These highs and ridges will keep the trade winds active Sunday and Monday…locally strong and gusty.

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with this Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around the state during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean. Finally, here’s a L o op ing I R satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image.

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two webcams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon weather conditions.

Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here.

Aloha Paragraphs

South shore waves…high surf advisory

The trade winds will continue into the first couple of days of the new work week ahead…locally on the blustery side for the time being. The NWS office in Honolulu has extended the small craft wind advisory to all the major channels across the island chain now…in addition to a few of those locally windier coastal areas around Maui and the Big Island. The winds may gradually take on a more southeast orientation as we get towards Tuesday, last for several days. A new tropical depression, called 3C has developed to the south of the state of Hawaii, strengthening over the next couple of days. This feature, along with an approaching cold front to our northwest, will cause our winds to weaken, and turn more southeast. This may carry some volcanic haze up from the Big Island over the other islands for a couple of days by mid-week. The trade winds are expected to return towards the end of the new work week ahead.

The overlying atmosphere remains quite dry and stable for the time being…with likely just a few windward biased showers at times. The trade wind flow will continue into Monday, bringing fairly normal weather conditions to the Aloha state. Satellite imagery shows that there are just scattered moisture pockets upstream, with nothing unusual in that regard now. The leeward sides should remain generally nice, with lots of sunshine beaming down during the days. The northern fringe of the new tropical depression 3C, moving by to our southwest, may bring an increase in clouds and showers later Tuesday into Wednesday or Thursday.

It’s that time of the year again, when I’ll be taking my annual vacation to the mainland…once again to California. I’ll be leaving tomorrow afternoon, and be gone for about three weeks. I’ll be visiting my good friends, and also spending some quality time with my family in Long Beach as well. This will be a time when I renew my batteries, and spend time away from my weather schedule here in the islands. I’ll have more to say about this going forward, but just wanted to give you a heads up ahead of time. I’ll leave this paragraph here, so that those who drop by every few days, will know of my plans, and won’t be surprised. By the way, you will be able to continue getting the latest weather forecasts for each of the islands, by going to the left hand margin of any of the pages on this website, and clicking on the island you want to know about.

It’s early Sunday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I begin writing the last section of today’s narrative update. As noted above, we’ve seen a lovely day Sunday, with gorgeous trade wind weather prevailing. This satellite image shows the tropical depression about 600 miles south of our islands. As noted above, this area will likely strengthen into a tropical storm…and even into a hurricane well to the west of Hawaii with time. I’ll keep this looping satellite image here, so we can keep track of this tropical vortex to our south. Here’s the latest track map for this new tropical depression 3C…the islands are hidden under the box in the right hand corner by the way. ~~~ As Sunday winds down, after being quite sunny in most areas, the big news continues in the marine environment, where a significant south swell is bringing breaking waves to the south and west shores. The other feature of note, is the gusty trade winds that are whipping up the surface of our surrounding ocean as well. Then, of course, we have that tropical vortex down to our south at the moment too. Speaking of storms, we also find a super typhoon in the western Pacific, taking aim on the northern part of Luzon Island, in the Philippines. Last but not least, we have a major hurricane in the eastern Pacific, likely to impact the southern part of the Baja peninsula soon. So, we have active tropical cyclone activity here in the Pacific, while the Atlantic remains calm. ~~~ This will be my last narrative update until my vacation begins tomorrow. I’ll come back in the morning and prepare this website for my departure. You will be able to get all the current weather forecasts for all the islands however, by going to the left hand margin of any page, and click on the area that you would like to find out about. I’ll have more information about my vacation plans here in the morning, and then when possible, I’ll sent notes about where I am, and what I’m up to along the way. I hope you have a good Sunday night! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Another potential "super typhoon" is threatening to make landfall in areas in Luzon. Luzon was among the worst areas to be hit by two devastating storms in the last three weeks. It was storm 22W, but now it has been given the international name of Lupit.
The storm will be named Ramil once it enters Philippine territory. It would be the 18th storm to enter the country this year.

PAGASA’s weather satellite spotted the storm at 1,350 kilometers east of Visayas, packing center winds of 65 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 80 kph. As of 2 a.m. Friday morning, it located approximately 945 nautical miles of Luzon in the Philippines. It has tracked west-northwestward at 15 knots over the past six hours.

The government have forewarned residents already devastated by storms Ondoy (international code name Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) to be prepared "for an intense storm – typhoon." The new storm, which was first spotted over the Marianas Islands, threatens to hit Luzon areas as its residents scrambles to recover from the twin storms that devastated thousands of hectares of residential and agricultural areas for the last three weeks.

As of 2 a.m. Friday, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said a total of 392 people have been confirmed killed by landslides and floods caused by Pepeng’s or Parma’s heavy rains. Ondoy’s death toll was pegged at 341, bringing the total of deaths from the two storms to 733. This information is according to ABS/CBM news team in Asia. The number of missing people from after the two storms is estimated at 89. The twin storms also damaged at least $20 billion worth of crops and infrastructure.

Interesting2: Philanthropist and businessman George Soros announced this week that he would be the next in a line of wealthy front-runners to fund initiatives in clean technology. Soros is the founder of hedge fund Soros Fund Management LLC, and has been known for making monetary contributions to other charitable efforts that effect the well-being of society, such as health care and education; now he’s shifting his focus to play a part in reducing the impact of climate change.

Soros will establish the Climate Policy Initiative, an organization that will work with the US, China, India, Brazil and Europe and ensure that public interests are represented as new issues that affect climate change are established.

According to Thomas Holler, who will lead the initiative, "It will be part advisory service, part policy developer and part watchdog," Soros’ major role in the Climate Policy Initiative will be through his contribution of $10 million for year for the next 10 years.

Soros has also pledged to invest $1 billion in clean energy technology, contributing to the estimated $1 trillion needed to keep the globe’s temperatures in check; ensuring that they don’t rise beyond 2 degrees Celsius per year as a result of global warming.

Interesting3: Contrary to what was previously assumed, being overweight is not increasing the overall death rate in the German population. Matthias Lenz of the Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Natural Sciences of the University of Hamburg and his co-authors present these and other results in the current issue of Deutsches Ärtzeblatt International.

Most Germans are overweight, with a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 29.9 kg/m2. About 20% are obese (BMI of 30 or over), with age- and gender-related differences. The authors systematically evaluated 42 studies of the relationships between weight, life expectancy, and disease.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung published an advance notice of the report, which shows that overweight does not increase death rates, although obesity does increase them by 20%. As people grow older, obesity makes less and less difference. For coronary heart disease, overweight increases risk by about 20% and obesity increases it by about 50%.

On the other hand, a larger BMI is associated with a lower risk of bone and hip fracture. In relation to cancer, the overall death rate among extremely obese men (BMI above 40) is no higher than among those of normal weight.

Men who are overweight even have a 7% lower death rate. No significant association was found in women. According to the authors’ analysis, overall mortality is unchanged by overweight, but increased by 20% by obesity, while extreme obesity raises it by up to 200%.

Interesting4: According to climate change experts, our planet has a fever — melting glaciers are just one stark sign of the radical changes we can expect. But global warming’s effects on farming and water resources is still a mystery. A new Tel Aviv University invention, a real-time "Optical Soil Dipstick" (OSD), may help solve the mystery and provide a new diagnostic tool for assessing the health of our planet.

According to Prof. Eyal Ben-Dor of TAU’s Department of Geography, his soil dipstick will help scientists, urban planners and farmers understand the changing health of the soil, as well as its agricultural potential and other associated concerns. "I was always attracted to drug development and diagnostics, which spurred the development of this OSD device," he says.

"It’s like a diagnostic device that measures soil health. Through a small hole in the surface of the earth, we can assess what lies beneath it." As climate change alters our planet radically, Prof. Ben-Dor explains, this dipstick could instantly tell geographers what parts of the U.S. are best — or worst — for farming.

For authorities in California, it is already providing proof that organic farms are chemical-free, and it could be used as a whistle-blower to catch environmental industrial polluters. The efficacy of the OSD was recently reported in the Soil Science Society of America Journal.

Interesting5: People are more likely to wash their hands when they have been shamed into it, according to a study by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, looked at responses to electronic hygiene messages displayed in UK service station toilets.

A million people die every year from diarrheal disease and respiratory infection. Hand washing with soap is the cheapest and best way of controlling these diseases. It also prevents the spread of flu, and hospital-acquired infections such as Clostridium difficile.

However, "it’s difficult to know what kind of message is most effective at changing this everyday behavior, so it’s important to experimentally test what works best in a real setting. That way you can save money and make sure your program will be effective prior to rolling out any public health campaign at great expense," says Robert Aunger, leader of the study.

A quarter of a million people were counted using the toilets and their use of soap was monitored by on-line sensors. Only 32% of men washed their hands with soap whilst women were twice as good, with 64% washing their hands.

A variety of messages, ranging from ‘Water doesn’t kill germs, soap does’ to ‘Don’t be a dirty soap dodger’, were flashed onto LED screens at the entrance of the toilets and the effects of the messages on behavior were measured.

‘Is the person next to you washing with soap?’ was best overall, showing how people respond to whether they thought others were watching. There were intriguing differences in behavior by gender, with women responding to reminders, while men tended to react best to messages that invoked disgust, for example ‘soap it off or eat it later’.

Interesting6: Drinking water from plastic bottles made with the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) increases urinary levels of the chemical by nearly 70 percent, according to a study conducted by researchers from Harvard University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. BPA, an industrial chemical that makes plastics hard and transparent, is widely used in plastic drinking bottles, infant bottles and other consumer products, and also in resins that line cans of food and infant formula.

The chemical has been shown to disrupt the hormonal system, potentially leading to reproductive defects as well as brain damage, cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes. The study, conducted on 77 student volunteers, was published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Interesting7: NOAA’s Fisheries Service announced yesterday that two of three populations totaling more than 200,000 spotted seals in and near Alaska are not currently in danger of extinction or likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. The announcement follows an 18-month status review. However, NOAA is proposing to list a third smaller population of 3,300 seals off China and Russia as threatened.

"The northern two spotted seal populations exceed 200,000 individuals. We do not predict the expected fluctuations in sea ice will affect them enough to warrant listing at this time," said Doug Mecum, acting administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service Alaska region. Spotted seals have three distinct populations.

The 100,000-strong Bering Sea population segment lives near Kamchatka and in the Gulf of Anadyr in Russia and in the eastern Bering Sea in United States waters. Another distinct population segment of roughly 100,000 seals has breeding populations in both the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk.

The southern-most population of about 3,300 seals is centered in Liaodong Bay, China and Peter the Great Bay, Russia.The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental organization, petitioned to have spotted seals listed under the Endangered Species Act in 2007, expressing concern for the species’ habitat from climate warming and loss of sea ice.

Interesting8: Coffee accounts for 80% of all Fair Trade certified products sold in the US, and with 40 million pounds of Fair Trade coffee purchases in 2009, Starbucks is by far the largest buyer of Fair Trade coffee on the planet. Starbucks’ commitment to Fair Trade is commendable, and in fact seems exceptional, in a world where the vast majority of companies engage in less-than-ethical business practices.

TransFair USA, the only third-party Fair Trade certifier in the US, calls the relationship between the non-profit and Starbucks "deeply transformational" to thousands of farmers and their communities. Fair Trade ensures that farmers around the world receive a reasonable price for their products, which in turn helps producers to invest in their communities, pay for their children’s education, and become better stewards of the land.

Not only are coffee growers getting a better price, coffee drinkers are getting a better cup of coffee. Today some of the highest quality coffees available are Fair Trade certified. In honor of Fair Trade Month, TransFair USA CEO, Paul Rice, and Starbucks Senior Vice President of Coffee & Tea, Dub Hay, met on Monday to discuss the virtues of Fair Trade and how the relationship between the non-profit and the world’s most well known coffee slinger has grown in recent years. The discussion was broadcast live over the Internet, fielding questions submitted via Twitter, Facebook, and live chat.

October 17-18, 2009

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday afternoon:

Lihue, Kauai – 83
Honolulu, Oahu – 88
Kaneohe, Oahu – 82
Kaunakakai, Molokai – 86
Kahului, Maui – 88
Hilo, Hawaii – 84
Kailua-kona – 87

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level around the state – and on the highest mountains…at 5 p.m. Saturday evening:

Port Allen, Kauai – 86F
Princeville, Kauai – 79

Haleakala Crater – 54 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 41 (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)

Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Saturday afternoon:

0.32 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.03 Manoa Valley, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.09 Kahoolawe
0.06 West Wailuaiki, Maui
1.02 Waiakea Uka, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a high pressure system located to the northeast of the islands. This high and its ridge will keep the trade winds active Sunday and Monday…locally strong and gusty.

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with this Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around the state during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean. Finally, here’s a L o op ing I R satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image.

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two webcams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon weather conditions.

Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here.

Aloha Paragraphs

South shore waves…high surf advisory

The trade winds will continue through the weekend…becoming locally strong and gusty. This weather map shows a 1022 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of the state Saturday night. This will increase our local wind speeds, bringing them up into the moderately strong category…locally stronger and gusty into Monday. The NWS office in Honolulu has issued a small craft wind advisory for the gusty trade winds, active over those windiest areas in Maui County and the Big Island. The winds may gradually take on a more southeast to east-southeast orientation as we get towards the middle of the new work week ahead.

As the trade winds have returned, and will continue through this weekend…we’re now into a well established trade wind weather pattern. These trade winds will begin carrying moisture off the ocean in our direction, with a normal increase in clouds and a few showers along our windward coasts and slopes at times. This autumn trade wind flow will continue through the weekend, bringing fairly normal weather conditions to the Aloha state. Satellite imagery shows that there are cloud bands to our east, which will bring showers to the windward sides Saturday night into Sunday morning…a few of which may be locally heavy. The Big Island will see the arrival of these showers first, as the showers ride westward on the gusty trade winds. The leeward sides should remain generally nice, although may see a few showers arriving at times.

It’s that time of the year again, when I’ll be taking my annual vacation to the mainland…once again to California. I’ll be leaving on Monday, and be gone for about three weeks. I’ll be visiting my good friends, and also spending some quality time with my family in Long Beach as well. This will be a time when I renew my batteries, and spend time away from my weather schedule here in the islands. I’ll have more to say about this going forward, but just wanted to give you a heads up ahead of time. I’ll leave this paragraph here, so that those who drop by every few days, will know of my plans, and won’t be surprised. By the way, you will be able to continue getting the latest weather forecasts for each of the islands, by going to the left hand margin of any of the pages on this website, and clicking on the island you want to know about.

It’s early Saturday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I begin writing the last section of today’s narrative update. As noted above, we are involved in a lovely weekend, with gorgeous trade wind weather prevailing. This satellite image shows that there is still a large area of thunderstorms, located down to the southeast of the islands. The computer models have certainly backed off on their suggestions of a tropical system moving up into our area…at least for the moment. These models can fluctuate at times, so there may be more to say over the next couple of days. There’s always the chance that some of that moisture from the deep tropics may shift northward, and bring some showers our way around the middle of the new week. I think it would be wise to keep this looping satellite image close at hand, just to see if we spot any signs of spin to the clouds to our southeast. ~~~ I had a haircut in Paia this morning, and then went straight to the beach at Baldwin. I found very few people there, much less than a normal Saturday lately. At any rate, I took a long walk down to what’s called Baby Beach, and thoroughly enjoyed the great weather. I got into the surf for a while, and it felt so wonderful to be in that warm ocean, and to ride a couple of breaking waves! I went shopping, and then drove back up here to Kula, and have been enjoying the afternoon. It’s just before sunset now, and I’m about ready to head out for my early evening walk. I’ll be back Sunday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise, I hope you have a great Saturday night! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Another potential "super typhoon" is threatening to make landfall in areas in Luzon. Luzon was among the worst areas to be hit by two devastating storms in the last three weeks. It was storm 22W, but now it has been given the international name of Lupit.
The storm will be named Ramil once it enters Philippine territory. It would be the 18th storm to enter the country this year.