Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs

The trade winds will boost up a little in strength later Sunday, and then a more significant increase by Tuesday through Thursday. Weather maps show the continued presence of an unusually large 1034 millibar high pressure system far to the NNE of Hawaii Saturday evening. This high pressure cell will keep the trade winds active through the next week, and likely longer. We can look for a modest increase in trade wind speeds Sunday, perhaps triggering a small craft wind advisory in some of the major channels then. As tropical cyclone Flossie moves by just to the south of the state Tuesday, Wednesday into Thursday, we will see our local trade winds become quite blustery…especially in the southern part of the state around Maui and the Big Island. We may see small craft wind advisories in all of Hawaii’s coastal waters, with even the chance of a gale warning in the Alenuihaha Channel between Maui and the Big Island then as well. 

The Perseid Meteor Shower will reach its maximum intensity Sunday night into early Monday morning. Weather conditions permitting, showers of meteors appearing as bright streaks of light in the sky are expected to number as many as 100 an hour, made more visible by a new moon this year.  Last year’s shower was marred by the glare of an 87 percent full moon, making the meteors nearly impossible to see, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said. These showers are produced by dust trails left by comet Swift-Tuttle — next expected to approach the sun in August 2126. As Earth’s orbit crosses the dust that was ejected by the comet’s previous August passages it provides a spectacle for viewers on Earth.  As the particles enter the planet’s atmosphere, they burn up, producing the "fireworks." The phenomenon derives its name from the constellation Perseus, from where the meteors seem to originate.  Telescopes or binoculars aren’t necessary, but it is important to be in a dark area, without much pollution or illumination.

It’s Saturday evening here in the islands, as I begin writing this last paragraph of today’s narrative. Tropical cyclone Flossie continues to move in our general direction as a very strong, category 4 hurricane. Here’s a tracking map, showing the expected path as it continues to move through the central Pacific. Flossie is expected to drop back down into a tropical storm category just before it gets close to the islands. As you can see from the track, Flossie will move by to the south of the Hawaiian Islands Tuesday through Thursday. If the current forecast track remains accurate, with the center of Flossie staying about 100 miles south of the Big Island, we would likely see a marked increase in our local trade wind speeds here in Hawaii, especially in the southern part of the state. Here’s another tracking map, with a satellite image. It appears at this point that what is forecast to be a tropical storm then, could also bring a good amount of tropical showers to the 50th state …with most of the heaviest amounts taking aim on the Big Island and Maui. Weather charts continue to show a high pressure ridge to our north, keeping Flossie to the south of the islands. Some of the computer forecast models however have been showing the storm moving further north, therefore it is highly recommended that residents of Hawaii continue tracking the progress of this storm, as it moves westward. It should be pointed out that these tropical cyclones are notorious for changing directions, and this one could move either further north or south as it got closer to the islands…prompting a change to the weather expectations noted above. Here’s a looping satellite image of Flossie as the Hawaiian Islands come into the picture. ~~~  I’ll be back early Sunday morning with more weather updates, including the latest information on hurricane Flossie. I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you happen to be spending it. Aloha for now…Glenn.