June 10-11 2008


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

Lihue, Kauai – 83
Honolulu, Oahu – 88
Kaneohe, Oahu – 81
Kahului, Maui – 87
Hilo, Hawaii – 83
Kailua-kona – 85

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 85F  
Kaneohe, Oahu – 78

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:

1.22  Mount Waialaele, Kauai
1.26 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.08 Molokai
0.11 Lanai
0.12 Kahoolawe
2.26 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.56 Waiakea Uka, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1033 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of the islands. This high pressure cell, along with its associated ridge, will keep moderately strong trade winds blowing across our area…locally stronger and gusty in those windiest areas around Maui and the Big Island. 

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with the 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. 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.

Aloha Paragraphs

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  Not yet ripe stock of apple bananas
Photo Credit: flickr.com

Trade winds will remain active through Wednesday, then slip a notch during the second half of the week. A moderately strong 1034 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of the islands, and is the source of our trade wind flow Tuesday night. The computer models are suggesting that the trade winds will ease up, as an upper level trough of low pressure moves by to our north…which will cause lighter trade winds Thursda into the weekend.

The windward sides on some of the islands have moistened up, especially on the Big Island. At the same time, some showers have developed along the Kona area on the Big Island as well. Incoming clouds carried by the trade winds will bring a few showers to the other islands, but nothing heavy is indicated for the time being. As an upper level trough gets closer to the islands, later this week, we may see some additional shower enhancement occurring then…although modest in proportion.

~~~ The computer forecast models have changed their tune a little recently, indicating somewhat lighter winds, and a better chance of showers later this week. I’m reluctant to heavily promote this lighter wind, and more showery episode however…as the same thing happened last week, and it was a bust! I’m willing to go along with this outlook for the time being, although will be a little leary until I actually see further evidence. Part of the problem is that climatology tells us that June is the driest month of the year in most areas, although the one exception is around the Big Island. 

~~~ It’s early Tuesday evening, as I just finished work here in Kihei, Maui. Looking out the window I can see the trade winds whipping-up some dust in the central valley between Kahului and Kihei. The sky is mostly clear otherwise, with just the usual popcorn kernal cumulus clouds floating along. Tuesday night will be fair, with just some windward biased showers falling here and there. Wednesday is a local Hawaiian holiday, called the Kamehameha Day Celebration…to honor the King in his North Kohala birth place, on the Big Island. If you’re interested in finding out more about this holiday, please click on this link. At any rate, I have the day off from the TV weather show, as the Maui Community College is closed, and off from my regular job in Kihei, at the Pacific Disaster Center too. I haven’t figured out what I’ll do, but I’m sure I can come up with something fun! I’ll meet you back here early Wednesday morning with the next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have a great Tuesday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: A washing machine using as little as a cup of water for each washing cycle could go on sale to environmentally conscious Britons next year. Xeros Ltd, which has been spun out of the University of Leeds to commercialize the technology, said on Monday the new machines would use less than 2 percent of the water and energy of a conventional washing machine. Plastic chips are used to remove dirt and stains from clothes, leaving them dry and reducing energy consumption as there is no need to use a dryer after the washing cycle, Xeros said in a statement. The firm, which recently secured investment of almost 500,000 pounds ($984,400) from IP Group Plc, told Reuters the price of the new machines was "not expected to be dramatically different from (conventional) washing machines." Washing machine usage has risen by 23 percent in the past 15 years. The average UK household uses almost 21 liters of water daily on clothes washing, 13 percent of daily household water consumption, according to Waterwise, a non-government organization focused on decreasing water wastage in Britain. A typical washing machine uses about 35 kilograms of water for every kilogram of clothes, in addition to the power needed to heat the water and dry the clothes. There are more than two million washing machines sold in Britain annually, with a value of about 1 billion pounds, Xeros said.

Interesting2: The rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice observed in recent summers could triple the rate of warming over northern Alaska, Canada and Russia, a new study suggests. Such intensive warming could endanger sensitive ecosystems and human infrastructure in those regions. It’s the warm version of the snowball effect. "Our study suggests that, if sea-ice continues to contract rapidly over the next several years, Arctic land warming and permafrost thaw are likely to accelerate," said study leader David Lawrence of the NationalCenter for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. The North Pole is a region of ice floating on the sea, an expanse of ice that in winter connects in some places with continental Arctic ice. The new research was spurred by the record melt of Arctic sea ice last summer, which shrank to more than 30 percent below its average. Around the peak in ice melt, which occurred in September, air temperatures over land in the western Arctic were also unusually warm from August to October, reaching more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above the 1978-2006 average. This raised the question of whether or not these phenomena were related.