May 31-June 1, 2009
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 83
Honolulu, Oahu – 92
Kaneohe, Oahu – 83
Kahului, Maui – 90
Hilo, Hawaii – 86
Kailua-kona – 85
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountains…at 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon:
Honolulu, Oahu – 88F
Lihue, Kauai – 81
Haleakala Crater – 59 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 43 (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:
0.03 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.18 Mililani, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.00 Maui
0.01 Kamuela, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map shows a 1022 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of Hawaii, with its associated ridge to our north and northwest of Kauai. This ridge is just far enough north of us now, that trade winds have returned to the Big Island, and Maui County. The rest of the state will have lighter winds, with returning trade winds gradually developing going forward.
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. Finally, here’s a looping IR 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.
Aloha Paragraphs
Breaking island waves
Artist Credit: Pierre Bouret
The trade winds will blow over the Big Island, and parts of Maui County going into Monday…then return more fully into the rest of the state over the next day or two. Looking at this weather map Sunday evening, we see a high pressure system to our northeast, with its associated ridge far enough north of Kauai…that light trade winds have returned to the southern part of the island chain now. These trade winds will continue blowing through the rest of the new week ahead, lasting into the following week. This of course will ventilate our Aloha state of all the recent haze. The sultry conditions of late will end too, putting us back into a more normal…late spring trade wind weather pattern.
Less clouds, and more daytime sunshine will be the name of the game now, with just a few showers…gradually making their way back to the windward sides. The threat of showers has faded now, as low pressure is replaced with a more typical high pressure ridge to our north. In the upper atmosphere, the air will be dry and stable too, helping to limit showers as well. As the trade winds gradually fill back in, we’ll likely see the return of a few windward biased showers going forward. The overall weather pattern will be a dry one however, so that we’ll see lots more sunshine during the days.
It’s Sunday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I begin writing this last section of today’s narrative. Sunday was one of those gloriously sunny days just about everywhere here in the Hawaiian Islands. Rainfall was just about absent everywhere as well, leaving almost all rain gauges dry. High temperatures rocketed way up there today with the clear skies. The Honolulu airport saw the highest reading, with just short of an all time record maximum of 92F degrees. The airport at Kahului too was hot, reaching 90 degrees. I see little change coming up over the next few days, with more hot weather, along with the return of the trade winds statewide soon too. While I was down at Paia beach today, having a walk and swim, there were white caps chalking-up the surrounding ocean surface, with light trade winds finally making an appearance.
~~~ Here in Kula, the air temperature at near 5pm Sunday afternoon, according to my outside thermometer in the shade, was a warm 74.8F degrees. Here inside my weather tower, with all the windows open, it was an even warmer 81 degrees. My wind chimes are sounding off nicely, with that breeze taking the edge off the heat a little. Gosh, this weekend seemed so short, especially as I look forward to another busy week at work coming up. The islands have their annual Makani Pahili hurricane exercise over the next several days, and as Monday is June 1st…that marks the beginning of the central Pacific hurricane season, which ends on the last day of November. ~~~ I’m going to try and stay cool through the rest of the evening, and will meet you here again early Monday morning, I hope you have a great Sunday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
This is a quote from NASA’s Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, James Hansen…as a plea to Barack and Michelle Obama: There are long lists of things people can do to mitigate climate change. But the sine qua non for solving the problem is to stop burning coal. Coal is responsible for as much atmospheric carbon dioxide as all other fossil fuels combined, and is even more of a long-term threat given the earth’s enormous coal reserves. (Oil, the second-greatest contributor to atmospheric carbon dioxide, is already depleted.) The safer upper limit for atmospheric C02 is 350 parts per million. We are currently at 385 ppm. Continued reliance on coal-fired power plants will raise atmospheric carbon dioxide to near 500 ppm. At that level, a conservative estimate for the number of species that would be exterminated is one million. Coal plants are factories of death.
The world must end coal emissions rapidly, through a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants, and a phaseout of those that do not capture and store carbon dioxide (no commercial plants do at present). This is a great challenge but one with enormous side benefits, including reduced local pollution and a sharp decrease in the toxic mercury (a byproduct of coal-fired power plants) that is now accumulating in fish stocks through-out the oceans. If coal emissions are promptly phased out, other actions–for example, improved agricultural and forestry practices–could bring the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide out of the dangerous range and save the planet we know–the planet of stable climate in which civilization developed.
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