Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday:
Lihue, Kauai – 82
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 77
Kaneohe, Oahu – 85
Molokai airport – 81
Kahului airport, Maui – 86
Kona airport – 83
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 82
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Saturday evening:
Port Allen, Kauai – 84
Hilo, Hawaii – 77
Haleakala Crater – 50 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 41 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals Saturday evening:
0.27 Mohihi Crossing, Kauai
1.41 Palehua, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.16 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.06 Oheo Gulch, Maui
1.50 Kealakekua, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1024 millibar high pressure systems far to the northeast of Hawaii…with its associated ridge running southwest over the islands. Our winds will blow from the south to southeast Sunday…gradually becoming light easterlies later Monday.
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 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 web cam on the summit of near 13,500 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 web cams 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. Of course, as we know, our hurricane season ended November 30th here in the central Pacific…and begins again June 1st.
Aloha Paragraphs
Generally clear to partly cloudy mornings, locally cloudy
afternoons, especially over the leeward interior slopes.
There will be showers…a few of which will be generous,
especially around Kauai for the time being. The winds
will be light from the south to southeast, keeping
volcanic haze around….with the trade
winds arriving Monday into Tuesday.
South to southeast breezes will blow through Sunday…with returning trade winds early in the new work week ahead. Glancing at this weather map, we find a 1024 millibar high pressure system far to the northeast of our islands…with its associated ridge of high pressure extending southwest over the islands Saturday night. Looking at the low level wind flow around our islands, we find our winds blowing from the south to southeast. A trough of low pressure to our west has pushed our trade winds away, which aren’t expected to return, at least in any significant way, until around Tuesday…lasting through the rest of the new week. These trade winds will blow away the muggy and hazy air that we currently find over us.
Light breezes for the most part now…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts, along with directions Saturday evening:
12 mph Lihue, Kauai – S
13 Waianae, Oahu – S
00 Molokai
14 Kahoolawe – SE
15 Hana, Maui – SE
00 Lanai Airport
18 South Point, Big Island – NE
We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Saturday night. This large University of Washington satellite image shows a trough of low pressure with its associated high cirrus clouds to our west through north. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see patches of lower level clouds around the islands…along with some brighter high clouds clouds associated with the trough to our northwest and north. We can use this looping satellite image to see there isn't much movement of our local clouds, which are drifting generally to the north and northwest…in the light south to southeast wind flow. Checking out this looping radar image shows light to moderately heavy showers around at the time of this writing, with most of them congregating around Kauai and Oahu.
As the winds are coming up from the south through southeast now, we continue to be in a weak convective weather pattern, which should last through Sunday…gradually returning to a trade wind weather pattern starting Monday. We’ll find daytime onshore sea breezes, followed by cooler air draining back down to the coast as a land breeze at night. As the sea breezes blow moisture from the ocean upslope during the days, clouds will form over the mountain slopes late morning through the evening hours. These clouds will lead to localized showers along our leeward upcountry sections. Some of these showers may turn out to be rather generous on Kauai and Oahu. As the trade winds return early in the upcoming new week, the bias for showers will migrate back over to the windward coasts and slopes.
This light wind regime will continue through Sunday, finally giving way to returning trade winds Monday, which will increase into Tuesday onwards…through the remainder of the new week. This will keep us firmly established in a rather stagnant weather pattern, with nothing to blow away the volcanic haze that gets carried over the smaller islands…from the Big Island vents. This vog has become rather dense in many places around the state now. We'll have to put up with this haze until the trade winds return, which should ventilate it away gradually after the weekend. ~~~ Here in Kula, Maui at 545pm Saturday evening, the air temperature was 65.7F degrees, with hazy skies, and clouds that dropped showers during the afternoon hours. I expect the clouds to clear overnight, although not the haze. Look for a general repeat in our local weather Sunday, although changes are on the horizon, as the trade winds clear things out by Monday onwards. There's quite a bit of high cirrus clouds over the state now, which should give us a colorful sunset, at least where the lower levels part way enough to see it. I'll be back again Sunday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Saturday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Extra: Kiteboarding youtube video…high definition
Interesting: Community officials in southeast New Mexico want to expand a nuclear-waste storage facility deep inside an ancient salt bed to play a bigger role in handling spent fuel from U.S. reactors, a problem now under the spotlight due to the Japanese nuclear crisis. After years of delay, the government terminated a plan for a permanent nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Operators at 104 U.S. reactors are storing used fuel rods, which remain radioactive for years, in pools of water and dry cask storage facilities in 30 states.
The largest risk in the United States from the Fukushima event is "overpacking of the spent-fuel pools," said John Heaton, a former state representative from Eddy County, New Mexico, who supports expanded use of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near the town of Carlsbad. Since 1999, WIPP, an Energy Department program, has disposed of radioactive items from military facilities far below the desert floor in a 250 million-year-old salt bed.
By law, WIPP can only handle defense-generated waste, but Heaton said the geologic formation would be able to handle high-level commercial nuclear waste, pending more study. "We are convinced more and more every day that we are on the right track," said Heaton. On Monday, California Senator Dianne Feinstein urged U.S. nuclear regulators to rethink rules that allow spent fuel to remain in pools for long periods of time. While courts wrestle with arguments over the failed Yucca Mountain plan, the industry awaits a Blue Ribbon Commission's interim report due in July on nuclear-waste disposal options.
Interesting2: The Vietnam government and local people have approved a Saola Natural Reserve to protect one of the world's most endangered—and most elusive—mammals. Only discovered by the outside world in 1992, the saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) inhabits the lush forests of the Annamite Mountains.
No one knows how many saola remain, but it has been classified as Critically Endangered as it is likely very few. Recently, conservationist William Robichaud told mongabay.com that the saola was "perhaps the most spectacular zoological discovery of the 20th century", comparing it only to the discovery of the okapi in central Africa in 1900.
The new reserve in Quang Nam Province rests on the border of Vietnam and Laos. "This new reserve will create a biodiversity corridor connecting the East of Vietnam to West side of Xe Sap National Park in Laos," explained Ms. Tran Minh Hien, Country Director of WWF Vietnam, in a statement.
There are no specimens of saola in zoos, making reintroduction impossible should the species go extinct in the wild. Over a dozen individual saolas have been held in captivity, but all died within a few months time.
Email Glenn James: 