Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 81
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 85 (record for high Wednesday 89 – 1984, 1992, 1996, 2005)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Molokai airport – 82
Kahului airport, Maui – 84
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 Wednesday afternoon:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 86
Lihue, Kauai – 78
Haleakala Crater – 45 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 36 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Wednesday evening:
0.31 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.10 South Fork Kaukonahua, Oahu
0.05 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
1.24 Puu Kukui, Maui
1.56 Saddle Quarry, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing the tail-end of a frontal boundary just to our north. At the same time we find high pressure systems to our north. Our local winds will be remain rather strong and gusty Thursday and Friday.
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. 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 shining down during the night at times. Plus, during the nights you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise and sunset 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. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here.
Aloha Paragraphs
Strong and gusty trades – windward showers at times
Wind Advisory atop the Haleakala Crater on Maui
Our local winds will remain active from the trade wind direction through this week…into early next week. Glancing at this weather map, we find a moderately strong 1029 millibar high pressure systems located to our north…which will be the primary source of our trades now. These trade winds will remain on the strong and gusty side of the wind spectrum, with small craft wind advisory flags remaining up across the entire state. The upper slopes and summit on Maui will continue to find gusty trade winds blowing as well…with a wind advisory in effect there. The Big Island summits too will be windier than usual through the next couple of days as well.
Our winds will be strong and gusty in many areas…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts, along with directions Wednesday evening:
36 Port Allen, Kauai – ENE
29 Kahuku, Oahu – NE
36 Molokai – NE
37 Kahoolawe – ESE
37 Kahului, Maui – NE
20 Lanai – NE
35 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 Wednesday night. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see clear to partly cloudy skies over and around the islands. Most of the clouds are located over the ocean, which are being carried to the windward sides in the gusty trade winds. We can use this looping satellite image to see minor areas of high clouds to our west, south and east. At lower levels of the atmosphere we can see cloud patches upstream of the islands, to the east of the state, which will carried our way at times. Checking out this looping radar image shows just a few showery clouds around the state, which are impacting the windward sides in places.
Sunset Commentary: A constant stream of air is flowing over the Hawaiian Islands now from the east, as it has been, and will continue to do so. These of course are our normal spring time trade winds. It would be very unusual to see them skid to a stop this close to summer. We can take a quite glance at this looping satellite image to visualize this air flow, from well south of Hawaii…to the north of the islands.
These breezes, blowing generally from moderately strong, or somewhat stronger than that, especially in gusts around Maui and the Big Island, will carry some showers. Most of these showers will be light to moderately heavy, although there always that chance of a few pelting down more intensely…especially along the windward sides at night. There are no hard and fast rules against having a few showers flying over into the leeward sides at times too. The latest computer model output suggests that we might see an enhancement of these showers after this coming weekend, right about on the holiday Monday…which might or might not actually take place. Likely the bottom line here is that we’ll see lots of daytime sunshine during the days.
Here in Kihei, Maui, at 535pm Wednesday evening, it was mostly clear in just about all directions, even the top of the Haleakala Crater was visible from down here near the beach. There continued to be stiff trade wind breezes today, which will carry forward into Thursday as well. It won't be long before I take the drive back upcountry to Kula. I look forward to catching up with you again early in the morning Thursday. I hope you have a great Wednesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn/
Interesting: A new study aimed at refining the way scientists measure ice loss in Greenland is providing a "high-definition picture" of climate-caused changes on the island. And the picture isn't pretty. In the last decade, two of the largest three glaciers draining that frozen landscape have lost enough ice that, if melted, could have filled Lake Erie.
The three glaciers — Helheim, Kangerdlugssuaq and Jakobshavn Isbrae — are responsible for as much as one-fifth of the ice flowing out from Greenland into the ocean. "Jakobshavn alone drains somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of all the ice flowing outward from inland to the sea," explained Ian Howat, an assistant professor of earth sciences at Ohio State University.
His study appears in the current issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters. As the second largest holder of ice on the planet, and the site of hundreds of glaciers, Greenland is a natural laboratory for studying how climate change has affected these ice fields.
Researchers focus on the "mass balance" of glaciers, the rate of new ice being formed as snow falls versus the flow of ice out into the sea. The new study suggests that, in the last decade, Jakobshavn Isbrae has lost enough ice to equal 11 years' worth of normal snow accumulation, approximately 300 gigatons (300 billion tons) of ice.
Interesting2: A new survey from Accenture finds that the majority of consumers are interested in buying plug-in electric vehicles (PEV). But how consumers charge those vehicles is a complicated issue, with charging infrastructure and cost being top concerns. Accenture surveyed 7,000 consumers in 13 countries and found that consumer preferences for charging PEVs could increase the cost and complexity of managing the electricity grid and charging infrastructure.
Here are the figures: 60% of consumers would consider buying a PEV for their next car purchase. 68% would probably or certainly do so within the next three years (23% certainly, 45% probably). Respondents in China are by far the most enthusiastic, 96% of them probably or certainly considering a purchase in the next three years.
Consumers' preferences for charging PEVs, however, could challenge utilities and charging service providers by increasing grid congestion and peak time electricity demand… Consumers would also need more supportive charging infrastructure in order to adopt fully electric PEVs.
Only 29% of car drivers would buy fully electric PEVs. 71% would prefer plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs), which run on gasoline / diesel once the battery runs low. 85% say fully electric PEVs have insufficient battery range to cover their daily driving needs.
But 83% cite the insufficient availability of charging points and 70% think charging times for full plug-in EVs are too long. Accenture surveyed 7,000 consumers in 13 countries and found that consumer preferences for charging PEVs could increase the cost and complexity of managing the electricity grid and charging infrastructure.
Here are the figures: 60% of consumers would consider buying a PEV for their next car purchase. 68% would probably or certainly do so within the next three years (23% certainly, 45% probably). Respondents in China are by far the most enthusiastic, 96% of them probably or certainly considering a purchase in the next three years.
Consumers' preferences for charging PEVs, however, could challenge utilities and charging service providers by increasing grid congestion and peak time electricity demand… Consumers would also need more supportive charging infrastructure in order to adopt fully electric PEVs.
Only 29% of car drivers would buy fully electric PEVs. 71% would prefer plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs), which run on gasoline / diesel once the battery runs low. 85% say fully electric PEVs have insufficient battery range to cover their daily driving needs. But 83% cite the insufficient availability of charging points and 70% think charging times for full plug-in EVs are too long.
Interesting3: The worst drought to hit central China in half a century has brought water levels in some of the country's biggest hydropower producing regions to critical levels and could exacerbate electricity shortages over the summer. The official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday that the water level at the world's biggest hydropower plant at the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei province has fallen to 152.7 meters, well below the 156-m mark required to run its 26 turbines effectively.
Total capacity at the Three Gorges hydropower project amounts to 18.2 gigawatts, the equivalent of about 15 third-generation nuclear reactors and more than a third of Hubei's total. It generated 84.4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2010, delivering power as far afield as Shanghai on the eastern coast. The water level is expected to fall further to around 145 meters by June 10, when planned discharges are scheduled to end.
The drought has struck at the time of year when China's hydropower output would normally surge. Hydro output bottoms out in January and February and peaks over the summer. During six months of last year, from May to October, 20 percent of China's electricity generation was hydropower.
Interesting4: NASA plans to send a spacecraft to an asteroid and bring back samples to Earth. The space agency said overnight that the unmanned craft won't land on the asteroid. But it will get close enough to extend a robotic arm and pluck samples from the surface. NASA wants to launch the spacecraft in 2016 and it will return to Earth about seven years later.
Pieces of asteroids known as meteorites constantly break away and make fiery plunges through Earth's atmosphere. Scientists are interested in studying them to better understand the early solar system. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said the mission is a step toward President Barack Obama's goal to explore deep space. The mission will cost about $US1 billion.
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