Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / June 20-21, 2011

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

Lihue, Kauai –                    81                  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –     86 (record for Monday – 90 in 1982, 1987)
Kaneohe, Oahu –                80
Molokai airport –                 M
Kahului airport, Maui –             84 
Kona airport                      84  
Hilo airport, Hawaii –          81

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Monday evening:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 87
Kaneohe, Oahu – 77

Haleakala Crater –     43 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 39 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)

Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Monday evening:  

0.85     Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.92     Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.26     Molokai
0.00     Lanai
0.00     Kahoolawe
1.27     Puu Kukui, Maui
1.04     Kawainui Stream, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1029 millibar high pressure system to the north of our islands. Our local winds will remain breezy Tuesday and Wednesday.

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.  Here's a tropical cyclone tracking map for the eastern and central Pacific.

 Aloha Paragraphs

Rising surf south and west facing beaches

The trade winds will remain active through the rest of this week.  Glancing at this weather map, we find high pressure systems located to our north.  These high pressure cells are in the process of consolidating. The placement of this area of high pressure, and an associated ridge…will keep our trade winds blowing in the moderately strong realms. We have a small craft wind advisory now up again across the Alenuihaha Channel, and down along the southwest side of the Big Island.

Our trade winds will remain active…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts, along with directions early Monday evening: 

27                 Port Allen, Kauai – ENE  
25                 Waianae, Oahu – WNW 
23                 Molokai – NE  
24                 Kahoolawe – NNE   
24                 Lipoa, Maui – SE
21                 Lanai – NE   
30                    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 Monday night.  Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we relatively clear skies over the state, although are more scattered clouds to our northeast through east.  We can use this looping satellite image to see low clouds moving southwest towards our windward sides. Checking out this looping radar image we see just a few showers being carried along in the trade wind flow, approaching from the east and northeast tonight. As was the case yesterday, these showers will increase later tonight into early Tuesday morning.


Sunset Commentary:  This last full day of spring 2011 has acted more like summer than most of what we saw during our soon to be over spring. High pressure remains active up to the north of the state, which will pump-out moderately strong trade winds. The NWS office has issued a small craft wind advisory over the Alenuihaha channel between Maui and the Big Island, and down along the southwest side of that southern-most island. It appears that the trade winds will continue well out into the future…through the rest of summer. This may be quite a loose statement, although climatology suggests that we’ll see the trade winds blowing a high percentage of the time now through September 21 or 22nd when summer ends.

As has been the case lately, these trade winds will continue to carry passing showers to our windward sides, most notably during the night time hours. Some may begin in the late afternoons at times, and end later in the mornings locally too. We are expecting at least somewhat of an increase in showers beginning tomorrow, which may last through Thursday or even into Friday. This will occur due to the arrival of a cold pool of air aloft, edging in our direction from the northeast.

There will be several factors at work here in terms of showers, including the amount of available clouds that around at any particular time, from not many…to lots. It will also depend upon just how cold the air is up high, which will have some bearing on the intensity of the showers…and whether or not we see a few more of those early summer thunderstorms in the upcountry slopes of the Big Island. Weather conditions should return to near normal by this upcoming weekend.

Meanwhile, late autumn storms in the southern hemisphere last week, generated a rather large and what will be a long lasting south swell. These waves will break strongly along the south shores, and in many cases along the west shores locally too. There has been talk of putting up a high surf advisory for several days along these leeward beaches. This will be a case when our visitors who aren’t used to large breaking waves, will need to use extra condition when entering the ocean. The NWS office in Honolulu has issued a high surf advisory for this south swell.

Finally, I'm still in Kihei, working way too long today, and about to take the drive back upcountry to Kula. I'm home now, and have had a chance to take a deep breath, and reflect back on the day a bit more. During my short lunch break, there were wind gusts that were very strong! I'd say gusting up to 40 mph at least, several of which had me actually having to brace myself. I haven't experienced winds like that in Kihei in a very long time, certainly nothing like that I can remember through at least the last year. It's gentle up here in Kula in contrast, with not even a hint of wind. I just finished my dinner, and am so relieved to be able to relax. Today was one of the busiest that I've had at work, which seems to be happening more and more often these days. I anticipate that Tuesday will be more mellow, I hope so at least. I'll be back early Tuesday morning with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Monday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: The number of households powered by solar energy in Bangladesh has passed the one million mark — the fastest expansion of solar power in the world, according to Bangladeshi officials. Aided by non-governmental organizations that provide low-cost loans to install solar panels, Bangladesh's rural households — most of which are off the electricity grid — have driven a dizzying expansion of solar power in recent years.

In 2002, only 7,000 households were using solar panels. The country reached the 1 million-household milestone 18 months ahead of schedule, and by 2014 Bangladeshi officials are aiming to power 2.5 million homes with solar energy. "It's the fastest expansion of solar energy anywhere in the world," said Nazmul Haq, of Bangladesh's Infrastructure Development Company.

An estimated 60 percent of Bangladesh's 150 million people have no access to reliable electricity, and a World Bank report last month said that solar panels had “changed the face of the remote, rural areas of Bangladesh." Bangladesh had gotten a World Bank loan in 2009 for solar energy in the country. The results are impressive! In 2002, just 2000 homes had solar systems, and now there are more than one million. Bangladesh now aims to have 2.5 million on solar by 2014.

Interesting2: "Ask for a camel when you expect to get a goat," runs a Somali saying that sums up the fading of ambitions for United Nations talks on slowing climate change — aim high, but settle for far less. Developing nations publicly insist the rich must agree far deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, but increasingly believe that only a weaker deal can actually be achieved to keep the existing Kyoto Protocol, or parts of it, alive beyond 2012.

"They have to ask for a camel … but will settle for a goat," Mohamed Adow, of Christian Aid, said of poor nations' strategy at a just-ended session of 180 nations in Bonn. Hopes for a treaty have dimmed since U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders failed to agree a binding pact at a summit in Copenhagen in 2009.

Rich economies are reluctant to make substantial cuts in their emissions beyond 2012 without commitments from big developing economies like China and India to also curb their fast-rising emissions. At issue now is what can be salvaged from the talks.

"This process is dead in the water," said Yvo de Boer, the former head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat who stepped down last year to work at KPMG, a consultancy and auditing firm. "It's not going anywhere," he said during the June 6-17 talks in Bonn among negotiators trying to avert more heat waves, floods, droughts and rising sea levels.

Disputes between rich and poor on sharing curbs in greenhouse gases mean gridlock over the Kyoto Protocol, the existing U.N. plan which obliges about 40 industrialized nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions until 2012.

Interesting3: The past twelve months have seen 914 species added to the threatened list by the world's authority of species endangerment, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List. Over 19,000 species are now classified in one of three threatened categories, i.e. Vulnerable, Endangered, and Critically Endangered, a jump of 8,219 species since 2000.

Species are added to the threatened list for a variety of reasons: for many this year was the first time they were evaluated, for others new information was discovered about their plight, and for some their situation in the wild simply deteriorated. While scientists have described nearly 2 million species, the IUCN Red List has evaluated only around 3 percent of these.

"The key to halting the extinction crisis is to target efforts towards eradicating the major threats faced by species and their environment; only then can their future be secured," explains Simon Stuart, Chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission in a press release.

"The IUCN Red List acts as a gateway to such efforts, by providing decision makers with a goldmine of information not only on the current status of the species, but also on existing threats and the conservation actions required."

Nineteen species of amphibians were added to the list this year, and a stunning eight of these were listed as Critically Endangered, including a yellow-and-orange harlequin toad (Atelopus patazensis) from Peru and a dwarf salamander (Dendrotriton chujorum) from Guatemala.

According to the Red List, amphibians are among the world's most threatened groups: 41 percent of the world's frogs and salamanders are currently facing extinction. Habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, and a lethal plague, known as chytridiomycosis, have decimated amphibian populations worldwide.

The IUCN Red List has evaluated 93 percent of the world's nearly 7,000 amphibians. However, a recent study predicted that a further 3,000 amphibians likely still remain unknown to scientists. This year was the first time that New Caledonia's endemic reptiles were evaluated. For those species where there was sufficient data to make a determination, 67 percent were threatened with extinction.

The forests of New Caledonia—incredibly rich in species found no-where else—were recently listed by Conservation International as the world's 2nd most threatened forest biodiversity hot spot, since only 5 percent of the islands' forests remain. Deforestation, widespread nickel mining, and introduced species, have decimated the islands' unique residents.

Interesting4: Let's face it, the Great Recession has not been a plus for the green movement overall. Most ordinary Americans are still sympathetic to the cause, but their willingness to spend even a penny extra for environmentally friendly products has been dampened by four dollar gas, five dollar cereal and loss of equity in their homes.

On the other hand, a positive by-product of all this is a lot less enthusiasm for what used to be part of the American dream: a McMansion of your very own, and the extra cars, boats and even planes that went along with this be-careful-what-you-wish-for icon.

I know many successful boomers who are now moping around their 8 to 12,000-foot monuments to capitalism (many of them rendered in classic McMansionesque Tuscan style architecture) wondering what to do with the unused acres of space. "The Brady Bunch house seems like a shack compared to the dream of the typical middle class homebuyer/builder," said New York copywriter Jenny Lazar in an email to me on this subject.

Indeed, her point is well taken, what used to be considered a large house is of modest dimensions by today's standards. This is not meant to pass judgment on a long-standing tradition and part of the American Dream as we used to know it: a large, spacious home featuring huge foyer, high ceilings, many bedrooms and bathrooms, giant dining room and eat-in kitchen, multi-car garage, and more.

Instead, this is to point out that perhaps America's long-standing love affair with this type of — not very green — home has finally run its course? I can think of a number of successful friends who live in houses of this description. Surprisingly, many of them are empty-nesters or have only one or two children, which is hardly enough to fill a home with six to ten bedrooms.

Other than the several times per year that they host major parties, community events and/or charity functions, they just aren't getting the value out of their super sized abodes. And a lot more often than you'd think, these homeowners are saying, "boy, if I could get out of this place whole, I'd like to sell it and downsize to a smaller house…"

Why do they want out? Usually, it's not only the unused space, but the carrying costs. Heating, cooling, cleaning and maintaining huge homes is an expensive proposition. Not to mention, the property taxes. The care and feeding of a large home is a big responsibility that seemingly never ends.