Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / June 22-23, 2011

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

Lihue, Kauai –                    82                  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –      84 
Kaneohe, Oahu –                80
Molokai airport –                 85
Kahului airport, Maui –           88  (record for Wednesday – 91 in 1980)
Kona airport                       82  
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 evening:

Kahului, Maui – 84
Kaneohe, Oahu – 78

Haleakala Crater –     46 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 46 (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:  

3.52     Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.39     Punaluu Stream, Oahu
0.07     Molokai
0.03     Lanai
0.36     Kahoolawe
0.69     West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.32     Kealakekua, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1025 millibar high pressure system to the north of our islands. Our local winds will remain breezy 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.  Here's a tropical cyclone tracking map for the eastern and central Pacific.

 Aloha Paragraphs

Trade wind weather pattern…breaking waves leeward beaches

The trade winds will remain active through the rest of this week….increasing Friday into the weekend.  Glancing at this weather map, we find a 1025 millibar high pressure system located to our north. The placement of this area of high pressure center, and its associated ridges…will keep our trade winds blowing in the moderately strong realms. We may see another small craft wind advisory going up again this weekend…when the trades increase again into early next week.

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

22                 Port Allen, Kauai – E  
23                 Kahuku, Oahu – ENE 
25                 Molokai – NE  
29                 Kahoolawe – ESE   
32                    Kahului, Maui – NE
07                 Lanai – SW   
32                    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 find clear to partly cloudy skies over the state, although with a large patch of middle and high clouds to the north…stretching down over parts of the state. We can use this looping satellite image to see these middle and higher level clouds shifting up to the north, in association with an upper level low pressure system near Kauai. Checking out this looping radar image we see showers being carried along in the trade wind flow, approaching from the east and northeast, with locally heavier showers in this mix…especially around Kauai and Oahu.


Sunset Commentary:  The threat of locally heavy rains, and certainly thunderstorms is now out of the forecast, at least for the Big Island and Maui County. There's still that slight chance of some heavier showers on Oahu and Kauai, as they are closer to the departing upper level low pressure system to the west of Kauai. This strongly suggests that we're on the verge of returning to a very common early summer trade wind weather pattern. This will manifest Thursday through the upcoming weekend, and right on into next week. If you like gusty trade winds, and lots of sunshine, you are in luck! 

Here in Kihei, Maui, at 530pm Wednesday evening, skies were partly cloudy, with a mix of thin high clouds, and some lower level cumulus clouds. As I mentioned above, we will be in a prolonged period of normal late June weather conditions, just as we launch into our summer season. Looking up towards the Haleakala Crater before I leave for home in Kula, there are clouds hugging the slopes, although I didn't see any showers up that way during the day. I look forward to meeting you here again early Thursday morning, when I'll have your next new weather narrative available, right around 530am HST. I hope you have a great Wednesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: We all complain about the weather. It is a great topic of conversation. Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere.

Weather is part of what life is about. However, everything has its price. New research indicates that routine weather events such as rain and cooler-than-average days can add up to an annual economic impact of as much as $485 billion in the United States based on 2011 data.

Rain, snow, and hot or cold temperatures can all have economic impacts. The study, led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), found that finance, manufacturing, agriculture, and every other sector of the economy is sensitive to changes in the weather.

The impacts can be felt in every state. Weather has often played a large and sometimes direct part in human history much less our daily lifes. Aside from climatic changes that have caused the gradual drift of populations (for example the desertification of the Middle East, and the formation of land bridges during glacial periods), extreme weather events have caused smaller scale population movements and intruded directly in historical events.

One such event is the saving of Japan from invasion by the Mongol fleet of Kublai Khan by the Kamikaze winds in 1281. French claims to Florida came to an end in 1565 when a hurricane destroyed the French fleet, allowing Spain to conquer Fort Caroline.

More recently, Hurricane Katrina redistributed over one million people from the central Gulf coast elsewhere across the United States. This new study is the first to apply quantitative economic analysis to estimate the weather sensitivity of the entire U.S. economy.

The research could help policymakers determine whether it is worthwhile to invest in enhanced forecasts and other strategies that could better protect economic activity from weather impacts. The study concludes that the influence of routine weather variations on the economy is as much as 3.4 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.

The study, with co-authors from the University of Colorado Boulder, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Stratus Consulting, is being published in this month’s issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The study drew on 70 years of weather records through 2008 from across the contiguous United States.

They focused on variations in temperature (heating-degree days and cooling-degree days that denote temperatures above or below 65 degrees), total precipitation, and deviation from average precipitation. They also studied economic indicators for major economic sectors over 24 years, the period for which detailed state-level data were available and consistent for major economic sectors.

They then conducted a regression analysis, a statistical technique for comparing multiple variables, to examine the impacts of weather on 11 nongovernmental sectors of the economy in every state. The team constructed a computer model in which other key variables—labor, capital, and energy—were held constant based on a five-year average.

The researchers produced an estimated range of $485 billion in potential economic impacts by applying their weather sensitivity findings of 3.4 percent to the 2008 U.S. gross domestic product of $14.4 trillion. As the economy grows, costs of weather variability can be expected to increase accordingly.

The results indicate that the mining and agriculture sectors are particularly sensitive. Routine variations in weather may take a toll on the mining economy of 14 percent each year, perhaps because of changing demand for oil, gas, and coal. Agriculture ranked second at 12 percent, conceivably because of the many crops that are affected by temperature and precipitation.

Other sensitive sectors include manufacturing (8 percent); finance, insurance, and retail (8 percent); and utilities (7 percent). In contrast, wholesale trade (2 percent); retail trade (2 percent); and services (3 percent) were found to be least sensitive.

The study also concluded that the economy of every state is sensitive to the weather. Although the state-level findings were more subject to error than national findings, the study indicated that New York was most sensitive (a 13.5 percent impact on the gross state product ) and Tennessee was least sensitive (2.5 percent).