Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Monday:
Lihue, Kauai – 84
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 88 (record for Monday – 91 in 1995, 2003)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 83
Molokai airport – 84
Kahului airport, Maui – 85
Kona airport 86
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 79
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 – 85
Hilo, Hawaii – 77
Haleakala Crater – 59 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 52 (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:
0.23 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.17 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.04 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.60 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.59 Mountain View, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing near 1027 millibar high pressure systems to the north-northeast and far to the northwest of our islands. Our local trade winds will remain active through 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
Favorably inclined weather…with more trade winds
The trade winds will remain active through this week and beyond. Glancing at this weather map, we find 1027 millibar high pressure systems, from the far northwest…through to the northeast. These will provide a continuous flow of trade wind breezes. The computer models continue to strongly suggest that our local winds will accelerate by Wednesday, and remain quite strong and gusty through the end of the week. There are no active small craft wind advisories now, although they will likely be needed starting Wednesday onwards.
Our trade winds will remain active…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Monday evening:
32 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
18 Kaneohe, Oahu – NE
28 Molokai – NE
17 Kahoolawe – NE
29 Kahului, Maui – NE
17 Lanai – NE
30 South Point – 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 find low level clouds impacting the windward sides of the Islands. We can use this looping satellite image to see lower level clouds being carried along in the low level wind flow. There are considerable high clouds well offshore to our west with thunderstorms well south of the islands. Those high cirrus may arrive from the west during the day Tuesday. Checking out this looping radar image we see a few showers being carried along in the wind flow…with light showers impacting the windward sides locally.
Sunset Commentary: As is almost always the case during the month of August, our trade winds will run our weather show. They will start of this new week, and this new month of August in a normal way, in terms of wind speeds. High pressure to our northeast by mid-week will pump-out a stronger wind flow over us then, continuing through the rest of this seven day period. The lack of small craft wind advisories will end Wednesday, with those windiest coasts and channel around Maui County and the Big Island kicking in. They could spread through the other major channels by the end of the work week into the weekend.
Precipitation will begin this week on the drier side of the rainfall spectrum, at least compared to last week, when we had low pressure troughs in the area. Moisture content measuring tools are sensing fairly dry air over us now. As they investigate the area far upstream of the islands, to the northeast and east with the trade winds blowing…it’s drier than normal up that way too. This firmly suggests that showers will be limited, even along our typically showery windward sides. As the trade wind speeds pick up during the second half of the week, we should see a normal corresponding increase in windward biased showers…and even a few leeward ones too.
The surf has come up some along our south and west facing leeward beaches today. This south swell activity will peak in size this afternoon, although remain below the high surf advisory level. Wave size will drop a little Tuesday, before a second south swell, coming up from the southern hemisphere arrives by Wednesday. This swell too will likely remain below advisory levels, although provide lots of waves through the end of the week. This will be a boon for our local surfing community, and not be overly difficult for our local visitors to enjoy as well!
Meanwhile, we have a new hurricane in the eastern Pacific, called Eugene. He will become stronger over the next few days, and then rather rapidly weaken again, as he runs over cooler sea surface temperatures…with increased latitude. It appears at this point that Eugene will stay out of our central Pacific. We may end up seeing some associated showers with time…that is if the remnant moisture can hold together, as the trade winds bring it in our direction next week.
Here in Kihei, Maui at 520pm HST Monday evening, skies were partly to mostly cloudy, although I didn't see any rainfall in any direction. The trade winds are active, although still not strong enough to trigger a small craft wind advisory…which should begin later tomorrow or by mid-week. As noted above, showers will be rather limited, and most of those few will be falling along our windward sides during the night and early morning hours. I'm just getting ready to head back upcountry to Kula, after a big day of weather work. We have a big typhoon in the western Pacific, a big hurricane in the eastern Pacific, and if that wasn't enough, we have a strengthening tropical storm/hurricane heading towards Florida in the Caribbean Sea now! At any rate, I'm outta here, and will catch up with you early Tuesday morning with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Monday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Extra: Climate Change for Kids
Interesting: Having returned from an expedition to map the Gulf of Mexico dead zone along the coast of Louisiana in the US, scientists report that the area of oxygen-poor water is large, but not as large as they expected following the massive flooding of the Mississippi in April and May. Nancy Rabalais of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and her team found that this year's dead zone is 17,520 square kilometres, or 6765 square miles, which makes it one of the 10 largest dead zones since 1985, but does not break any records.
Originally, based on Mississippi River nutrient inputs compiled by the US Geological Survey (USGS), scientists predicted that the Mississippi flooding would create the largest dead zone ever recorded, between 8500 and 9421 square miles – roughly the size of New Hampshire.
Rabalais thinks the main reason that the dead zone is smaller than expected is Tropical Storm Don – a minor cyclone that moved across the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas in late July. Don churned the water in the Gulf, returning oxygen trapped at the surface to deeper layers.
All year long, the Mississippi carries nutrient-rich sediments, fertilizers and other agricultural runoff into the Gulf of Mexico. The excess nitrogen and phosphorous promotes the growth of algae, which bloom in clouds of red or green near the surface.
When the short-lived algae die and sink to seafloor, bacteria have themselves a smorgasbord: as they decompose the dead algae, the bacteria gobble up all the oxygen in the lower regions of the water column. Animals that live on the seafloor and in deeper, colder waters find it suddenly difficult to breathe.
The swiftest fish evacuate, while others black out before they can swim away. Sluggish bottom-dwellers like crabs, lobsters and clams suffocate to death. Even though the dead zone was not as large as anticipated, animals in the Gulf clearly suffered.
On this year's expedition, Rabalais says she saw eels, brown shrimp and lesser blue crabs swimming near the surface. These creatures, which normally stay in or near the mud at the bottom of the ocean, fled the depths in search of somewhere they could breathe.
Rabalais also dredged up sediments that smelled like rotten eggs because the bacteria feasting on algae released so much hydrogen sulfide. "The Gulf is becoming less resistant to nitrogen pollution," says Rabalais. "That's definitely not good. It just doesn't take as much to aggravate the system as before."
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