Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 86
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 88 (record for Tuesday – 93 in 1987)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 83
Molokai airport – 84
Kahului airport, Maui – 87
Kona airport 85
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 85
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Tuesday evening:
Port Allen, Kauai – 88
Kapalua, Maui – 77
Haleakala Crater – 57 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 41 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Tuesday evening:
0.04 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.10 Kahuku Training area, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.06 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.12 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
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. This web cam is 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. The Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui just came back online, after being on the blink for several weeks.
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
Light to moderate trade winds, strongest near Maui County
and the Big Island…increasing Thursday into the weekend
Our trade winds will be light to locally moderate today and Wednesday…then increasing a little more Thursday into the weekend. Glancing at this weather map, it shows a weak high pressure system, near 1022 millibars to the east-northeast of the islands. At the same time, we have a remnant frontal boundary over the ocean to the north of Kauai. Our local winds will remain relatively light to moderately strong Wednesday, although stronger over the eastern Islands…increasing elsewhere during the day Thursday into the weekend. They may not gain enough strength to necessitate small craft wind advisories over Maui County and the Big Island, as previously thought.
Our trade winds will continuing blowing over the eastern islands, lighter over the west side of the state…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Tuesday evening:
14 Waimea Heights, Kauai – W
18 Bellows, Oahu – E
18 Molokai – ENE
23 Kahoolawe – ESE
27 Kahului, Maui – NE
13 Lanai – ENE
20 Upolu, Big Island – NE
We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Tuesday evening. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find scattered low clouds generally offshore of the windward sides of the islands, with an area of high cirrus clouds around the Big Island and almost Maui. We can use this looping satellite image to see the low clouds moving along in the low level trade wind flow. There's also an area of high and middle level clouds to the south and southeast, moving over the Big Island. Checking out this looping radar image we see showers increasing over the ocean…although moving over the islands as well.
Sunset Commentary: Yesterday’s cold front brushed Kauai, bringing .75” of rainfall to the Kilohana rain gauge. The rest of the state got nothing from this first frontal cloud band of the autumn season. This front pulled back up to the north, over the ocean this morning…and has pretty much disappeared. This leaves most of the state in a continued dry state, with a few exceptions, which are the Big Island and Maui’s windward sides.which may reach Oahu and Kauai with time.
A trough of low pressure to our west is helping to draw up high and middle level clouds over the Big Island tonight too. These higher level clouds look like they might shift a bit further west soon, which would bring them over parts of Maui County too. At the same time, there’s lower level moisture being carried over the Big Island, and Maui to some extent as well. These off and on windward biased showers will continue into the night. There may be showers elsewhere on these two islands as well, especially the Big Island.
Looking a bit further ahead, the light to moderate trade winds will continue into Wednesday. The forecast suggests that they may increase a notch, into the more solid moderately strong realm Thursday into the weekend. The second cold front of the season, or perhaps again the remnants of such a feature, will be carried over us later Friday into the weekend. It’s still too early to know how much of an increase in showers we might see, but likely somewhat more than the one that stalled out over Kauai yesterday. The windward sides will receive the most generous part of whatever showers that do manage to make it down into our area.
Here in Kihei, Maui at around 6pm HST Tuesday evening, skies were clear to partly cloudy. The trough of low pressure near Kauai is helping to bring an increase in clouds and showers to the island chain locally tonight. We'll find light to moderately strong trade winds blowing Wednesday, which are expected to increase Thursday through the rest of this week. The next cold front will be carried our way by this expected increase in the trade winds during the second half of this week, increasing our windward showers again then. ~~~ I'll be back early Wednesday morning, and hope you can join me then. I hope you have a great Tuesday night! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: There is enough water in the world's rivers to meet the demands of the expanding global population, but the rivers have to be better managed, according to a series of studies released today at the 14th World Water Congress in Porto de Galinhas, Brazil. The key problem for water use is not scarcity but inefficient use of supplies because of poor governance and regulation, concludes a special issue of the Water International coordinated by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research's Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF).
The global population is expected to reach nine billion by 2050, and will need 70 per cent more food and about 50 per cent more electricity — of which hydropower is expected to supply about one third.
Some areas are experiencing water shortages already and there is concern over conflicts related to sharing of food and water resources. "The failures are institutional and political," Simon Cook, leader of the CPWF Basin Focal Research Project.
The studies analyzed economic and demographic conditions; hydrology; agricultural systems and the influence of institutional factors on water availability and use in nine major river basins in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
They found that, in many areas, water production can be substantially increased without harming the environment. In Africa, for example, most cropland is rain-fed and only four per cent of available water is captured for crops and livestock.
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