Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday:
Lihue, Kauai – 87
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 89 (record for Thursday – 93 in 1993)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 78
Molokai airport – 84
Kahului airport, Maui – 86
Kona airport 86
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 Thursday evening:
Honolulu, Oahu – 86
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
Haleakala Crater – 48 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 45 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Thursday evening:
0.29 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.30 Moanalua RG, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.06 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.29 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…showers overnight along
the windward sides of those two islands as well
Our trade winds will be light to locally moderate into the weekend. Glancing at this weather map, it shows high pressure systems to the north through northwest of the islands. At the same time, we have a weak cold front to the north. Our local winds will remain light to moderately strong into the weekend, locally a bit stronger over Maui County and the Big Island. The trade winds are expected to increase some during the first couple of days of next week, likely becoming strong enough for localized small craft wind advisories.
Trade winds continue…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Thursday evening:
10 Lihue, Kauai – NE
21 Honolulu, Oahu – NE
21 Molokai – NNE
21 Kahoolawe – ESE
23 Kapalua, Maui – NNE
15 Lanai – NE
22 Upolu 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 Thursday evening. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find low clouds generally offshore of the islands, heading towards the Big Island and Maui tonight. We can use this looping satellite image to see the low clouds moving along in the trade wind flow. The high level clouds of late continue moving away towards the northeast. Checking out this looping radar image we see those showers over the ocean, approaching the eastern islands, which will focus on the windward sides.
Sunset Commentary: Generally fair weather will prevail through the rest of this week, with few changes in this ongoing trade wind weather pattern. High pressure to our north through northeast will keep light to moderately strong trade wind breezes in the forecast. As usual, we’ll find a few windward biased showers falling, although nothing out of the ordinary through Friday. The remnant moisture from a dissipating cold front may get carried into our windward sides this weekend, although even this won’t amount to all that much. The leeward sides in contrast will be quite sunny during the days, and generally dry.
As we move into next week, the trade winds will continue, and may increase a notch or so. These somewhat stronger trades would likely influence the conditions in Maui County and the Big Island, more so than elsewhere. There may need to be small craft wind advisory flags raised over that eastern side of the state early next week. As these trade winds increase a touch, we will probably see a modest increase in showers, dependent upon whatever showery clouds are brought in on our trade wind flow of course. Otherwise nothing much going on, although the surf will be coming up right after the weekend, which may require a high surf advisory along our leeward beaches for several days.
Here in Kihei, Maui at around 545pm HST Thursday evening, skies were clear to partly cloudy, with lower level clouds around the mountains. There's still a few streaks of high cirrus clouds around too, which will light up nicely for our sunset! Otherwise, our weather will remain favorably inclined through the weekend, and likely right on into next week. We may see some slight increase in cloudy showers, primary along the windward sides of both Kauai and Oahu, as the remnant moisture from a dissipating cold front gets carried our way on the trade winds. Right now I'm heading home, back up to Kula for dinner, some reading, and to bed, as 415am (my alarm goes off) comes rather early on Friday morning. I'll have your next new weather narrative from paradise ready for the reading right around 530am in the morning. I hope you have a great Thursday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: Mineral deposits can create jobs, industry, wealth and potentially pollution. It could help stabilize a war torn country such as Afghanistan. Working with the Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO), members of the USGS Minerals Project assessed fuel- and non-fuel mineral resources of Afghanistan from October 2009 to September 2011 with the goal of identifying particular deposits that could be relatively easily developed.The team identified key Areas of Interest (AOI)—and subareas within them—that fit these criteria.
The AOIs contain mineral reserves or resources that have been well-documented through sampling in trenches, drill holes, and/or underground workings. Most are accessible by existing roads. So to develop or not to develop. There are vast amounts of minerals present in the country.
There are hazards ranging from earthquakes, general aridity (scare water supplies), and of course, war. Copper, Chromium, Coal, and gold are just some of the potential deposits. One of the products of the study efforts was the 2007 Preliminary Assessment of Non-Fuel Mineral Resources of Afghanistan.
The assessment revealed that Afghanistan has abundant non-fuel mineral resources, including both known and potential deposits of a wide variety of minerals ranging from copper, iron, and sulfur to bauxite, lithium, and rare-earth elements. The problem lies in the development.
As had been seen in neighboring China, India and Iran, it is easy to quickly exploit and easily pollute. Excavating and processing the mineral wealth out of the ground is risky and dangerous though the benefits to the Afghan people and the world can be immense.
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