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

Lihue, Kauai –                   85
Honolulu airport, Oahu –   87   (record high for the date – 90 in 1977)
Kaneohe, Oahu –               81
Molokai airport –                83
Kahului airport, Maui –        86  
Kona airport                      87
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 Friday evening:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 83
Princeville, Kauai – 73

Haleakala Crater –     41 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 36 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)

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

0.57     Mount Wailaleale, Kauai
0.78     Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.13     Molokai
0.00     Lanai
0.01     Kahoolawe
0.62     Puu Kukui, Maui
0.27     Glenwood, 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 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

http://o.aolcdn.com/os/hotelhanamaui12811
Trade wind weather pattern…generally nice

 

 

Our trade winds will  increase tonight into Saturday.  Glancing at this weather map, it shows a near 1033 millibar high pressure system to our north. There’s a cold front just to our north, which this high pressure system is helping to push down through the state.  The trade winds will surge temporarily later now into Saturday, forcing the front down into the state. A slightly cooler air mass will rush in over Hawaii along with, and in the wake of this frontal passage…into Saturday night.  Lighter trade winds, and warmer ones too, will continue well into the new week. As a second cold front approaches from the north and northeast later in the new week…our winds may slow down ahead it, then increase again after its passage.

Trade winds continue…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Friday evening:

27                 Port Allen, Kauai – ENE
23                 Bellows, Oahu – NE
28                 Molokai – NE
27                 Kahoolawe – SE
30                 Kahului, Maui – NE
23                 Lanai – NE
33                    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 Friday evening. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find an approaching band of low clouds, the cold front, a short ways offshore to the north and northeast of the islands…moving steadily towards us. We can use this looping satellite image to see that frontal cloud band moving along in the northeast wind flow.  Checking out this looping radar image we see showers over the ocean, which are impacting the windward sides locally…especially moving towards Kauai and Oahu at the time of this writing.

Sunset Commentary:   The well advertised cold front, albeit not a strong one, continues to steadily work its way southward towards the islands…on this last day of the work week. It’s arrival, with showers and gusty northeast winds, will be first on Kauai and Oahu this evening into the night. Maui County will find these showers and stronger winds tonight into Saturday morning. The Big Island will find this temporary inclement mix of showers and wind arriving in the morning. Maui and the Big Island will likely find the cloud band becoming hung up along the north and northeast facing slopes on those larger islands during a good portion of the day Saturday.

At the time of this writing, the leading edge of this cold front was just reaching Kauai. It is expected to bring near an inch of precipitation to those wettest places in the state, with the chance of a bit more than that in a couple of those especially rainfall prone areas. As the winds will be rather strong and gusty preceding the front, with the front, and temporarily in the wake of the frontal passage…some of these showers are likely to fly over into the leeward sides of islands, especially on the smaller islands. Drier air is forecast to flood into the state later Saturday, along with slightly cooler air briefly too.

As we move into Sunday, and through the middle of the new week ahead, our gusty trade winds will ease up quite a bit. So, it looks like rather nice weather will prevail until the next cold front arrives at some point around next Wednesday or Thursday. There remains quite a bit of uncertainty around that next cold front however, so that no one really knows whether it will stall before arriving, or whether an attendant low pressure system aloft may support its progress down into the islands. This should become more clear over the next several days…stay tuned. Nonetheless, this is the time of year when we’ll be keeping our eye peeled to the north and northwest, as storms in the middle latitudes of the Pacific begin sending more fronts our way more often.

This evening I'm going to see a new film, this one is called Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman and Dakota Goyo, among many others. I must admit that I haven't been looking forward to seeing this film, although nothing else was pulling me into a theater either, so I'll try it out. The critics are giving this film a B-, while the viewers are taking it all the way to the top, giving it an A grade, wow. That's encouraging, although somehow still doesn't excite me too much. I may like it more than I think I will, which has certainly happened before. I'll let you know what I think in the morning, when I'll be back next. Here's a trailer for this action film, which is a long one lasting 2 hours and 20 minutes. 

Here in Kihei, Maui at around 530pm HST Friday evening, skies were mostly clear, with the trade winds blowing. These winds will gradually increase tonight, with small craft wind advisories now up and covering most of the state through most of the day Saturday. The winds will drop back down some Sunday into the new work week ahead. We can see this early season cold front moving down into the state tonight, by glancing at this looping satellite image…along with those high cirrus clouds coming in over us from the west. It will be fun to experience this front pass across the island chain, although most of the precipitation will fall across the state tonight. There will be some clouds that get hung up around the state during the day Saturday, especially around the Big Island and perhaps east Maui too. Things should return to near normal by Sunday, and actually, most areas will have pretty decent weather by later Saturday, albeit it on the windy side. ~~~ I'm heading over to Kahului now, for dinner and that film I was describing above. I'll see you back here early Saturday morning, I hope you have a great Friday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: An international team of scientists has proposed a five-point plan for feeding the world while protecting the planet. The research concludes that "feeding the nine billion people anticipated to live on Earth in 2050 without exhausting the Earth's natural resources is possible, provided that we adopt a more sustainable food production approach."

The findings concludes that we can feed the increasing amount of people on this planet without exhausting the world's resources if we successfully pursue sustainable food production on five key fronts: halt farmland expansion, improve crop production, more strategic use of water and nutrients, reduce food waste and dedicate croplands to direct human food production.

"Agriculture is the largest single cause behind global warming and loss of ecosystem services, and at the same time the key to human well being in all societies. We now have the opportunity to not only cool the planet, but also to build resilient societies, and improve human wealth", says co-author Johan Rockström, Executive Director at Stockholm Resilience Center at Stockholm University and Stockholm Environment Institute.

Together with scientists from the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, McGill University, UC Santa Barbara, Arizona State University and the University of Bonn, Rockström has for two years tried to find an answer to what could be the most compelling question facing humanity today.

Based on data gathered about crop production and environmental impacts using satellite maps and on-the-grounds records, the scientists propose a five-point plan for doubling the world's food production while reducing environmental impacts. "Our research has shown that it is possible to both feed a hungry world and protect a threatened planet," says lead author Jonathan Foley, head of the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment.

Interesting2: Mention prime geography for generation of solar energy, and people tend to think of hot deserts. But a new study concludes that some of the world's coldest landscapes — including the Himalaya Mountains, the Andes, and even Antarctica — could become Saudi Arabias of solar. The research appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. Kotaro Kawajiri and colleagues explain that the potential for generating electricity with renewable solar energy depends heavily on geographic location.

Arid and semi-arid areas with plenty of sunshine long have been recognized as good solar sites. However, the scientists point out that, as a result of the limited data available for critical weather-related conditions on a global scale, gaps still exist in knowledge about the best geographical locations for producing solar energy.

To expand that knowledge, they used one established technique to estimate global solar energy potential using the data that are available. The technique takes into account the effects of temperature on the output of solar cells. Future work will consider other variables, such as transmission losses and snow fall.

As expected, they found that many hot regions such as the U.S. desert southwest are ideal locations for solar arrays. However, they also found that many cold regions at high elevations receive a lot of sunlight — so much so that their potential for producing power from the sun is even higher than in some desert areas.

Kawajiri and colleagues found, for instance, that the Himalayas, which include Mt. Everest, could be an ideal locale for solar fields that generate electricity for the fast-expanding economy of the People's Republic of China.