Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday:
Lihue, Kauai – 76
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 84 (record high for the date: 89F degrees in 1979)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 79
Molokai airport – 77
Kahului airport, Maui 82
Kona airport 82
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 81
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Thursday evening:
Kailua-kona – 80
Hilo, Hawaii – 75
Haleakala Crater – M (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea – 37 (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:
3.16 Kilohana, Kauai
0.59 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.10 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.02 Kahoolawe
0.23 Waikapu Country Club, Maui
0.07 Honokaa, 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
Passing showers Kauai and Oahu, light to moderate
trade winds…turning southeast this weekend –
large surf north and west shores.
As this weather map shows, we find very strong high pressure systems located far to the north-northeast of the Hawaiian Islands Thursday evening. Meanwhile, a 1013 millibar low pressure system is positioned to the north of Hawaii. This low has a frontal cloud band running from its center southwest to near Kauai. Finally, there’s a trough of low pressure over the eastern side of the islands. Our local winds will be from the trade wind direction Friday, then becoming lighter from the southeast this weekend.
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph), along with directions Thursday evening:
36 Barking Sands, Kauai – NNE
17 Bellows, Oahu – NNE
16 Molokai – N
00 Kahoolawe
09 Kahului, Maui – NNE
10 Lanai – NE
17 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 early Thursday evening. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find the most extensive high and middle level cloudiness is located to the east of the Big Island. At the same time we find a few thunderstorms lined up to the east through northeast of the islands..out over the ocean. We can use this looping satellite image to see the low clouds associated with the frontal cloud band located from Kauai down to Molokai. Checking out this looping radar image we see light showers falling locally over the ocean, coming into the state's windward sides from Kauai to Oahu…and to a lesser extend towards Molokai.
Sunset Commentary: The weak front boundary has stalled between Kauai and Oahu, bringing showers to the windward sides of those western islands. The other islands will have a few windward biased showers too, although they will be thanks to the moisture being carried our way on the generally north to northeast breezes…rather than the front itself. A trough of low pressure over Maui County and the Big Island is keeping those areas dry, while helping to enhance the showers over Kauai and Oahu at times.
Meanwhile, we see a broad area of high and middle level clouds out over the ocean to the east of the Big Island. At the same time we find thunderstorm cells firing off over the ocean to the east and northeast of the islands. This heavy rain producing area isn't expected to bring rain to our islands however, and should remain offshore several hundred miles away at least.
Our local winds increase quite a bit today on the Kauai end of the state, gusting into the high 30 mph range on Kauai, and locally gusty on Oahu too. Maui County and the Big Island will see lighter winds, due to the trough of low pressure over those islands. As we move into Friday, our winds will shift from the current north to northeast directions, back to a more normal trade wind pattern, coming out of the east-northeast and east. As we push into the weekend we will see our winds clock around to the southeast. This will bring generally lighter winds to the smaller islands, as they will be in the wind shadow of the Big Island. There's always that chance that we could see some volcanic haze (vog) being carried over some of the islands…from the vent on the Big Island.
A few of the computer forecast models have been trying to bring a rather deep trough of low pressure over the ocean west and northwest of the state this weekend. There are various possibilities of how this will affect our islands, one of which is that we may become wet by early next week. The southeast winds that will be blowing then could bring some moisture up over the state from that direction. It’s still a little early to know for sure exactly what will happen, although there's still time to work with this possibility.
Here in Kula, Maui at around 530am Friday morning, skies were generally clear…with an air temperature of 65.8F degrees. The high cirrus clouds that were around this morning lit up beautifully. These have been replaced by some minor middle level clouds over the West Maui Mountains before sunset, although they may take on a little color at sunset. ~~~ I'll be back early Friday morning to prepare your next weather narrative. I hope you have a great Thursday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Extra: Video of a Jet airplane (cockpit crew) coming into and landing at the Los Angeles International Airport…twilight view.
Interesting: The rate of global deforestation, mainly the conversion of tropical forests to agricultural land, averaged 14.5 million hectares a year between 1990 and 2005, according to a satellite-based survey released today by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The findings of the global remote sensing survey show that the world’s total forest area in 2005 was 3.69 billion hectares, or 30 per cent of the global land area.
Worldwide, the net loss of forest area between 1990 and 2005 was not as great as previously believed, since gains in forest areas are larger than previously estimated, according to the survey. The net loss — when losses of forest cover are partially offset by afforestation or natural expansion — totalled 72.9 million hectares, or 32 percent less than the previous figure of 107.4 million hectares.
In other words, the planet lost an average of 4.9 million hectares of forest per year, or nearly 10 hectares of forest per minute over the 15-year period. The new data also show that the net loss of forests accelerated, increasing from 4.1 million hectares per year between 1990 and 2000 to 6.4 million hectares between 2000 and 2005.
The figures are based on the most comprehensive use yet of high-resolution satellite data to provide a sample of forests worldwide. They differ from previous findings of the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment last year, which were based on a compilation of country reports that used a wide variety of sources.
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