Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday:
Lihue, Kauai – 77
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 77
Kaneohe, Oahu – 78
Molokai airport – 79
Kahului airport, Maui – 81 (Highest temperature for this date was 88 – in 1953)
Kona airport – 81
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 80
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Saturday evening:
Kahului, Maui – 78
Princeville, Kauai – 70
Haleakala Crater – 39 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea – 30 (near 13,800 feet on the Big Island)
Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 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. Here's the Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui…which is working only sometimes lately.
Aloha Paragraphs
South to southwest breezes –
showers increasing locally going
forward – high and middle clouds –
Volcanic haze…especially Maui and the
Big Island going into the new week
As this weather map shows low pressure systems to the north through northwest, along with their associated cold fronts. The location of these low pressure systems, and a weak ridge of high pressure to the south of the state is resulting in south and southwest kona winds now…into the new week ahead.
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph), along with directions Saturday evening:
10 Barking Sands, Kauai – SW
09 Waianae, Oahu – SSE
07 Molokai – SE
06 Kahoolawe – NW
17 Kapalua, Maui – S
07 Lanai – SSW
14 South Point, Big Island – SE
We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Saturday evening. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see variable clouds over and around the state…especially over the ocean to our west through north and northeast. We can use this looping satellite image to see lots of clouds heading our way from the northwest, some of which look like they could be heavy…with even a few thunderstorms. Checking out this looping radar image we see what looks like increasing light to moderately heavy showers over the ocean, some of which are impacting the islands.
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Saturday evening:
0.01 Anahola, Kauai
0.03 St. Stephens, Oahu
0.07 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.00 Maui
0.02 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
Sunset Commentary: The latest weather map shows lots of low pressure systems located to the north and northwest of Hawaii now. At the same time, a cold front associated with one of these low pressure cells continues to approach the islands. This front is expected to reach within about 500 miles northwest of Kauai, before stalling. Our local winds, prompted by the relatively close proximity of this front, and a high pressure ridge to our south…will be generally from the south through southwest into the first half of the new work week ahead. The trade winds will be absent through much of the upcoming week, perhaps returning around next Thursday or Friday into next weekend.
The cold front to our northwest will stall before arriving tonight into Sunday, and then more or less anchor itself to our northwest for several days. This stalled frontal boundary will remain close enough however, that our kona winds will pick up tropical moisture, and move it over state eventually, which would provide increased shower activity into the new week…most notably along our south and west facing leeward coasts and slopes. There will be off and on passing showers through perhaps Wednesday, which will be beneficial to our currently dry leeward sides. As we move into the later part of the new week, the trade winds will return, although dry weather should prevail then into next weekend.
Friday evening I went to see a new film called Carnage, starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz. The synopsis: two sets of parents reveal their true colors when a polite discussion of child rearing escalates into verbal warfare. The critics are giving this film a good rating, and from the trailer, it looked quite interesting. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this unusual film, absolutely! There is some foul language, although there's nothing unusual about that. It was arrestingly (that's probably not a real word) potent in character, with what I considered to be stunning acting from all four of these well known actors. I especially enjoyed the two women in this film, as they really got into their parts in a way you never see at the theaters, but know full well that these traits come out behind the closed doors of peoples personal lives. I am going to give this film an A grade, as it met all my expectations and then some. It was dark comedy, and had everyone in the theater in stitches laughing much of the way through the entire film…that is once they hit their stride in relating with each other!
Here in Kula, Maui at around 5pm HST, it was dry with high and middle level clouds, and an air temperature of 65.7F degrees. Looking ahead, the next cold front to our northwest will be pulling up on its southeastward motion soon. As I was mentioning above however, this cold front will cause our local winds to come up from the deeper tropics, which will tap into moisture, and bring showers…especially to our leeward sides. This could happen as early as Sunday, and with any luck, may last in an off and on manner…into the first half of the new work week coming up. We will see more of that volcanic haze (vog )coming up over the islands from the Big Island vents too, as soon as Sunday. We'll have to wait for the trade winds to return perhaps towards the end of the new work week. ~~~ I'm going out this evening to a friends house, and may be home quite late, so I'll have your next new weather narrative out on more of a weekend schedule, rather than before sunrise as I do on week days. I hope you have a great Saturday night until then! Aloha for now.
Extra: youtube video of very fast jets flying around!
Extra: youtube video of Motorcycle vs. Car Drift Battle 2
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