Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / February 20-21, 2012

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

Lihue, Kauai –                     79  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –      83   (record high for the date – 87 – 1997)
Kaneohe, Oahu –                 78
Molokai airport –                  79
Kahului airport, Maui –            81
Kona airport –                     79
Hilo airport, Hawaii –           79 

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Monday evening:

Honolulu, Oahu – 78
Hilo, Hawaii – 72

Haleakala Crater –  36 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea –         28 (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.

 Aloha Paragraphs

Gradually lighter trade winds, still
gusty atop the Haleakala Crater on Maui –
    showers on the windward sides at times…
on the leeward sides locally in places too –
 wintery weather atop Big Island summits –

As this weather map shows, we have gale and storm low pressure systems far to the northeast through northwest of the islands.  At the same time, we have a large high pressure system to the northeast of the islands. Our winds will be gradually relaxing in strength.

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph), along with directions Monday evening:

18                 Lihue, Kauai – ENE 
29                 Wheeler AFB, Oahu – ENE
30                 Molokai – NE    
46                    Kahoolawe – ENE  
40                 Kahului, Maui – NE  
00                 Lanai 
35                 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 Monday evening.  Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see high and middle level clouds over the ocean to the northeast through southeast to south. We can use this looping satellite image to see those brighter white clouds, which are masking the lower level clouds being carried into the windward sides on the locally strong and gusty trade wind flow. In addition, there is another large area of clouds to the northwest…associated with an approaching cold front. Checking out this looping radar image we see light to moderate showers being carried into the islands…along the windward sides for the most part. There's also an area of heavier rains over the ocean just to the south of the Big Island at the time of this writing.

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

0.61               Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.20               Kahuku, Oahu
0.00               Molokai
0.00               Kahoolawe
0.21               Puu Kukui, Maui
0.96                 Keahole airport, Big Island  

Sunset Commentary:  Our trade winds will remain blustery, at least locally today. The forecast continues to suggest that these trade winds will ease up some Tuesday into Wednesday, and may even veer back to the east-southeast to southeast by mid-week…in response to an approaching cold front. This frontal cloud band is expected to stall before arriving into the state however. The winds will still be around during the second half of this week, although becoming lighter…and blowing from variable directions.

Meanwhile, these gusty trades are bringing windward biased showers our way at times. During the next several days, we'll continue to find a cold pool of air aloft near the state, which will keep our atmosphere destabilized and more shower prone than usual…at least in places. The strength of our trades will help to carry some of these showers into the leeward sides of the smaller islands at times too. The chance for more than the normal amount of windward biased showers will stretch into mid-week, and then dry out temporarily Thursday and Friday. The latest computer models continue to suggest that Hawaii could turn wetter again by the weekend...although this prospect isn't for certain just yet.

Here in Kula, Maui at 520pm HST, we had light winds, with clear to partly cloudy skies…and an air temperature of 69.4F degrees. As noted above, the trade winds will remain active now…although ease up a bit Tuesday through the rest of the week. The winds will be turning a bit more to the south of east, which will keep them blowing over the ocean. There may be enough blocking of these winds by the Big Island however, that there should be somewhat lighter winds on the smaller islands…from variable directions. We'll see periodic windward showers, augmenting these showers, as we have an upper level low pressure system near the state now. Some of these showers will be carried into the leeward sides on the smaller islands. In sum, gusty trade winds with off and on passing showers for the windward sides, and elsewhere in places too…with the gradually relaxing wind speeds.

This satellite image shows that there are lots of clouds to our east through south, and to the northwest associated with an approaching cold front too. Meanwhile, this radar image shows where our showery weather is occurring. The air aloft over the state is colder than normal, which will likely cause more snow to fall atop the summits on the Big Island at times, here's the webcam for the Mauna Kea summit. ~~~  I'll be back early Tuesday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you're spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Costa Concordia disaster may get worse as ship appears unstable on the reef. The massive cruise liner is balancing on two rocks and has massive cracks. The stricken Costa Concordia cruise liner might soon collapse under its own weight.

A video produced by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) has revealed that the rocks on which the ship sits have now started crumbling dramatically. The ROV video was shot on Feb. 11, nearly a month after the ship ran aground the Tuscan coast of Giglio, Italy, killing 17 people and leaving 15 missing.

Although experts reassure that "no anomalies" are reported by the close monitoring of the hull and that the de-fueling operations run smoothly, with over 900 cubic meters of fuel pumped out so far, underwater images of the capsized ship appear to tell a different story.

Three dimensional images realized by a sophisticated multi-beam sonar and laser technologies which can be used at depths of 1500 feet, revealed that the 950 foot-long, 116 foot-wide, 114,500-ton ship precariously sits on two pieces of rock. "The Concordia doesn't rest on a relatively flat rock platform.

On the contrary, the bow and stern sit on two rocks, one larger and the other smaller. In between there is sloping sand which degrades by 20 percent toward deep sea," Andrea Faccioli, sales manager at Codevintec, the highly specialized company which produced the 3D images, told Discovery News.

Interesting2: Exercising outdoors does seem to confer mental and physical well being. Researchers from Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in Britain with the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH) came to this conclusion after studying the effects of outdoor and indoor exercise on 833 adults.

Participants reported greater enjoyment and satisfaction with outdoor activity and stated that they were more likely to repeat the activity at a later date, according to a Peninsula College statement.

Outdoor activity was associated with greater feelings of revitalization, increased energy and positive engagement, together with an easing in tension, confusion, anger and depression.

Senior study author Michael Depledge said: "Some 75 per cent of the European population now live in urban environments, so increasing efforts need to be made to reconnect people with nature."