Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / April 21-22, 2012

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

Lihue, Kauai –                     80  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –  83  (Record high temperature for Saturday – 89 / 1996) 
Kaneohe, Oahu –                 82
Molokai airport –                 78
Kahului airport, Maui –          81  
Kona airport –                  83
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 Saturday evening:

Kaneohe, Oahu – 82
Princeville, Kauai – 73

Haleakala Crater –  45 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea –         45 (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…although this webcam is often not working correctly.

 Aloha Paragraphs

 
Trades increasing through Tuesday…increasing
windward showers tonight into Monday, with
a weak front – lighter winds, voggy, and afternoon
showers Wednesday through Friday…followed
by trade winds next weekend and beyond

As this weather map shows, we have high pressure systems to the northeast and north of Hawaii.  At the same time, we have a weakening frontal boundary just to the north of the islands…pushing southward. Our trade winds will increase a notch Sunday into the new work week ahead.

The following numbers represent the most recent wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Saturday evening:

16                 Lihue, Kauai – NE
21                 Honolulu, Oahu – NE
25                 Molokai – NNE
31                 Kahoolawe – NE
23                 Lipoa, Maui, Maui – NE
22                 Lanai – NE
25                 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.  Here's the latest NOAA satellite picture – the latest looping satellite image…and finally the latest looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands. 

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Saturday evening:
 
0.08               Kilohana, Kauai
0.08               Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.10               Molokai
0.00               Lanai
0.00               Kahoolawe
0.26               Puu Kukui, Maui
0.83              Kawainui Stream, Big Island  

Sunset Commentary:  Moderately strong high pressure systems remain parked in the areas northeast and north of Hawaii Saturday evening. These two high pressure cells will keep our trade winds active. At the same time, we find a weakening front approaching the state from the north. It's slated to arrive this evening into the night on Kauai, and then the Big Island by Sunday night, bringing an increase in windward showers to the north and east facing windward sides. The trade winds will increase a notch in the wake of the frontal passage, keeping some windward showers happening into Monday and Tuesday…with a few being carried over into the leeward sides locally.

As we move into the middle of the new week, things will change again, with the trade winds faltering. As a matter of fact, the winds will veer around to the southeast, bringing muggy and voggy weather our way…along with afternoon interior showers locally. The mornings should be clear with slightly cooler than normal air temperatures, unless there are high cirrus clouds around then. Finally, our weather will return to near normal, with trade winds rebounding again next weekend into early the following week. As is often the case with a spring trade wind episode, the windward sides will see some shower activity, while the leeward sides will remain quite nice…with sunny weather during the days.
 
This last Thursday evening I went to see a new film called Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, starring Amr Waked, Emily Blunt, and Ewan McGregor…among many others. The snapshot of this salmon fishing film is: when Britain's leading fisheries expert (Ewan McGregor) is approached by a consultant (Emily Blunt) to help realize a sheikh's (Amr Waked) vision of bringing the sport of fly-fishing to the desert, he immediately thinks the project is both absurd and unachievable. But when the Prime Minister's overzealous press secretary (Kristin Scott Thomas) latches on to it as a "good will" story, this unlikely team will put it all on the line and embark on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible, possible. The rotten tomatoes film review site is giving this film a 70-75 grade out of 100, which is pretty good. As it turned out, I enjoyed this film, and feel comfortable giving it a B grade. The story was rather far fetched, although I enjoyed the creative license the director and producer took. The main focus, besides the salmon, was the developing relationship between McGregor and Blunt, which was endearing. I liked the story, and found it to be fun to watch. Here's a trailer for this film if you're interested in taking a peek.

Being a film buff, I went down to Kahului again Friday evening for yet another film, this one called The Hunger Games, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson…among many others. Here's the synopsis: every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which "Tributes" must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she's ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. Rotten tomatoes is giving this film a pretty good 84-85 rating out of 100. Despite many negative reviews on this film, I ended up liking it quite a bit, and am more than willing to give it a B grade. The low spot in the film was when they had some weird big dog like animals chasing the hero's, which was a bit too strange for me. Otherwise, and once again, it turned out to be a good story, very entertaining, and by the way…the theater was packed. Here's the trailer for this film.

Here in Kula, Maui at 530pm, skies were clear, with light breezes, and an air temperature of 72.3F degrees. As I expect this morning, it turned out to be another nice day, with the trade winds blowing, and lots of good sunny weather. The next new  weather change will center around the frontal cloud band digging southward towards the state from the north. The bulk of the showers in this band will arrive early tonight into Sunday, with some leftover showers sticking around into the first part of the new week…carried our way on the gusty trade winds. The high pressure systems pushing this band of clouds our way, will show themselves as stronger and gusty trade winds, in the wake of the fronts arrival. The NWS forecast office in Honolulu has issued small craft wind advisories in most of the marine areas around the state now in response. 

As I was mentioning above, those trades won't last long, as they fade away, leaving us in a convective weather regime through much of the second half of the new week ahead. The winds will come up from the southeast, bringing humid air, and the infamous voggy weather our way too. This kind of an atmospheric situation will likely spark afternoon upcountry showers in places too. The trade winds will ventilate our voggy skies by next weekend. I'll be back Sunday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Saturday night, perhaps evening spotting a few of those shooting stars described below! Finally, here's the looping radar image so we can keep an eye on those showers associated with that cloud band dropping down into the state from the north. Aloha for now…Glenn.  

Interesting:  The annual Lyrid meteor shower will hit its peak this weekend and promises to put on an eye-catching display. So much so, NASA is pulling out all the stops. NASA scientists plan to track the Lyrid meteor shower using a network of all-sky cameras on Earth, as well as from a student-launched balloon in California.

Meanwhile, an astronaut on the International Space Station will attempt to photograph the meteors from space. All of the work is timed for the peak of the Lyrids display of "shooting stars," which occurs late Saturday night and early Sunday (April 21 and 22). The meteors will appear to emanate from the constellation Lyra, which will appear in the northeastern sky at midnight local time, between the two days.

The best time to see them is in the hours before dawn. "I'm eager to see if we can get observations on the ground that we can correlate with the space station, then see what this balloon payload will get for us," NASA meteor shower expert Bill Cooke told SPACE.com. "It's kind of an exciting time for us, and it's not even a major meteor shower." Cooke heads NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

He expects the Lyrids to offer skywatchers between 15 and 20 meteors per hour for observers under the best viewing conditions (clear weather and far from city lights). Dark skies are vital to get the best view of all meteor showers. Promising Lyrid display The Lyrid meteor shower is typically a faint celestial light show, but what makes this year's display special is the fact that the moon will be in its "new" phase, meaning the side facing Earth won't be illuminated and interfere with the Lyrids.

"The moon messes a lot of stuff," Cooke said. "I like the moon … but it can keep us from getting work done." And Cooke is hoping for a good showing from the 2012 Lyrid meteor shower, which is the second notable meteor display of the year. It follows the Quadrantid meteor shower in early January and kicks off what Cooke calls "meteor shower season," since the year's nighttime fireworks displays will only pick up from here.

"So this is kind of the return of the nighttime meteor shower for the year," Cooke said. "Meteor showers are returning to us." Lyrids from space and balloon By coincidence, the International Space Station will be flying on a path that will give its six-man crew prime seats to the Lyrid meteor shower this weekend.

To take advantage of the cosmic line-up, one crew member — NASA astronaut Don Pettit — will attempt to snap photos of the Lyrids from space. Pettit is already an accomplished space photographer and Cooke hopes that, by tracking the time of any meteors the astronaut sees, they can be matched to meteors seen from ground cameras.

"This is the first time we've tried to organize a ground campaign to look for meteors at the same time an astronaut in space is looking for meteors," Cooke said. Then there's the research balloon. NASA is working with astronomer Tony Phillips, who runs the skywatching website Spaceweather.com, and is leading a group of high school and middle school students in Bishop, Calif., in a project to launch a helium weather balloon into the stratosphere to try and photograph Lyrid meteors.

The weather balloon will carry a low-cost meteor camera, an experimental NASA design making its first test flight, Cooke said. "We're going to see if we can see Lyrids from 100,000 feet," Cooke added. How you can watch the Lyrids Humans have been observing the Lyrid meteor shower for more than 2,600 years, NASA scientists said. The display is created when Earth passes through a stream of dust and debris left over from comet Thatcher (C/1861 G1), which follows a 415-year orbit around the sun.

The meteors from comet Thatcher occur when comet dust slams into Earth's atmosphere at up to 110,000 mph (177,027 kph), igniting brilliant light displays. While the Lyrid meteor shower appears to radiate outward from the constellation Lyra (hence its name), looking straight at the constellation isn't a good idea. "The last thing you want to do is look at Lyra, which is the direction of the radiant, because the meteors in that direction have very short tails and will appear as a dot to you," Cooke advised.

"The best thing to do with any meteor shower is to go out there, lie on your back and look straight up." Don't expect to see a sky filled with shooting stars, either, Cooke warned. A few meteors per hour is what the average skywatcher should expect, he said. Lyrid meteor skywatchers with good weather should venture outside in the late-night hours Saturday or early Sunday, preferably after midnight to catch the sky show around its peak, which occurs at 1:30 a.m. EDT (0530 GMT).

You should allow up to 40 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. A reclining folding chair, blanket and good company can help enhance your Lyrid observing experience too. Cooke will also host a "NASA Up All Night" webchat to discuss the Lyrids in real-time, offering a chance for those with rainy skies to see the meteor shower remotely.