Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday:
Lihue, Kauai – 82
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 87 (Record high for Sunday / 90 – 1996 )
Kaneohe, Oahu – 81
Molokai airport – 84
Kahului airport, Maui – 86
Kona airport – 82
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 Sunday evening:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 82
Kapalua, Maui – 75
Haleakala Crater – 52 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea – 36 (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 not always working correctly.
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 (once the season begins June 1) 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
Strengthening trades Monday onwards, passing
windward showers at times…although generally
light and limited in coverage for the time being
As this weather map shows, we have high pressure systems located far to the east-northeast and northwest of the Hawaiian Islands, with an elongated connecting ridge between the two…to the north of Hawaii. At the same time, we find cold fronts well to the north and northeast of the islands. Our local winds will continue to be from the trade wind direction…picking up again Monday onwards.
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Sunday evening:
14 Lihue, Kauai – NE
23 Honolulu, Oahu – NE
28 Molokai – NE
33 Kahoolawe – ESE
25 Kahului, Maui – NE
13 Lanai – NE
31 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 Sunday evening:
0.06 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.50 Kahuku, Oahu
0.14 Molokai
0.12 Lanai
0.01 Kahoolawe
0.69 Puu Kukui, Maui
1.01 Island Dairy, Big Island
Sunset Commentary: The trade winds will strengthen as we move into the new work week…becoming even stronger by about Wednesday. This what will be, a long lasting trade wind weather pattern, will keep our trades blowing through the next week at least. The NWS forecast office in Honolulu will raise small craft wind advisories soon…which should last, at least in those windiest areas around Maui County and the Big Island, well into the future. At higher elevations on Maui and the Big Island, stronger winds in a couple of days will trigger wind advisories over those summits, and may attain warning levels as an upper low pressure system moves across the state then.
As far as precipitation goes, there will be those incoming showers at times, although the overlying atmosphere is generally dry and stable, which will act to limit the shower intensities and coverage. As the trade winds increase in strength, there should be at least some increase in windward shower activity. At the upper level low edges in our our island chain by Wednesday for a few days, we'll likely see some corresponding further increase in showers around the state. There are no signs of any extended, or heavy shower activity on the horizon at this time. The best chance for our showers during the next week may be Wednesday…lasting for a day or two.
This past Friday evening I went to see the new film called The Avengers, starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow…among many others. The synopsis: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow answer the call to action when Nick Fury, director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., initiates a daring, globe-spanning recruitment effort to assemble The Avengers team to defeat an unexpected enemy threatening global safety and security. Despite pulling together the ultimate dream team, Nick Fury and longtime confidant Agent Coulson must find a way to convince the Super Heroes to work with, not against each other, when the powerful and dangerous Loki gains access to the Cosmic Cube and its unlimited power. I'd been looking forward to this one, and as I'd hoped…it was quite entertaining. I must say however, once you've seen so many of these action thrillers, they gradually begin to lose their appeal to some degree. Nonetheless, as far as these films go, this was definitely one of the better ones. It deserves a grade somewhere between a solid B and perhaps even a B+. Here's a trailer so you can see what this film is like for yourself. ~~~ Here in Kula, Maui at 515pm, skies were cloudy with a few light showers, along with very light breezes, and an air temperature of 67.8F degrees. I'll be back early Monday morning with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Sunday night wherever you are spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Tropical cyclone report: The second tropical cyclone of the 2012 hurricane season, in the eastern Pacific, has spun up recently. This strengthening tropical depression called 2E, is forecast to become a tropical storm called Bud by Monday morning…and will attain hurricane status by Tuesday. Here's the NHC storm track map, along with a satellite image. There is absolutely no threat to the Hawaiian Islands from this quickly developing tropical system.
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