Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday:
Lihue, Kauai – 83
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 87 (Record high temperature for Friday / 91 -1984)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 87
Molokai airport – 84
Kahului airport, Maui – 85
Kona airport – 85
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 80
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain top around the state…as of 5pm Friday evening:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 83
Hilo, Hawaii – 78
Haleakala Summit – M (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 48 (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 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.
Aloha Paragraphs
Trade winds…windward showers at times
As this weather map shows, we have a pair of high pressure systems located to the northwest and northeast of the islands. Our local trade winds will remain active into the weekend…increasing a notch right after the weekend.
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Friday evening:
29 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
40 Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
30 Molokai – NE
35 Kahoolawe – NE
32 Kahului, Maui – NE
29 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 Friday afternoon:
0.32 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.26 Kahana, Oahu
0.15 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.42 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.59 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
Sunset Commentary:
Our local trade wind speeds will remain generally in the moderately strong realm during the weekend…then speed up some later Sunday into the early part of the new week. We find two moderately strong high pressure systems to the northeast and northwest of Hawaii…providing moderately strong trades. The trade winds will carry windward showers our way at times, while the leeward sides will see less of this activity. We can use this satellite image to see an area of showery clouds moving through the state tonight. We see other patches of clouds further to the east, which will arrive with additional showers periodically through the weekend. Then, right after the weekend, the Big Island end of the island chain may see the northern fringe of an area of tropical moisture arriving from the southeast…bringing another modest increase in showers into Tuesday.
Friday night film: this time I'm going to see one of the hot films of the summer season, called The Amazing Spider-man, starring Andrew Garfield, Rhys Ifans, Emma Stone, Sally Field, Martin Sheen, Denis Leary…among many others. The synopsis: the Amazing Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents' disappearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father's former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors' alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero. The critics have been generous with this long 2 hour, 17 minute film. I've been looking forward to seeing it for a long time, and now that its been out for a while, I trust it won't be too crowded. I'll be driving down to Kahului this evening to see it, and will report back to you in the morning with my impression. Until then, here's a trailer if you're interested in taking a quite look.
Here in Kula, Maui at 515pm Friday evening, it was cloudy and calm…while the air temperature was 69.6F degrees. The trade winds that we've seen most of the summer, will hold up through the weekend…and beyond. As a trough of low pressure passes by to the south of the state, our trade winds will increase a notch later Sunday through Tuesday or so. As far as showers go, they will be generally limited to our windward sides through the weekend, with a possible increase thereafter, when an area of showery clouds approaches the Big Island and parts of Maui County Monday and Tuesday. Otherwise, generally fine summery weather will prevail well into the future, with no heavy rain events or tropical cyclones in the forecast. ~~~ I'll be back again early Saturday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
[World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
Central Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
Eastern Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean: There are no active tropical cyclones
Western Pacific Ocean: Newly formed tropical depression 10W is now active in the Philippine Sea…moving in a northwesterly direction offshore from Luzon Island. It is expected to slowly increase in strength, eventually attaining typhoon status early in the new week ahead. The latest JTWC forecast shows 10W moving pretty much directly towards Taiwan. Here's the JTWC graphical track map, along with a NOAA satellite image.
South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
South and North Indian Oceans: There are no active tropical cyclones
Interesting: While experts debate whether extreme weather conditions such as this summer’s record rainfall can be explained by climate change, University of Leicester geographers are investigating whether the opposite is true — does extreme weather impact on climate change? To answer the question, a team of researchers from the Department of Geography and Centre for Landscape and Climate Research at the University of Leicester set up a new monitoring station in June to measure greenhouse gas emissions from drained and cultivated peatlands in the East Anglian Fens. They will make measurements over an extended period in order to record carbon emissions over a wide spectrum of weather conditions.
Their study, supported by the Natural Environment Research Council, will provide the first ever direct measurements of carbon dioxide emissions from degraded peat soils in the intensively farmed English Fens, which are widely recognised as the largest land use related source of this greenhouse gas in the UK. Professor Heiko Balzter, Director of the Center for Landscape and Climate Research and Professor of Physical Geography, said: "Preserving greenhouse gases that are stored in peat soils is being recognized more and more as a way to fight climate change. Extreme weather can change the amount of greenhouse gases being released from peat soils.
At the same time, these emissions influence future climate itself. We have a feedback loop here, where cause and effect influence each other. Land managers and politicians are looking for solutions to the climate problem. We hope to be able to contribute to finding them."
Interesting2: Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Danish government had ruled over it until 1979 when the island was granted home rule. However, the Danes still control Greenland’s foreign affairs, defense, police, justice system, and financial policy. Recently, however, Greenland has been courted by multinational companies and foreign leaders looking to exploit its rare minerals and potential oil reserves.
The new attention brought to the island due to is leading Greenland’s premier, Kuupik Kleist, to seriously consider moving toward full independence. Denmark currently provides their Arctic territory of 57,000 people with an annual subsidy of 3.4 billion crowns ($560 million).
If Greenland can raise that much money on their own through mineral extractions, they would have little reason to continue as a Danish territory. The melting ice is starting to make these resources more accessible. Plus, supplies are shrinking and demand is rising, making these harder to reach places more economically viable.
"I think it opens many doors for the country," said Nukaaka Fleischer Hansen, a young Greenlander who works at the Ministry for Industry and Mineral Resources. "The outside world doesn't know much about Greenland. I used to study in Norway, and many of them knew nothing about Greenland, which made me sad.
It's a beautiful country and it has many opportunities." The minerals believed to be in Greenland include diamonds, gold, copper, platinum, uranium, aluminum, titanium, and other rare earth metals. Mining exploration is currently at its infant phase, and many more mines are likely to be found.
Foreigners are already beginning to knock at the doors. Within the last couple months, the Greenland premier has met with some geopolitical heavy hitters, including the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, and representatives from the Chinese government.
With talk of independence swirling around comes other important considerations. The island nation is located in a strategic area at the edge of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, particularly as the Arctic ice continues to melt. A self-defense force would need to be created. Greenland may actually look to join the European Union to provide an economic and defense safety net.
It may also be possible they would look towards just the Nordic states of Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. Or perhaps, they could be swayed to work more with their North American partners, Canada and the US, possibly joining NAFTA. Then of course there is Denmark itself, who may not be so happy about parting ways with her territory just as its vast resources become realized. It will be very interesting how everything plays out.
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