Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / July 3-4, 2012

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

Lihue, Kauai –                     83   
Honolulu airport, Oahu –      80  
Kaneohe, Oahu –                 78
Molokai airport –                  79
Kahului airport, Maui –         84
Kona airport –                   85
Hilo airport, Hawaii –            81

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain top around the state…as of 8pm Tuesday evening:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 79
Molokai airport – 73
 
Haleakala Summit –     M (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit –   41 (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.  Here's a tropical cyclone tracking map for the eastern and central Pacific.

 Aloha Paragraphs

Full Moon!
 
  Active trade winds this week, with windward
showers…elsewhere at times too,
drier soon through Wednesday, then
more windward showers into Thursday

Happy 4th of July!

As this weather map shows, we have a large near 1033 millibar high pressure system to the north-northwest of the islands.  Our local winds will remain active from the trade wind direction through the next week…at least.

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

33            Lihue, Kauai  
29            Kahuku trng area, Oahu – ESE
30            Molokai – NE 
35            Kahoolawe – NE
30            Kahului, Maui – NE
36            Lanai – NE
28            PTA Keamuku, 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 Tuesday evening:
 
2.15               Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.69               Moanalua RG, Oahu
1.22               Molokai
0.07               Lanai
0.00               Kahoolawe
1.35               Puu Kukui, Maui
1.67               Piihonua, Big Island  

Sunset Commentary:  Our trade winds will remain at moderately strong levels through the next week…with minor fluctuations from day to day. These trade winds remain strong enough however to keep small craft wind advisories active across those windiest areas in Maui County and the Big Island. There will continue to be off and on passing showers falling along our windward sides. These showers will be carried over into leeward sides at times. There will be afternoon showers at times on the slopes in the Kona and Kau districts on the Big Island…and along the leeward upcountry slopes of the Haleakala Crater on Maui too. Fortunately, the outlook looks better for the 4th of July holiday, than it turned out to be today. The models are suggesting we could see yet another surge of showers moving in the island chain Wednesday night into Thursday…falling predominately along the windward sides.

As this satellite image shows, we finally have a break in the clouds approaching our windward coasts and slopes. Meanwhile, there continues to be a rather compact area of thunderstorms far south of the Big Island…with an area of high cirrus that broke off the tops of those towering cumulus, and was carried northward on the strong upper level winds…and is now located just southeast of the Big Island this evening. Here's a closer look at our islands using this satellite picture…so we can keep track of those clouds upstream of the islands…which are thinning out now, and should remain less showery through the upcoming holiday. 

Here in Kula, Maui at 515pm, it was cloudy and just stopped lightly misting…with an air temperature of 68F degrees. As noted above, our trade winds will continue blowing, carrying those windward showers our way at times. The windward sides have been quite showery today, or should I just say lately, in what I would call above average proportions. Many areas around the state today saw lots of clouds and showers, and not all that much good solid sunshine. Since tomorrow is a big holiday, I'm glad to report that conditions should improve quite a bit, with less clouds and showers…and more sunny weather, thank goodness! ~~~  There continues to be nothing of threat in our long range Hawaiian Island weather picture, with just that temporary increase in showers expected Wednesday night into Thursday. I'll be back Wednesday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Tuesday night wherever you're 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

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH A LOW PRESSURE AREA LOCATED ABOUT 500 MILES SOUTH OF MANZANILLO, MEXICO CONTINUE TO SHOW SIGNS OF ORGANIZATION. CONDITIONS APPEAR FAVORABLE ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THIS SYSTEM IS LIKELY TO BECOME A TROPICAL CYCLONE ON WEDNESDAY. THIS SYSTEM HAS A HIGH CHANCE…90 PERCENT…OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS AS IT MOVES WEST-NORTHWESTWARD AT ABOUT 10 MPH.

AN AREA OF DISTURBED WEATHER HAS DEVELOPED JUST SOUTHWEST OF THE COAST OF COSTA RICA. ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS APPEAR CONDUCIVE FOR GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM DURING THE NEXT FEW DAYS. THIS DISTURBANCE HAS A LOW CHANCE…10 PERCENT…OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS AS IT MOVES SLOWLY WESTWARD.

Here's a satellite image showing these tropical disturbances / A graphical map showing where this potential new tropical depression would be, the one with the 90% chance of generating…and the direction it would go if so. 

Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Western Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

An area of disturbed weather near the west coast of Luzon, Philippines is moving further out into the South China Sea, as shown on this graphical map. This area has gone from having a medium chance of developing into tropical cyclone…to a high chance now. Here's a satellite image of this area

South Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

South and North Indian Oceans: There are no active tropical cyclones

Interesting:  Millions of people in Asia and the Pacific could have access to clean water if leaks were plugged and water utility reforms adopted, says a new study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). “While Asia and the Pacific is increasingly facing a major water crisis, we see unacceptable levels of water being lost through leaks and inefficiencies,” said Bindu Lohani, ADB’s Vice President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development.

“By cutting the amount of lost water in half, 150 million people could be supplied with treated water.” ADB estimates that 29 billion cubic meters of water is lost each year in the region – enough to fill more than 11 million Olympic-sized swimming pools – causing Asia’s water utilities to lose more than $9 billion in revenue each year.

By examining eight of the best-performing water utilities in Asia, Good Practices in Urban Water Management concludes that a low rate of unaccounted for water (UFW) is critical for efficient service delivery. While current UFW levels in the region are as high as 60%, an UFW level of less than 20% is a realizable goal.

In fact, it notes that Phnom Penh managed to bring its lost water rate down to just 6% in 2008. The study identifies seven universal themes to serve as a model for replication by water utilities: corporatization for better accountability; economic sustainability; unaccounted-for-water reduction; holistic approach to manage water resources including water supply and waste water management; staff productivity; collaborative engagement amongst government, utilities and society; and inclusive approach to addressing the needs of the urban poor.

Asian water utilities need to show innovation to provide service to low-income households, the study says, noting that each of the eight water agencies studied provided some kind of subsidy for obtaining a water connection and, in deserving cases, for the use of water as well. Launched today at the Singapore International Water Week, the study cites Singapore as one of the models for water management which other Asian cities can learn from.

The country has a low level of lost water due to leakage, a strong government commitment for water sustainability, and is pricing water to take in the full costs of delivery and management. Its water utility, PUB, is seen as a test bed for innovative technologies.