Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / August 12-13, 2012

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

Lihue, Kauai –                      84  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –       87  
Kaneohe, Oahu –                  86
Molokai airport –                  84
Kahului airport, Maui –     88 
Kona airport     –                 85 
Hilo airport, Hawaii –            84

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

Barking Sands, Kauai – 86
Molokai airport –  77

Haleakala Summit –      M  (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit –   39 (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

 

Trades…windward
showers at times

As this weather map shows, we have moderately strong high pressure systems located to the northeast of the islands, with a low pressure trough, and a cold front far to our northwest. Our local trade winds will remain moderately strong into the new week ahead.

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

28            Port Allen, Kauai – E
38            Kuaokala, Oahu – NE  
30            Molokai – NE 
35            Kahoolawe – ENE
33            Kahului, Maui – NE 
29            Lanai – NE
29            Kealakomo, 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:
 
0.39               Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.24               Palisades, Oahu
0.32               Molokai
0.02               Lanai
0.00               Kahoolawe
0.99               Puu Kukui, Maui
1.68               Kawainui Stream, Big Island  

                                        Sunset Commentary: 

Moderately strong trade winds will continue to blow across our Hawaiian Islands…through the next week. We find high pressure systems (weather map) located to the northeast of the islands Sunday night…supporting this wind flow. These trades will carry a few windward showers towards us, increasing somewhat overnight. The leeward sides will be drier than the windward sides as usual, with just a few scattered showers present here and there. The leeward Kona slopes on the Big Island on the other hand, may see a modest increase in afternoon or early evening showers locally Monday and Tuesday…with a few possible showers falling in the upcountry leeward slopes of east Maui too. 

Friday night film: Several friends and I went to see a new film last evening, this one was called Total Recall. It stars Colin Farrell, Bryan Cranston, Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Nighy, and John Cho…among many others. The synopsis: welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid, even though he's got a beautiful wife who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life – real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police,  controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen, the leader of the free world. Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter to find the head of the underground resistance and stop Cohaagen. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate. ~~~ This long film (2 hours 15 minutes) had all the required things of a good action flick, including intense sequences of sci-fi violence, some sexual content, brief nudity and severe language being thrown around! Well, this was in fact a very intense action film, as advertised. The general consensus of my friends and I, suggested that it was a bit over the top in terms of fast paced action in fact! We all felt a bit worn out after watching this film, although the overall grade turned out to be a pretty solid B. Here's the trailer in case you have any interest in taking a peek at what we saw.  

Here in Kula, Maui at 555pm Sunday evening, it was partly cloudy with light breezes…and an air temperature of 72.7F degrees. The trade winds will continue to blow across our islands through the next week at least. If we look at this satellite image, we see scattered patches of low level clouds upstream of our islands. Tonight into Tuesday, we'll find a low pressure system aloft, with its relatively cold air aloft, located over the state. This doesn't appear to be doing much destabilizing of our air mass however, at least not at the moment. Otherwise, we'll find reasonably good weather prevailing in most areas…especially our leeward beaches. The trade winds have strengthened some this evening, and thus, the NWS forecast office in Honolulu has issued a small craft wind advisory around those windiest channels and coast waters. As usual, the cooler night time hours will prompt some localized increase in showers overnight, at least when cloud patches impact the windward sides of the islands. I don't see anything unusual coming in our direction, so that our fine summertime weather conditions will prevail well into the future. I'll be back early Monday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise, I hope you have a great Sunday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn. 

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Central Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Eastern Pacific Ocean:  Tropical storm Hector (8E) remains active over the waters offshore from Mexico…located about 90 miles west-southwest of Socorro Island…with sustained winds of 40 mph. Tropical storm Hector isn't forecast to become a hurricane, and will be dropping back down to a tropical depression early Wednesday morning. Here's a NHC graphical track map. Here's the NHC satellite image showing tropical storm Hector.

Meanwhile, an area of disturbed weather is still evident just offshore from southern Mexico, located about 175 miles southeast of Acapulco, Mexico. It has a low 20% chance of developing into a tropical depression within 48 hours.

Here's a satellite image showing both TS Hector and this tropical disturbance.

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

The remnants of retired tropical depression 7L is located over the Caribbean Sea. There's a low 10% chance that this area could regenerate into a tropical cyclone. Here's a satellite image of this remnant low. 

Meanwhile, another area of disturbed weather is located about 1200 miles west-northwest of the Cape Verde Islands, moving westward over the Atlantic Ocean. This system has a low 10% chance of developing into a tropical cyclone within the next 48 hours.

Here's a satellite image showing former 7L…and this other area of disturbed weather in the Atlantic.

Western Pacific Ocean:   Tropical depression Kai-tak (14W) is located approximately 290 NM east-northeast of Mania, Philippines. Sustained winds were 40 knots with gusts to near 50 knots. It is on a strengthening trend, and forecast by the JTWC to become a typhoon within 72 hours…as it moves by very close to the northeast tip of Luzon Island, and south of the southern tip of Taiwan…towards mainland China. Here's a JTWC graphical track map.

South Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

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