Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 84
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 88
Kaneohe, Oahu – 86
Molokai airport – 85
Kahului airport, Maui – 88
Kona airport – 85
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 83
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain top around the state…as of 5pm Saturday evening:
Honolulu, Oahu – 83
Hilo, Hawaii – 76
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, common summer
conditions…drier than normal
As this weather map shows, we have moderately strong high pressure systems located far to the north-northwest, north and north-northeast of the islands…with a low pressure system and trough to our northwest. Our local trade winds will remain moderately strong through the weekend…and beyond.
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Saturday evening:
27 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
31 Kuaokala, Oahu – SE
31 Molokai – NE
32 Kahoolawe – NE
30 Kahului, Maui – NE
29 Lanai – NE
28 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:
0.56 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.05 Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.10 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.23 Laupahoehaoe, Big Island
Sunset Commentary:
There's little change expected in our moderately strong trade wind flow across the Hawaiian Islands…through Sunday into the new week ahead. We continue to find near 1029 millibar high pressure systems (weather map) located far to the north-northeast, north and north-northwest of Hawaii…supporting this wind flow across our islands. The trade winds will carry just a few windward showers towards us, with generally dry conditions expected along our leeward sides. We can use this satellite image to see just the usual array of scattered low level clouds to our east and northeast. These low clouds upwind of our islands will bring just a few windward biased showers periodically…generally during the night and early morning hours. The Big Island may be receiving somewhat more showers than elsewhere in the state for the time being. At the same time, there are high and middle level clouds around too, especially near Kauai at the time of this writing…loosely associated with a low pressure system far out to the west.
Friday evening film: The film this week is called The Dark Knight Rises, stars Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Michael Cane, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt …among many others. The synopsis: it has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane. ~~~ This was a long 2 hour and 45 minute film, the longest I've seen perhaps ever seen. It was huge, and full of action and high adventure! The grades coming out of the group of friends that I was with included an A, and A-, and a B…while I'm going to weigh-in with an A- myself. It was completely captivating, and kept my attention riveted to the screen throughout. My only complaint was the length, and even that was a minor consideration overall. Here's a trailer in case you're curious.
Here in Kula, Maui at 525pm Saturday evening, it was partly cloudy with light winds…and an air temperature of 72.7F degrees. As mentioned above, the trade winds will continue to blow well into the future. Winds will remain quite breezy, at least in gusts, ranging between 30-35 mph in those windiest places around the state. The NWS forecast office is continuing the small craft wind advisory active for those windiest coasts and channels around Maui County and the Big Island. If we look at this satellite image, providing a larger view than the one above, we see a smattering of thunderstorms and high cirrus clouds far to our southwest through southeast…down towards the Equator. At the same time, a very large area of low pressure far to our west and northwest, towards Midway Island in the western Pacific, is causing lots of upper level clouds too. This low has blossomed into tropical depression 13W. Despite that low pressure to our west, and all the high clouds that will sweep into the state at times, our normal summertime trade wind weather conditions will prevail. Meanwhile, when cirrus are around during the days, especially by Sunday onwards, they will cause sun dimming and filtering of our famous Hawaiian sunshine at times. These are also famous for bringing colorful sunrise and sunsets to our islands too! I'll be back with a new sunrise commentary Sunday morning, I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Extra: Youtube video showing what will happen to Curiosity, as it lands on Mars Sunday evening
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: Tropical storm Ernesto (5L) remains active in the Caribbean Sea, located about 325 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. Maximum sustained winds are 60 mph, which is expected to increase to a hurricane Monday…to the to the north of Honduras and the west of Belize. Here's the official NHC graphical track map / Here's a satellite image of this storm / Here's the hurricane model output for TS Ernesto.
The 6th tropical cyclone of the 2012 hurricane season remains active in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean…called tropical storm Florence (6L). It will continue to strengthen some, until it runs into unfavorable environment conditions in 2-3 days, and will then quickly dissipate over the open ocean…away from any land or island areas. Here's the NHC graphical track map for Florence…along with a satellite view, located far to the right hand side of the picture
Meanwhile, there's an area of disturbed weather across the Florida Peninsula into the Bahamas , that has a low 0% chance of developing into a tropical depression within the next 48 hours. Regardless if this first tropical disturbance develops or not…it will bring locally heavy rains to this area into Sunday.
Here's a satellite image showing these three areas, circled in yellow…along with tropical storms Ernesto and Florence.
Western Pacific Ocean: Tropical storm Haikui (12W) remains active in the western Pacific, located approximately 130 NM east of Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan. Sustained winds were 45 knots, with gusts to near 55 knots. It is expected to strengthen into a typhoon within 48 hours or so…moving just to the north of Kadena AB, and then off westward to strike the eastern China coast at a tropical storm around the 8th of August. Here's the JTWC graphical track map, along with a NOAA satellite image.
Meanwhile, Tropical depression (13W) is now also active in the western Pacific, located approximately 385 NM northwest of Wake Island. Sustained winds were 25 knots, with gusts to near 35 knots. It is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm within 24 hours or so…remaining offshore from any islands or land masses. 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: With all the advances in electronics and social media, it is no wonder that children are opting to stay in the comfort of the indoors rather than pursuing outdoor activities. It is at times like these that parents need to be extra vigilant in forcing their kids out of the house and play around like a kid. A new study from the University of Bristol has given another valid reason for keeping children outside.
According to their research, children who spend more time outside are less likely to develop myopia (short-sightedness) than children who prefer the indoors and staring at a lit-up screen. Myopia is one of the most prevalent conditions on the plant, affecting between 25 and 50 percent of young people in the West and up to 80 percent of young people in parts of south-east Asia.
Around the world, more than a third of all adults are myopic, requiring glasses in order to see distant objects clearly. This percentage has doubled over the last thirty years, for reasons one can speculate upon. Previous research conducted in Australia and the United States have found the link between children outdoor activity and a decreased risk of developing myopia.
However, it was unclear whether this was due to more physical activity or just being outside. The Bristol University researchers, led by Dr Cathy Williams (Bristol) and Dr. Jez Guggenheim (Cardiff), set off to answer this question. They observed over 7,000 boys and girls of varying ages, comparing the prevalence of myopia with the amount of time spent outside at age 9 and their amount of physical activity at age 11.
They found that kids who were outdoors more often at ages 8 and 9 were half as likely to become short-sighted by age 15. It is believed that the reason myopia is so high among south-east Asian children is because they spend much more time inside.
"We're still not sure why being outdoors is good for children's eyes, but given the other health benefits that we know about we would encourage children to spend plenty of time outside, although of course parents will still need to follow advice regarding UV exposure," said Dr. Williams.
"There is now a need to carry out further studies investigating how much time outside is needed to protect against short-sightedness, what age the protective effect of spending time outside is most marked and how the protective effect actually works, so that we can try and reduce the number of children who become short-sighted."
One can speculate that the reason myopia is decreased by being outside is because the eyes get more exercise. They are constantly moving around and adjusting their focus. The eyes also get more practice in viewing objects at greater distance. When indoors, the eyes cannot focus on anything further than the wall in front of them.
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