Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / December 19-20, 2012

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

Lihue, Kauai –                       77  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –         81  
Molokai airport –                    79
Kahului airport, Maui –           80 
Kona airport     –                 82  
Hilo airport, Hawaii –              77

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 730pm Wednesday evening:

Kailua Kona – 77
Kapalua, Maui – 72

Haleakala Summit –   37       (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 30      (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.

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.  The 2012 hurricane season is over in the eastern and central Pacific…resuming on May 15th and June 1st 2013.

Aloha Paragraphs

 
 
Clear to partly cloudy, cloudy periods,
passing showers windward sides at
times…some along the leeward sides
here and there too

Small craft wind advisory…all marine zones

High surf advisory for east shores of all islands

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

25       Port Allen, Kauai – NE
43       Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
36       Molokai – ENE    
46       Kahoolawe – NE
37       Kaupo Gap, Maui – NE
42       Lanai – NE
40       South Point, Big Island – NE

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Wednesday evening:
 
1.69          Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.25          Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.90          Molokai
0.00          Kahoolawe
2.25          Puu Kukui, Maui
1.17          Hilo airport, Big Island  

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.

                                          ~~ Hawaii weather commentary ~~ 

Strong and gusty trade winds will continue to blow across our islands…although will gradually taper off some going forward. Here's the weather map showing the north central Pacific, with a very strong near 1041 millibar high pressure cell to our north-northwest…moving southeast. The outlooks calls for a slight reduction in our gusty trade winds by the end of this work week. Our local winds will continue to gust above 40 mph for the time being however, in those windiest locations around the state. As we get into weekend, our winds may become much lighter, as a trough of low pressure forms to the west or southwest of the state then…prompting southeast breezes. This of course suggests that we could see volcanic haze (vog) returning to some areas of the smaller islands.

The current forecast shows off and on, generally light showers for our windward sides…increasing some tonight into Thursday morning.  Here's a satellite image, showing scattered low clouds upstream of our islands, although with a more showery band of clouds, a bit further to our northeast to east…slated to arrive overnight into Thursday morning. Our leeward sides will see a few passing showers too, blown over there by the strong and gusty trade wind flow. It looks like somewhat drier air will arrive by Friday, and likely into the weekend as well.

Looking further ahead, as far as the upcoming Christmas holiday…weather models are pointing out a possible change.  The first influence that we might see would be lighter winds later in the weekend, from the southeast.  This could occur if a possible Kona Low pressure system moves into the area west and southwest of Hawaii. If this were to happen, it would prompt south to southwest kona winds into our area later Sunday into Monday. The current GFS weather model shows an area of deep tropical moisture moving up over the state from the southwest later Monday into Christmas Day. The most generous showers might fall from Kauai down through Maui County, with the Big Island perhaps missing the bulk of this precipitation. Weather then clears up and improves on the 26th of December. This is the latest iteration of this potential weather change occurring early next week, although it may change to some degree over the next few days…stay tuned.  I'll be back early Thursday morning with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.   

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

Eastern Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Central Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Western Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

South Pacific Ocean:  Tropical cyclone Evan (04P) is dissipating in the southwest Pacific Ocean…located approximately 400 NM south of Nadi, Fiji. Sustained winds are near 35 knots, with gusts to near 45 knots. Tropical cyclone Evan will continue losing strength, dissipating over the open ocean now. Here's the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image. Final Warning

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

Interesting:   Some major news came out this week from our friends Down Under. Two of Australia's largest grocery chains have pledged to phase out factory-raised eggs and pork. The two chains are Cole's the nation's largest, which will ban these products starting January 1st, and Woolworths, who expects to phase them out by the middle of next year.

The two chains combine to cover 80 percent of the nation's food market share. As an immediate result, 34,000 mother pigs and 350,000 chickens will be freed from their cages. What is really exciting abut this announcement, besides that obvious fact that it takes Australia one step closer to a humane, non-violent, ethics-based civilized society, it also shows the power of consumer sentiment to effect change.

The announcement came about in no small part because of a campaign by Animals Australia calling for an end to factory farming, calling "it the biggest cause of cruelty to animals in the country." The campaign featured this video called, When Pigs Fly. Back home, while some business folks complain that their investments in social responsibility might not be paying off quickly enough, they might be missing the way that these things can slowly build to a tipping point.

Here in the U.S., there are laws against cruelty to animals, but they don’t apply to animals raised for food. Still, there are efforts to expose the kinds of cruel practices that occur in factory farms, despite the fact that an increasing number of states are passing laws making the disclosure of what actually happens inside these death camps illegal.

A number of food producers have come forward and announced decisions to voluntarily stop these practices. Among them are food retailers: Dunkin Donuts, Burger King, Wendy’s, and McDonalds, who have all pledged to begin phasing out either gestation crate pork or caged hen eggs or both in the near future (notice a little peer pressure here?).

Meanwhile Domino’s has steadfastly refused to make the change. Food distributors Sysco and Aramark have also vowed to eliminate gestation crates from their suppliers. On the producer side, Oscar Mayer and Wienerschnitzel have also gotten on the bandwagon.

But one would think that grocery chains would have even more leverage among a wider range of suppliers, since they are likely to carry multiple brands on their shelves. The issue of supply chain leverage particularly in the area of GHG emissions, has become a hot topic in itself, and the inclusion of Scope 3 emissions, those coming from outside the walls of the company in question, serves as fitting analogy to the cruelty that might be taking place upstream of these outlets.

Australia has been generated an impressive sustainability track record, to which they recently added with the announcement that 90 percent of their seafood catch comes from sustainable sources. They also have demonstrated their willingness to make tough choices.

But the grand prize in this category might have to go to the EU, as least on the cage-free chicken issue, since they have passed a law, requiring all eggs to be produced by cage-free chickens or those kept in cages meeting enhanced standards.