Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / January 21-22, 2013

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

Lihue, Kauai –                         75  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –      80  
Molokai airport –                     78
Kahului airport, Maui –            79 
Kona airport     –                     M   
Hilo airport, Hawaii –               78

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 510am Tuesday morning:

Honolulu, Oahu – 73
Barking Sands, Kauai – 63

Haleakala Summit –   43       (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Loa Summit –  M      (13,000+ 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…if it's available.

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

More large to extra large surf – north and west shores

High Surf Advisory for the west shore of the Big Island

Small Craft Advisory ~ for large northwest swells, and
strong gusty winds in some coastal and channel waters 

Gusty northeast breezes, with generally dry weather

~~~Air temperature at 530am HST Tuesday morning, clear skies, calm
winds…at my upcountry Kula, Maui weather tower: 48.7F degrees~~~

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. / President Obama's Inauguration

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

27       Port Allen, Kauai – ENE 
45       Kuaokala, Oahu – NE    
24       Molokai – ESE       
32       Kahoolawe – NNW
31       Kahului, Maui – NE 
37       Pali 2, Big Island – N

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Monday evening:
 
0.02          Lihue, Kauai
0.03          Waihee Pump, Oahu
0.00          Molokai
0.00          Kahoolawe
0.00          Lanai
0.01          Kahului, Maui
0.03          Kahua Ranch, 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 ~~~ 

Our winds will be turning to the east-northeast and east, bringing back warmer and slightly more moist conditions…over the next few days. Here's a weather chart showing high pressure centers located not far to the north of Hawaii. At the same time, we see a weak low pressure system well offshore to the east, and stronger lows to our northwest…with associated cold fronts. Our winds will blow from the northeast, shifting to the east-northeast and east through the next several days. This upcoming trade wind flow, will be locally strong and gusty. Rainfall will be very limited for the time being, although will pick up some along our windward coasts and slopes by mid-week…with a few wandering over into the leeward sides at times. Looking further ahead, the models show our next cold front approaching the state Friday, turning our winds to the southeast, and bringing potentially widespread showers our way right after the weekend. 

Here's a satellite image, showing low level, and very stable clouds over many parts of the state…with some clear areas too.  A very dry and slightly cool air mass continues to move over the state. These breezes will blow in the moderately strong category, locally stronger and gusty. The dry air, and robust northeast winds will continue to have a slight chill to them, although not as cool as during the last several days. The air flow will gradually veer around to the more classic trade wind direction Tuesday and Wednesday, which will bring warmer temperatures to the state. They will remain quite strong and gusty through mid-week at least. Case in point, there were gusts up to 45 mph early this evening, on Oahu. I'll be back with with your next new weather narrative from paradise early Tuesday morning, have a great Monday night wherever you're 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 10P (Garry) remains active in the southwest Pacific, located approximately 85 NM northeast of Pago Pago, American Samoa. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) shows this cyclone with 45 knot sustained winds, with gusts to 55 knots. 10P will be steadily increasing in strength, reaching between 65 knots in 72 hours. Here's the graphical track map, along with a satellite image.

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

Interesting:  Every major global issue requires spearheading by influential individuals. Global warming had Al Gore and the famine in Ethiopia in the 80s had the fundraising supergroup Band Aid. At long last, the issue of overpopulation is being raised by someone with good exposure in the media. Alexandra Paul, host of the PBS documentary JAMPACKED and star of over 75 films and televisions shows, including the series Baywatch, gave a speech on overpopulation to the TEDX event in Topanga, California (click here for video link.

Alexandra explains correctly that modern man first showed up on earth 200,000 years ago. By 1830 there were 1 billion people on the planet. Therefore, it took 200,000 years for humans to put the first billion humans on earth. The second billion we added in just 100 years. Now, we add 1 billion people every 12 years.

And in 2011, the human population reached 7 billion people. To give you an example of how fast the population grows, Bangladesh had a hurricane that catastrophically killed 139,000 people. As a point for comparison, the population growth in Bangladesh is 139,000 new births every 2 ½ weeks! In her talk, Alexandra says "forcing people to have fewer children doesn't work.

The fastest, most efficient way to stabilize the human population is to send girls to school and Empower women. And give everyone access to, and education on, birth control." Our economic system will suffer as the population lowers, but it will less dramatic now than we have 10 billion people on the planet in 40 years, as the UN projects.

She then asks, "And at some point we'll have to stop the growth, so why not do it now instead of wishing for technologies that don't yet exist and might not even work". The talk concludes with Alexandra encouraging everyone not be afraid to talk about the overpopulation issue: "It is not about taking rights away, it is about giving opportunities to women, children and future generations".

The viewers may disagree with what number of children we should have or if we need only to stabilize the global population or to go further and reverse it. However, all viewers will agree that her talk is a positive beginning for this important topic, and that it is presented in a thought provoking manner.