Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / April 13-14, 2013

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

Lihue, Kauai –                       76  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –         81  
Molokai airport –                    79
Kahului airport, Maui –       87 
Kona airport, Hawaii     –        85   
Hilo airport, Hawaii –              83

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 710pm Saturday evening:

Kailua Kona – 78
Lihue, Kauai – 71

Haleakala Summit –   41      (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 28      (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 working.

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

 
High Wind Warning…Big Island summits

Here's the looping radar image 

~~~730pm HST Saturday evening: foggy with sprinkles,
voggy and calm at my upcountry Kula, Maui weather
tower, the air temperature was 66.2F degrees~~~

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

24       Makaha Ridge, Kauai – SE
40       Kuaokala, Oahu – SE
08       Molokai – SE
17       Kahoolawe – SE
15       Hana, Maui – SE
28       South Point, Big Island – ENE

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Saturday evening:
 
1.60     Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.40     Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.22     Molokai
0.00     Kahoolawe
0.01     Kepuni, Maui
0.12     Kulani NWR, 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 Narrative ~~~ 

A slow moving, but very active cold front is near Kauai…and will reach Oahu with time as well. Here's a weather chart showing a moderately strong, near 1030 millibar high pressure system, located well to the northeast of the islands. This high pressure cell has an associated ridge of high pressure, extending southwest to near the Big Island. The cold front is near Kauai, and will bring rather dramatic weather changes to the western part of the island chain into Sunday. The eastern islands will remain outside of this heavy rain area. Winds will increase from the southeast through south near Kauai and Oahu as well…as the front gets closer. Maui County and the Big Island will find southeasterly winds generally.  

Satellite imagery shows an area of rain producing clouds near Kauai and Oahu, which is associated with the cold front. This area of inclement weather has prompted the NWS forecast office in Honolulu, to keep the flash flood watch in effect through late tonight. There are thunderstorm cells embedded in this cloud band, which will cause frequent lightning and thunder, locally strong winds…and possible water spouts. These too are infamous for generating flood producing rainfall, so we should be prepared for poor visibilities while driving on Kauai and Oahu as well. Flash floods can be dangerous in other ways, so the folks on Kauai and Oahu should be very careful over the next 24 hours or so.

This cold front won't be passing through the entire state, but rather stall over the western islands Sunday into Monday.  Thus, the attendant rainfall pattern will cover Kauai and Oahu, both of which will receive the lion's share of the associated precipitation. Maui County and the Big Island are expected to remain just outside the primary rain shield of this dynamic cold front. This doesn't mean that the eastern islands won't pick up some showers, just that the heavy stuff will likely remain to the west. The computer models suggest that the front will stall, keeping locally heavy weather conditions in place over the Kauai end of the chain through at least Sunday…possibly longer.

The winds will be from the south to southeast near the cold front, while southeast winds prevail elsewhere.  Volcanic haze (vog) will extend up from the Big Island vents, over Maui County, keeping things hazy until the trade winds fill back into the island weather picture. The trade winds aren't expected to return anytime in the very near future however, probably around Tuesday or Wednesday. As the trades arrive, more favorable weather conditions will return across the entire state. Looking further ahead, the models show another cold front approaching the state from the northwest, although it's too early to know whether it will reach our islands later in the new week, or not. ~~~ I'll be back again into the evening hours of this wet weather situation, at least locally, with more updates. I hope you have a great Saturday evening wherever you happen to be reading from! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Friday evening film: Here I am just back from vacation, and already back in the groove, at least in terms of my Friday entertainment schedule. This time I saw the film called Olympus Has Fallen, starring Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Dylan McDermott, Radha Mitchell, Ashley Judd, Aron Eckhart, Angela Bassett, and Melissa Leo…among others. The Synopsis: when the President is kidnapped by a terrorist who seizes control of the White House, disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As the national security team rushes to respond, they must rely on Banning’s insider knowledge to save the President and prevent an even greater catastrophe. The yahoo viewers are giving 4 on a scale of 5, while rotten tomatoes critics are giving a 48% rating. So, as we see, there's a fairly wide disparity between people's opinions…what else is new. As it turns out, I found this film to be very entertaining, although the subject matter was quite disturbing. As expected from this type of film, there was certainly no lack of shoot-um-up going on! As for my grade, well, it comes in somewhere between a B and a soft B+.  Here's the trailer for this R rated action film.

Amazing youtube video!

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:   There are no active tropical cyclones

North and South Indian Oceans:  Tropical cyclone 21S (Imelda) remains active in the south Indian Ocean, located approximately 315 NM northeast of La Reunion. TC 21S has 50 knot sustained winds, with gusts to near 65 knots. Here's the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) graphical track map, along with a satellite image.

Interesting:  Leading academic brands industry a "scam" as campaigners condemn our growing thirst for bottled water. The UK bottled water industry releases 350,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.

One of Britain's leading authorities on water supplies has branded the bottled water industry a scam, backing campaigners' claims of wasted millions and environmental pollution at a time when tap water standards have never been higher.

Professor Paul Younger, Rankine Chair of Engineering at Glasgow University, has highlighted growing fears that our increasing consumption of bottled water is damaging the environment while raising huge profits for the big brands, despite Britain having one of the best mains water supplies in the world.

The product continues to attract buyers in increasing numbers. Last year was the most profitable ever for the UK's largest manufacturer of sparkling water, Highland Spring, reflecting what has become a remarkable British success story for the bottled water industry.

But Prof Young, widely respected as a specialist in water resources and groundwater engineering, and currently Chair of the Global Scientific Committee of the Planet Earth Institute, said he was concerned that people were "forsaking the wonderfully clean and rigorously tested upland waters that flow from our taps, in favor of water in plastic bottles".