Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 4-5, 2013

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

81  Lihue, Kauai

81  Honolulu, Oahu

80  Molokai

89  Kahului, Maui

80  Kona, Hawaii

83  Hilo, Hawaii

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

Kailua Kona – 78

Hilo, Hawaii – 72

Haleakala Summit –   50 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)

Mauna Kea Summit – 41 (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

Weak cold front moving into the state…showers falling locally

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

14  Mana, Kauai – N

20  Kahuku Trng, Oahu – SSE

13  Molokai – SE

20  Kahoolawe – SE

20  Hana, Maui – SE

22  PTA Range 17, Big Island – NW

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Saturday afternoon:

1.22  Kilohana, Kauai

0.30  Luluku, Oahu

0.03  Molokai

0.00  Kahoolawe

0.01  Puu Kukui, Maui

1.50  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 Narrative ~~~

Our winds will be light and variable, ahead of a weakening cold front…light north to northeast in its wake. Here’s a weather chart showing a near 1032 millibar high pressure system, located far to the northeast of the islands. This high pressure cell has an elongated ridge of high pressure extending southwest from its center…to over the ocean well northeast of the state. At the same time, we find a cold front over Kauai, which will slowly move towards Oahu. Our winds will be light and variable, with a tendency to the southeast ahead of the weakening cold front…then light north to northeasterly in the wake of the dissipating frontal system.

Satellite imagery shows clear to partly cloudy skies over the island chain, along with the ragged cold front over Kauai…along with high cirrus clouds offshore to our northeast. We’ll find more afternoon clouds developing over and around the mountains again Sunday, prompted by the daytime heating of the islands…and the onshore sea breezes. Here’s the looping radar image, showing quite a few showers over and around the islands this afternoon…especially around the islands of Kauai and Oahu at the time of this writing. The cold front will push down into the island chain very slowly, which will add some showers to our forecast from that moisture source as well. There’s a chance that some of the showers around the state may end up being locally heavy.

A very late season cold front is now over Kauai, and will bring some showers to that island…then slowly migrate down across the rest of state through Monday. The light winds over us now will keep a convective weather pattern in place. Onshore daytime sea breezes over the islands will carry moisture from over the ocean…into the upcountry areas during the days. This moisture will condense into cumulus clouds, with showers falling over the interior sections during the afternoon hours locally. The cold front has reached Kauai, bringing showers locally, some of which are moderately heavy. Oahu was seeing some moderately heavy showers falling over the interior sections early this evening as well. The front will push down to Monday, although it will be crawling in that direction over the next few days. As this front moves into the state, we’ll see light northerly breezes filling in behind it. These probably won’t be strong enough to stop our daytime sea breezes however. Looking further ahead, the models continue showing yet another weak cold front riding down toward the island chain around Wednesday. This suggests that we won’t see our normal trade winds, until around next Thursday or so.

Here on Maui [520pm Saturday, HST]:  The day has pretty much turned out as expected, with sunshine prevailing along our beaches, and clouds stacking-up over and around our mountains. At the time of this writing, there aren’t any significant showers falling…except up on Kauai and Oahu. The vog started to accumulate somewhat this morning, although glancing down into the central valley early this evening, there’s just a small amount of that haze showing at the moment. I would imagine that our skies here on the valley isle will clear out quite a bit tonight, and that we’ll start the day Sunday with more generally clear skies. I just got back from a shopping trip down to Paia, and it was rather hot and muggy down near the ocean. As I was driving home, I spotted a Jackson Chameleon in the middle of the road. I too often see them squished on my daily walks, so I stopped my car right in the middle of the road, and put on my emergency flashers. I got out and picked it up gingerly, and set it in the woods well away from the road. Fortunately, there were no cars coming either way as I preformed this duty. I drove away feeling a little bit like a hero, but more than that…I was so glad to have saved this very interesting creatures life!  I’ll be back with another new weather narrative Sunday morning, I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha, Glenn

Friday evening film: I went to see the new action/adventure film called Pain & Gain, starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackle, Rob Corddry, Ed Harris, and Bar Paly…among others. The synopsis: From acclaimed director Michael Bay comes “Pain and Gain,” a new action comedy. Based on the unbelievable true story of a group of personal trainers in 1990s Miami who, in pursuit of the American Dream, get caught up in a criminal enterprise that goes horribly wrong. According to one website, 47% of the critics liked this film, while 60% of the audience liked it. This dark comedy was crazy, taking twists and turns that were just so ridiculous, that they were rather hilarious in a sick sort of way. There were people walking out of the theater towards the end of the film, as it just kept getting weirder and weirder. I was committed to seeing this film through, and as it turned out, I actually enjoyed it. I’m giving this film a B to B+ for entertainment value, although please don’t tell anyone that I saw this film…please. Just in case you have an interest in seeing the trailer, just click on the link.

Saturday evening film: I’m heading down to Kahului again this evening, with my neighbor and his daughter, to see yet another film. This time around it will be one called The Company You Keep, starring Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Shia LaBeouf, Brit Marling, Susan Sarandon, Richard Jenkins, Julie Christie, Howard Terrance, Stanley Tucci, Anna Kendrick…among many others. The synopsis: a man is forced to leave his carefully constructed life and go underground when a journalist uncovers his past as a radical activist in the Weather Underground. The critics this time are giving this film a 53% liking rate, while the audience is giving only a 50%. The film is a mystery and suspense, and runs 2 hours and 5 minutes. I liked the trailer for the most part, and so we’ll go down and give it a try. I’ll let you know what kind of grades we give it Sunday morning.

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: There are no active tropical cyclones

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