Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / August 20-21, 2013

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday:

85  Lihue, Kauai
88  Honolulu, Oahu
84  Molokai
92  Kahului, Maui – this temperature tied the record high for July 20th: 1952, 1979, 1997
86  Kona, Hawaii
83  Hilo, Hawaii

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops on Maui and the Big Island…as of 130am Wednesday morning:

Kailua Kona – 79
Hana airport, Maui – 72

Haleakala Summit –   50 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 37 (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.

Aloha Paragraphs

Light east to southeast winds through Thursday…gradually
increasing Friday into the weekend and beyond 

A few windward showers at night…some afternoon
upcountry showers falling locally

Quite sultry with voggy skies

August Full Moon tonight

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

12  Puu Lua, Kauai – NE
16  Bellows, Oahu – NE
12  Molokai – SE
18  Lanai – NE
21  Kahoolawe – ENE
10  Lipoa, Maui – SE
15  Pali 2, Big Island – NNE

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

0.26  Mana, Kauai
0.54  Punaluu Pump, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Lanai
0.32  Hana airport, Maui
1.10  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 Narrative ~~~

The winds will continue blowing, although quite light and locally from the southeast through Thursday…then gradually increasing in speed from the trade wind direction by the weekend. Here’s a weather chart showing two near 1025 millibar high pressure systems located far to the northwest and northeast of the islands. There’s also tropical depression 03C far to the west-southwest…and a low pressure trough to the north-northwest of the islands. Our trades are breaking down, with lighter east to southeasterly breezes through the next several of days…then becoming stronger and gusty by the weekend.

Generally favorable weather prevails, with a few windward showers at night...and a few upcountry afternoon showers locally too. Satellite imagery shows scattered low cloud patches over the ocean surrounding the islands. The leeward sides will be mostly clear to partly cloudy during the mornings…with cloudy areas and localized showers in the upcountry areas during the afternoon hours. At the same time, we can see high level clouds draped over the western islands. Here’s the looping radar image, showing very few showers falling over the nearby ocean, and hardly any over the islands themselves.

Tropical depression 03C is now dissipating in the western Pacific. At the same time, a tropical disturbance remains alive, although has only a low 0% chance of developing into a tropical cyclone over the next couple of days…to the southeast of the Big Island. Here’s a satellite picture, showing this area circled in yellow, along with former tropical depression 03C far to the west. There’s no danger of any tropical systems having any impact on our islands at this time. I’ll be back early Wednesday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. By the way, check out our August full moon tonight. I hope you have a great Tuesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Illegally captured parrots finally free to fly – In 2010, Bulgarian airport authorities confiscated 108 African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) from a smuggler. Last month, the 28 parrots who survived the stress of being stuffed into dog kennels, constantly handled by humans, and the absence of their native habitat, completed their three-year journey to freedom.

The journey began late one afternoon in 2010, Sophia Zoo employees were called to Sophia Airport, Bulgaria’s largest, to take the parrots back to the zoo’s animal rescue center.

“When we saw these birds stacked like sardines, we were so appalled,” said Irina Sahatchieva, Sophia Zoo’s international coordinator. She said the birds were packed into medium-sized dog kennels with a board dividing them horizontally in half, creating two shelves. There were 30 grey parrots on each shelf.

African grey parrots are particularly desired by illegal wildlife traders because they are highly intelligent—with the ability to mimic human voices and other sounds quickly—have longer-than-normal lifespans, and are easily tamed. The species is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List.

These parrots had been wild-caught from somewhere in Africa and transported via Lebanon to Bulgaria, without legal documentation. While Sophia Zoo quarantined them, assessing the disease risk of letting the parrots live near other animals in the zoo, more than half died from the stress of constant handling.

Sahatchieva said though the zoo wanted to return the wild-caught birds back to their home, they did not know how it would happen until an international non-profit organization, the World Parrot Trust, became involved. The World Parrot Trust spent the time and resources the zoo could not, organizing a journey for the birds from Sophia Zoo to a Ugandan wildlife sanctuary in the native habitat zone for African grey parrots.

At a release ceremony on July 10, renowned conservationist Jane Goodall pulled the string to release the grey parrots strong enough to fly into Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary—17 of the 108 confiscated three years prior. The sanctuary continues to rehabilitate eleven other parrots that made the trip to from Bulgaria to Uganda, hoping that one day they will also be strong enough to fly off to the trees.

Panta Kasoma, executive director of Jane Goodall Institute Uganda, said illegal trade wildlife increases pressure on species that are already feeling the stress of decreased habitat.