Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / September 11-12, 2013

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

86  Lihue, Kauai
88  Honolulu, Oahu
84  Molokai
89  Kahului, Maui
86  Kona, Hawaii
87  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 810pm Wednesday evening:

Kailua Kona – 81
Hana airport, Maui – 72

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

Aloha Paragraphs

Trade wind weather pattern…with moderate winds blowing –
becoming lighter Thursday into Saturday

Passing windward showers at times…
fewer leeward sides

Remembering our 9/11 Anniversary

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

17  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
25  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – NE
15  Molokai – NE
29  Lanai – NE
23  Kahoolawe – NE
14  Lipoa, Maui – NE
32  Kealakomo, Big Island – NNW

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

0.16  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.51  Moanalua RG, Oahu
0.13  Molokai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Lanai
0.28  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.10  Lower Kahuku, 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 trade winds will be moderately strong…dropping during the second half of this week. Here’s a weather chart showing a near 1027 millibar high pressure system located to the north of the islands…with a second weaker high pressure cell east. At the same time, we find a couple of early season cold fronts over the ocean to the north and northeast of the state. These frontal boundaries will disrupt our trade winds a bit over the next several days. We’ll find moderate trades blowing for the time being, weakening quite a bit Thursday into Saturday…then increasing again later Sunday into early next week.

Windward showers, increasing tonight for several days…then back to normal amounts by the weekend. Satellite imagery shows generally small areas of low level clouds…mostly over the ocean to the northeast of the islands. The clouds upstream will be carried our way on the trades, bringing periods of passing showers…more than normal at times.  Here’s the looping radar image, showing a few showers moving across the the windward sides of the islands, although nothing out of the ordinary at the moment. Our weather will turn more showery along our north and east facing windward coasts and slopes…with a few spreading over in the leeward sides on our smaller islands. The source of these new showers will be the remnant moisture brought our way by these cold fronts…riding in on the trade flow.

Reflections from Maui: Here on Maui this evening, there had been an increase in clouds…especially on the windward sides. However, these clouds pretty much evaporated during the day, especially along the windward and leeward coasts.  Looking over towards the windward sides before sunset, its almost completely clear at the time of this writing. However, as noted above, I expect increasing clouds tonight, as the early season cold front drops down over the state, most notably along our north and east facing slopes. The air temperature here in Kula at 530pm, was 77.4F degrees. At the same time, the air temperature down at the Kahului airport was a warmer 85 degrees.

Meanwhile, over on the north and west shores, we saw large surf breaking today. This is our first sign of the autumn larger wave season…and I’m sure our local surf community was taking full advantage of it! By the way, I was writing about these early season cold fronts above, so here’s a looping satellite image to see them dropping southward towards us. At the same time, we see small spots of towering cumulus flaring-up along the first frontal cloud band. Wow, autumn-like surf breaking on our north shores, and now a couple of cold fronts on the horizon to the north…summer must be coming to an end soon! I’ll be back early Thursday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

NASA Data Reveals Mega-Canyon under Greenland Ice Sheet

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Atlantic Ocean: Hurricane 09L (Humberto) remains active in the Atlantic. Here’s the National Hurricane Center’s graphical track map…along with a NOAA satellite image. Here’s what the hurricane models are showing for this system. This is the first hurricane of the 2013 hurricane season, a late date for the first occurrence.

Tropical depression 07L (Gabrielle) remains active in the Atlantic as well. Here’s the National Hurricane Center’s graphical track map…along with a NOAA satellite image. Here’s what the hurricane models are showing for this system.

LIMITED AND DISORGANIZED CLOUDINESS AND SHOWERS CONTINUE IN
ASSOCIATION WITH A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE CENTERED ABOUT 550
MILES EAST OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS. ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE
UNFAVORABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS…AND
THIS DISTURBANCE HAS A LOW CHANCE…10 PERCENT…OF BECOMING A
TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS. UPPER-LEVEL WINDS COULD
BECOME A LITTLE MORE FAVORABLE IN SEVERAL DAYS…AND THIS SYSTEM
HAS A LOW CHANCE…20 PERCENT…OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE
DURING THE NEXT 5 DAYS AS IT MOVES WESTWARD AND THEN NORTHWESTWARD.

Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH A BROAD AREA OF LOW
PRESSURE NEAR THE WEST COAST OF THE YUCATAN PENINSULA IS CURRENTLY
DISORGANIZED.  HOWEVER...SURFACE PRESSURES ARE FALLING ACROSS THIS
REGION...AND THE LOW IS EXPECTED TO ENTER THE BAY OF CAMPECHE LATER
TODAY WHERE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE CONDUCIVE
FOR DEVELOPMENT.  THIS DISTURBANCE IS LIKELY TO BECOME A TROPICAL
CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AS LONG AS IT REMAINS FAR
ENOUGH OFFSHORE. THIS SYSTEM HAS A HIGH CHANCE...60 PERCENT...OF
BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS AND A HIGH
CHANCE...80 PERCENT...OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE
NEXT 5 DAYS WHILE IT MOVES SLOWLY WEST-NORTHWESTWARD. LOCALLY HEAVY
RAINS ARE POSSIBLE OVER A LARGE PART OF EASTERN MEXICO IN
ASSOCIATION WITH THIS SYSTEM DURING THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS...AND
THESE RAINS COULD CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUD
SLIDES.

Interesting: U.S. to Crush 6 Tons of Ivory – Ivory poaching and trafficking crimes continue to be a major problem not only in the United States, but around the world. So much so that in July of this year, President Barack Obama issued an order to combat the killing of protected wildlife, stop the trafficking, and reduce demand for illegal rhino horns and ivory.

In an effort to deal with this issue, the US Fish and Wildlife Service is lining up a public event that will crush nearly 6 tons of ivory which is currently being stored in a Denver, Colorado warehouse.

While most of the ivory is apprehended from black market smugglers, some is also taken from tourists returning to the U.S. When authorities seize ivory and other illegal wildlife trade like crocodile boots, bear claws, and tiger heads, it goes to the National Wildlife Property Repository — at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City.

Sadly, the warehouse is so full with ivory that no longer fits on shelves. Piles of tusks and boxes full of bracelets and trinkets clutter the floor. Forklifts are used to clear pathways between heavy pallets of the plunder.

Grinding up all ivory in October “will make more room in our warehouse,” said repository supervisor Bernadette Atencio. However, Atencio fears it will fill again soon.

The African elephant “is a species that could very easily disappear, become extinct,” Atencio said. “But we can be an example and hope others follow.”

“Our experience is that the only way to end this trade is to get international support. That’s the goal of what we’re doing with this crush,” said Steve Oberholtzer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special-agent-in-charge based in Denver, who is lining up rock-grinders to pulverize the ivory in October.

Federal authorities plan to save pieces of crushed ivory to use in a memorial — in Washington D.C. or another appropriate location — to the tens of thousands of elephants kill.

U.S. officials also plan to give $10 million to help fight poaching in Africa and will try to persuade Asian governments to outlaw trinkets and other products made from elephant ivory. Tactics being considered include use of cellphone technology to monitor elephants, social media campaigning in China and cooperation with companies such as eBay to curb commerce.