Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / September 23-24, 2013

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

85  Lihue, Kauai
87  Honolulu, Oahu
86  Molokai
91  Kahului, Maui – the record highest temperature for this date (Monday)…was 95 in 1951
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 610pm Monday evening:

Kailua Kona – 82
Hana airport, Maui – 77

Haleakala Summit –    M (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 43 (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

Our trade winds will remain alive…with passing
windward showers at times

A nice sunset this evening 

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

21  Port Allen, Kauai – ENE
32  Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
23  Molokai -NE
35  Lanai – NE
28  Kahoolawe – NE
22  Lipoa, Maui – NE
39  PTA Keamuku, Big Island – NE

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

020  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.47  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.04  Molokai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Lanai
0.03  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.14  Glenwood, 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 wind be moderately strong through Tuesday or Wednesday…then gradually become lighter during the second half of the week. Here’s a weather chart showing a near 1025 millibar high pressure center to the north-northwest of the state. The forecast has our trades continuing, although as low pressure edges closer after mid-week into the weekend…our trades will slip a notch or two in turn.

There will be windward showers at times, with just a few on the leeward sides. Satellite imagery shows low level clouds upstream of the islands, actually a couple of different showery looking cloud bands…to the northeast and east. These will likely bring a fairly modest increase in showers tonight into early Tuesday morning along our windward coasts and slopes. At the same time, we see high cirrus clouds having edged in over the entire state now. These high clouds will provide nice colors at the end and beginnings our days as long as their around. At the same time, during the day…they will dim and filter our Hawaiian sunshine. Here’s the looping radar image, showing showers moving by, mostly over the offshore waters…heading more or less towards Oahu and Kauai at the time of this writing. The rest of the islands will see some of these showers arriving during the overnight hours.

Summer will very gradually begin to fade away as we move forward into this new autumn season…very gradually being the key words here. The trade winds will continue blowing well into the future, although the computer weather models have changed their tune from earlier. It now looks as if, rather than them nudging up a notch during the second half of this week…they will down shift a gear or two instead. As for showers,  and as noted above, the trade winds will usher in some showers, especially at night, although there’s nothing unusual about that. ~~~ I’ll be back early Tuesday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise, I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Interesting:  Shark overfishing hurts coral reefs – Overfishing for sharks is having detrimental effects on coral reefs, finds a new study published in the journal PLOS One.

The research is based on long-term monitoring reefs off northwestern Australia. The authors, led by Jonathan Ruppert, formerly of the University of Toronto and now with York University, compared community structure between several atoll-like reefs. Some of the reefs were protected, while some were open to exploitation by Indonesian fishermen using traditional fishing techniques. Indonesian fishermen tend to target high value species like sharks.

The researchers found the overfishing of sharks can result in profound ecological changes.

“The reefs provided us with a unique opportunity to isolate the impact of over-fishing of sharks on reef resilience, and assess that impact in the broader context of climate change pressures threatening coral reefs,” said Ruppert. “Shark fishing appears to have quite dramatic effects on coral reef ecosystems.”

“Where shark numbers are reduced due to commercial fishing, there is also a decrease in the herbivorous fishes which play a key role in promoting reef health.”

“Our analysis suggests that where shark numbers are reduced, we see a fundamental change in the structure of food chains on reefs,” said project lead and co-author Mark Meekan.”We saw increasing numbers of mid-level predators — such as snappers — and a reduction in the number of herbivores such as parrot fishes. The parrot fishes are very important to coral reef health because they eat the algae that would otherwise overwhelm young corals on reefs recovering from natural disturbances.”

The findings indicate that reefs depleted of sharks may be slower to recover from longer-term disturbances, including cyclones and bleaching events. Accordingly, the results suggest that protecting small reefs from shark fishing could make these ecosystems more resilient to the effects of climate change.

“Healthy populations of reef sharks should be a key target of management strategies that seek to ensure the future resilience of coral reef ecosystems,” conclude the authors.