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

81  Lihue, Kauai
83  Honolulu, Oahu
83  Molokai
85  Kahului, Maui
83  Kona, Hawaii
85  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 643pm Wednesday evening:

 

Kailua Kona – 80
Lihue, Kauai – 72


Haleakala Summit –   46
(near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 37 (13,000+ feet on the Big Island)


Hawaii’s MountainsHere’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


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8442/7859109728_361993d734_z.jpg


Light southeast to southwest winds / Voggy – increasing
showers, some heavy on Kauai and Oahu tonight into
Thursday morning…with thunderstorms and strong
wind gusts locally


Flash Flood Watch…Kauai County and Oahu tonight into
Thursday morning – Looping Radar Image






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

12  Mana, Kauai – SE
10  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – SSE
10  Molokai – SE
07  Lanai -SW
10  Kahoolawe – SE
12  Kaupo Gap, Maui – SW
20  Kaupulehu, Big Island – NW


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


0.30  Kapahi, Kauai
0.01  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Maui
0.45  Pali 2, 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 local winds will remain generally light from the southwest to southeast today into Friday morning, briefly north later Friday into Saturday, then back to northeast trades during the second half of the weekend…into early next week. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the Pacific Ocean. These more or less Kona breezes, will carry rich moisture up from the tropics, depositing it mostly over the Kauai end of the state tonight. These wet conditions will continue into Thursday, although easing up during the day. Our local winds will veer to the north early Friday into Saturday, before shifting back to the northeast trade wind direction into Monday. Thereafter, weather models suggests that they could shift back to the southeast through southwest…as a new cold front approaches the state around the middle of next week.

There will be increasing showers, some locally heavy with a possible thunderstorm…near Kauai and Oahu tonight into Thursday morning. Satellite imagery shows lots of bright white clouds to the southwest, west, northwest, north and northeast of the islands. These heavy duty clouds are extending into the island chain…most of which are high and middle level cirrus clouds coming up from the southwest. Looking deeper into this impressive cloud field however, we see rainy clouds, with some thunderstorms too. Here’s the looping radar image, showing moderately heavy showers near Kauai and Oahu…with some heavy downpours embedded locally. These clouds will bring increasing showers to those western islands, although the Big Island and Maui County should see some showers with time too.


We have high and middle level clouds covering the islands now…although rainy clouds are moving into the western half of the state as well. 
The atmosphere is quickly becoming more moist, although most of the rainy dynamics will remain over the islands of Kauai and Oahu. Our atmosphere has become more unstable today, as a cold front approaches from the northwest…and colder than normal air moves over the state aloft too. This will increase the chance of showers, some of which will become heavy, along with the chance of  thunderstorms over the Kauai and Oahu end of the state. Maui County and the Big Island will see a few showers too, although should remain out of range of the heaviest downpours. Things should begin to mellow out some during the day Thursday, as the unsettled weather departs our area into Friday. I’ll be back with your next new weather narrative early Thursday morning, I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.



World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


Atlantic Ocean:
Tropical storm Melissa remains active in the central Atlantic Ocean. Here’s the NHC graphical track map, along with a satellite image. Here’s what the hurricane models are showing for this system.


Here’s a
satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean


Caribbean Sea:
There are no active tropical cyclones

Gulf of Mexico:
There are no active tropical cyclone

Here’s a satellite image of the Caribbean Sea…and the Gulf of Mexico.

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

Eastern Pacific:
There are no active tropical cyclone


Here’s a wide satellite image that covers the entire area between Mexico, out through the central Pacific…to the International Dateline.


Central Pacific Ocean:
There are no active tropical cyclones


Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)


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 04B (Helen) remains active in the north Indian Ocean. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image.


Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)


Interesting:
 Carbon emissions set to hit new record high in 2013. The amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere in 2013 is expected to hit a new high of 36 billion tonnes, according to a Carbon Budget released today by the Global Carbon Project (GCP). This is a 2.1 percent rise from 2012 based on data from the same group.


“We have exhausted about 70 per cent of the cumulative emissions that keep global climate change likely below two degrees,” said Global Carbon Project (GCP) member, Pierre Friedlingstein, with the University of Exeter. “In terms of CO2 emissions, we are following the highest climate change scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released in September.”


Nations worldwide have pledged to keep temperatures from rising above 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, a threshold that scientists say is necessary to have a reasonable chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change. But experts say countries are moving too sluggishly on cutting their emissions in order to ensure this goal is met.


The only silver lining in the GCP’s initial 2013 data is that the rate of rising emissions appears to be slowing slightly. Over the last ten years, emissions have risen on average 2.7 percent every year. However, in 2012 emissions rose 2.2 percent, while this year emissions look to rise 2.1 percent. This could indicate a trend of slowing carbon emissions growth, which, if the trend continues, would lead to an eventual decline.


The GCP’s data echoes similar findings in a recent report by the Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. This report found that annual carbon emissions growth actually slowed down to 1.1 percent in 2012. Scientists have warned that to keep the 2 degree target, global emissions must peak no later than 2015 and then fall precipitously thereafter.


“Governments meeting in Warsaw this week need to agree on how to reverse this trend. Emissions must fall substantially and rapidly if we are to limit global climate change to below two degrees,” said the leader of the report, Corinne Le Quéré of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia.