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

80  Lihue, Kauai
83  Honolulu, Oahu
83  Molokai
85  Kahului, Maui
83  Kona, Hawaii
82  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 710pm Wednesday evening:

 

Kailua Kona – 79
Hilo, Hawaii – 72


Haleakala Summit –   45
(near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 39 (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://www.gwennseemel.com/images/blog13/SFmorningGlory.jpg


East to east-southeast winds…strongest over Maui County
and the Big Island


Generally clear to partly cloudy, with some cloudy periods…
with just a few showers through Saturday





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

13  Port Allen, Kauai – SE
17  Kahuku Trng, Oahu – ESE
22  Molokai – E
20  Lanai – NE
33  Kahoolawe – E
17  Lipoa, Maui – E
27  Upolu airport, Big Island – ENE


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


0.27  Poipu, Kauai
0.09  Kaneohe MCBH, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.01  Ulupalakua, Maui
0.10  Pahoa, 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 come in from the east and east-southeast through the next several days. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the Pacific Ocean. We find a strong high pressure system far to the northeast of the state, with the tail-end of its associated ridge offshore to the northeast of the central islands. At the same time, we see several low pressure systems to the north-northwest of the state, with a weak trough of low pressure near Kauai…along with a couple of frontal boundaries a bit further to the northwest. As this trough near Kauai, which is associated with the cold front from this past weekend, pulls away from Kauai, we’ll continue to see or winds coming in from the east to east-southeast across the state. Wind speeds will vary, although be light to moderately strong for the most part…lightest at night.

Our overlying atmosphere remains quite dry and stable…and will remain that way through the first half of the weekend.
Satellite imagery shows a few patches of lower level clouds around, with clear skies over most of the rest of the state. There is however, an area of slightly showery looking clouds to the east of the Big Island, which should bring a modest increase in showers to that island…and perhaps Maui early Thursday morning. At the same time, we see those bright white areas of high cirrus clouds, oriented from southwest to northeast for the most part. Here’s the looping radar image, showing a limited amount of showers falling, mostly over the nearby ocean…with just a few showers being carried over the islands in places at the time of this writing.

Skies will remain clear to partly cloudy, with some cloudy periods here and there…clearing out quite nicely during the nights in most areas. Most of whatever showers that are around, will fall along our windward sides through Saturday. Although, there may be a few light showers over the leeward slopes during the afternoon hours locally at times too. As we get into Sunday and early next week, we could see some changes…with our weather turning wetter again then, especially around the Big Island and Maui. If the models are right about this shift in our winds towards the southeast, we could see returning volcanic haze too…stay tuned. I’ll be back early Thursday morning with your your next new weather narrative from paradise, I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.


Here’s the NWS rainfall outlook for this winter – the Hawaiian Islands



World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


Atlantic Ocean:
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th…and has now ended


Here’s a
satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean


Caribbean Sea:


Gulf of Mexico:


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:
The Eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15th through November 30th…and has now ended. Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary


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:
The Central Pacific hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th…and has now ended. Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary


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:
There are no active tropical cyclones

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




Interesting: 
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Explained – The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is a persistent anticyclonic storm that just won’t die, making it one of the solar system’s most mysterious landmarks. Earth observations estimate that the storm has been around for centuries and it is not known how long the storm and spot will last — even when fluid dynamics prove that the storm must die.


However, for the first time, researchers have made progress on divulging the secrets of the giant storm’s longevity.


The Red Spot is about 24,000 km across, east to west, 12,000 km from north to south, and a mere 40 km deep. Its wind are roaring around at about 225 miles per hour and this incredible monster has been observed from Earth almost continuously for at least 150 years, says Philip Marcus of University of California, Berkeley. But based on all the modeling that’s been done to try and explain the Red Spot, it just isn’t possible.


“Based on current theories, the Great Red Spot should have disappeared after several decades. Instead, it has been there for hundreds of years,” said Pedram Hassanzadeh, who is a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard’s Center for the Environment and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.


To better understand the Great Red Spot, Marcus and Hassanzadeh built a model that took into account the third, vertical dimension of the storm which was previously ignored.


When Marcus and Hassanzadeh factored in the interactions of the thin storm with the layers of atmosphere below it, the sphericity of Jupiter, and the changing densities of the gases at different levels in the atmosphere, the modeled lifespan of the storm jumped dramatically. The secret source of power for the storm is energy that is moving vertically, not horizontally.


The vertical motion turns out to hold the key to the Red Spot’s persistence. As the vortex loses energy, the vertical flow transports hot gases from above and cold gases from below the vortex towards its center, restoring part of its lost energy.


“What we found is that the spot can last 800 years,” said Hassanzadeh. The 150 years on record for the Red Spot is just a minimum, he explained.


The discovery of the causes of the Red Spot’s longevity could also help explain some other natural vortices that also last far longer they they ought to, said Marcus.