Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday:
81 Lihue, Kauai
83 Honolulu, Oahu
83 Molokai
84 Kahului, Maui
84 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 743pm Saturday evening:
Kailua Kona – 78
Hilo, Hawaii – 73
Haleakala Summit – 43 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 34 (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
Southeast to south winds on the light side…locally stronger
Clear to partly cloudy, with cloudy periods, some afternoon
showers over the leeward slopes, and interior sections…
increasing showers locally, moderately heavy at times
Becoming locally voggy now through Monday
High Surf Advisory…north shores of Kauai through Maui
Small Craft Wind Advisory…Kauai waters, and all
windward waters around the state elsewhere
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Saturday evening:
12 Waimea Heights, Kauai – SE
17 Makua Range, Oahu – SE
16 Molokai – ESE
09 Lanai – SW
18 Kahoolawe – ESE
13 Kaupo Gap, Maui – SSW
21 South Point, Big Island – ENE
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Saturday evening:
0.69 Wainiha, Kauai
0.17 Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.02 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.03 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.49 Laupahoehoe, 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 are now blowing from the southeast and south…which will continue this weekend into Monday. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the Pacific Ocean. We find a near 1022 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of the state. Further to the east-northeast, we find a second high pressure cell, with a ridge running southwest. At the same time, we see two storm low pressure systems far to the north of the state, with the low’s cold front fading away just north of Kauai. Finally, we see a new storm low to the northwest, with its associated cold front near the International Dateline. We’ll continue to see our winds coming from the trade wind direction for the moment, although they will shift soon to the southeast and south across the state through the weekend into Monday. Trade winds will make a return appearance Tuesday and Wednesday…perhaps longer.
We’ll find afternoon clouds and showers around locally, especially along our leeward slopes and interior sections, with increasing showers over parts of the Big Island tonight into Sunday…possibly elsewhere. Satellite imagery shows just a few clouds over our area, with lots of clear skies across the island chain around Kauai and Oahu. We still have those bright white areas of high cirrus clouds, oriented from southwest to northeast, over the Big Island and parts of Maui County. Here’s the looping radar image, showing just a few showers falling over the islands, although mostly over the nearby ocean at the time of this writing. There is an area of showers riding up towards the Big Island on the southeast winds…which may reach other parts of the state Sunday.
Our winds will carry volcanic haze, along with increased humidity into the state now into Monday. These south to SE breezes will carry a few showers to those sides of the islands at times too. The trades are forecast to return for a couple of days, around Tuesday and Wednesday. The models have recently changed their tune on the outlook of another cold front, with south to southeast winds later next week. This leaves us with trade winds continuing through much of the new week ahead. We’ll have to wait and see about this recent change in the model output. I’ll be back again Sunday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Friday evening film: There are some good looking choices this week, although I want to see one that I don’t want to see leave…and miss it. It’s one called The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stanley Tucci, Willow Shields, and Amanda Plummer…among many others. The synopsis: This film begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe, after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games, along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control, as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever. ~~~ The critics are being pretty generous with this film, giving it high B’s and even lower A ratings. Although, with that said, and as I read more viewer feedback, there are quite a few folks who didn’t think so highly of it too. As it turned out, this film was a bit slow in places, and then got better at times too. I saw the first in this series of three, enjoyed this second enough, so that I’ll see the third final one when it comes out. It was fun to see Jennifer Lawrence of course, as she is by far what keeps this Hunger Games series going. I wasn’t blown away by this film, and the ending was so utterly abrupt, however I’m willing to give it somewhere between a B and a soft B+ grade. Here’s the trailer to this film, in case you’re interested.
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: Tropical cyclone 06B (Madi) 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: Majority of Big Saharan Animals Threatened by Extinction – Bigger than all of Brazil, among the harshest ecosystems on Earth, and largely undeveloped, one would expect that the Sahara desert would be a haven for desert wildlife. One would anticipate that big African animals—which are facing poaching and habitat loss in other parts of the world—would thrive in this vast wilderness. But a new landmark study in Diversity and Distributions finds that the megafauna of the Sahara desert are on the verge of total collapse.
“While global attention has been focused on [biodiversity] hotspots, the world’s largest tropical desert, the Sahara, has suffered a catastrophic decline in megafauna,” the researchers write.
Looking at 14 large-bodied animals, the study found that 86 percent of them (ten of the species) were either extinct or endangered. Four of them (28 percent) are already extinct in the region. The Bubal hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus) is gone forever while the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) is extinct in the wild, although there are efforts to re-introduce it. Meanwhile, two of the Sahara’s once top predators are gone: the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) and the African lion (Panthera leo).
Megafauna that are still around aren’t doing much better. The dama gazelle (Nanger dama), the addax (Addax nasomaculatus), and the Saharan cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) are all on the razor-edge of extinction with each one listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. The dama gazelle and the addax are absent from 99 percent of their historic range; less than 500 dama gazelles survive, while the addax is down to less than 300 animals.
Meanwhile the Saharan cheetah is only found in 10 percent of its range with only 250 left. Another top predator—the leopard—is only found in 3 percent of its range. Even the North African ostrich (Struthio camelus camelus)—the world’s biggest—has lost 99.8 percent of its range.
“Greater conservation support and scientific attention for the region might have helped to avert these catastrophic declines,” the researchers write. “The Sahara serves as an example of a wider historical neglect of deserts and the human communities who depend on them.”
Of the 14 species, only one species is found in over half of its historical range: the Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana). Still even this ibex is currently listed as Vulnerable due to overhunting.
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