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

81  Lihue, Kauai
88  Honolulu, Oahu
87  Molokai
88  Kahului, Maui
84  Kona, Hawaii
84  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 Monday evening:

 

Honolulu, Hawaii – 79
Poipu, Kauai – 73


Haleakala Summit –   43
(near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 32 (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.travelersdigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/kauai.jpg


Trade winds returning now, lasting for several days…locally
quite strong and gusty


Clear to partly cloudy, with cloudy periods…a few showers

Small Craft Wind Advisory…parts of Maui County
and the Big Island





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

13  Puu Lua, Kauai – NNW
20  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – NNE
18  Molokai – ESE
18  Lanai – NE
36  Kahoolawe – E
21  Lipoa, Maui – E
24  South Point, Big Island – NE


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


0.73  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.73  Palehua, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.01  Hana airport, Maui
0.25  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 ~~~



Strengthening trade winds will last for several days, then becoming east to southeast after mid-week…before turning south to southeast by the weekend. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the Pacific Ocean. We find a strong near 1040 millibar high pressure system far to the northeast of the state, with its associated ridge running southwest…to the north of Kauai. At the same time we see several low pressure systems to our north, with an associated cold front offshore to the northwest of our islands. Trade winds will become quite gusty by Tuesday…with small craft wind advisories over those windiest coasts and channel waters around Maui County and the Big Island. Likely by Thursday and Friday the winds will falter again, becoming much softer south to southeasterly Saturday and Sunday. As these winds swing around into the southeast direction…there will be volcanic haze being carried up over the smaller islands.

We’ll find a few showers along our windward sides…perhaps with a couple over the interior sections during the afternoons locally. Satellite imagery shows low level clouds scattered around the state, and over the offshore waters as usual. There are also some deeper showery clouds around Kauai as well…appearing to be of the thunderstorm variety. The central islands from Oahu to Maui County are clear to partly cloudy at the time of this writing. Skies over Maui were quite voggy today, hopefully the increasingly strong trade winds will clear our air on Tuesday. Here’s the looping radar image, showing the most active showers falling over the ocean to the west of Kauai…with very few elsewhere at the time of this writing. Kauai will find the trade winds blowing by Tuesday morning, with the return of a few trade showers then too. I’ll be back with your next new weather narrative early Tuesday morning, I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.



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:
Good News for African Elephants Representatives from 30 countries came together to discuss the poaching crisis and potential measures to save Africa’s elephants at the African Elephant Summit. As the summit convened, new numbers were released by the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which found that if poaching continues at its current rate, Africa will likely see at least a fifth of its elephants disappear in the next ten years.


Heartbreaking stories of entire elephant families dying continue to make the news, while poachers continue to sink to ruthless new lows to take them out, including using cyanide to kill them. The level of horror caused by poachers was recently highlighted by a gut-wrenching recording from the Wildlife Conservation Society that accidentally captured the sounds of elephants being killed as they tried to escape from their killers.


According to the latest figures, an estimated 15,000 elephants were killed in 2012 at 42 sites across 27 African countries that are participating in the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) program, which is run by CITES. An analysis of those numbers led to the conclusion that an estimated 22,000 elephants were illegally killed throughout the continent last year. So far, this year doesn’t look like it will be much better.


“With an estimated 22,000 African Elephants illegally killed in 2012, we continue to face a critical situation. Current elephant poaching in Africa remains far too high, and could soon lead to local extinctions if the present killing rates continue. The situation is particularly acute in Central Africa, where the estimated poaching rate is twice the continental average,” said John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary-General.


According to CITES, the 18 large-scale seizures have been conducted this year already represent the greatest quantity of ivory confiscated over the last 25 years for this type of seizure, but it’s still unclear whether the seizures are the result of better law enforcement or an increase in trade that’s being driven by poverty, corruption and high demand in Asia.