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

73  Lihue, Kauai
82  Honolulu, Oahu
82  Molokai
84  Kahului, Maui
81  Kona, Hawaii
81  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 830pm Tuesday evening:

 

Kailua Kona – 79
Lihue, Kauai – 71


Haleakala Summit –   45 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 39 (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.

 


Aloha Paragraphs


http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/20/18/bf/2018bf0ca175b65051fc7b9a0293818a.jpg
Pristine beach on the Big Island of Hawaii



Generally good weather, with just a few
showers here and there…most frequent
over and near Kauai

Light southeast breezes through Wednesday…
returning trades late Thursday or Friday – voggy






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

12  Mana, Kauai – W
14  Kahuku Trng, Oahu – ESE
15  Molokai – ESE
17  Lanai – SE
21  Kahoolawe – ESE
15  Hana, Maui – SE
22  South Point, Big Island – NE


Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Tuesday evening (545pm totals):

2.21  Puu Opae, Kauai
0.01  Waianae Valley, Oahu
0.02  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Maui
0.20  Kealakomo, 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 ~~~



Winds quite light for the next several days…from the southeast generally. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. Here’s a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…centered on the Hawaiian Islands. ~~~ We find low pressure systems to the north-northeast and northeast of the islands…with a trailing cold front just to the north and northwest of Kauai. At the same time, we see a high pressure system well offshore to the northeast of Hawaii…with a ridge extending west to near the islands. We’ll find a period of southeast winds through mid-week, as this weak cold front moves by, or stalls just to the north of the state. A trade wind flow will begin again late Thursday or early Friday into Saturday. A new approaching low pressure system will arrive Sunday into early next week, bringing back lighter southeast breezes…along with more vog then too.

Satellite imagery shows patchy low clouds over and around the state, along with generally clear skies over the central islands…except over and around the mountains. We can see the fragmented outline of this cold front to the northwest and north of Kauai. Here’s the looping radar image, showing just a few light showers coming into the state, most concentrated around Kauai. Looking at this larger satellite image, which is in the looping mode, we can see an area of deeper clouds to our northeast pulling away from the state to the northeast. At the same time, we can see another area of low pressure well to our west, with developing thunderstorm activity. Finally, well to the south and southwest, we see an area of thunderstorms, where the northern and southern hemisphere trade wind flow collides…called the Inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ).

This cold front just to our north and northwest…should remain more or less in place into mid-week. We’re expecting fairly dry weather conditions to prevail, although with a few showers locally, especially over the slopes during the afternoon hours…although not even many of them for the time being. Later this week by around Thursday evening or so, this front, which will be to the north and northeast of the state, will contribute its remnant clouds and showers to our windward sides on Kauai and perhaps Oahu…on the strengthening trade winds into Saturday. The rest of the state will get into this windward shower activity Friday and Saturday as well, although the leeward sides should be drier and more sunny.

The latest model output suggests that the trade winds will falter again Sunday into early next week, with returning southeasterly breezes carrying volcanic haze over the smaller islands again then. Those same models are now suggesting that we’ll have a Kona low pressure system forming to the west of the state early next week as well. It should be pointed out that anytime we have that type of low pressure system located to the west of us, there’s always that possibility of very wet weather, although that’s yet to be determined at this point…stay tuned. I’ll be back early Wednesday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Tuesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui, at the 3,100 foot elevation, at my upper Kula, Maui weather tower, the air temperature was 52.9F degrees at 550am on this early Tuesday morning. It’s still too dark to see out, so when it gets light, I’ll let you know what I see in our local skies. I expect to see rather thick volcanic haze (vog) this morning, as there was sure lots of it around at sunset yesterday evening! I don’t hear my wind chimes going off, so it’s calm out at the moment.

~~~ It’s now 715am, and definitely light enough to see out and about. The skies are free of clouds, with no clouds in sight at the time of this writing. As I had suspected, there is still volcanic haze around, maybe not quite as thick as last evening, although definitely still moderately heavy. The air temperature is still a cool 53.4 degrees. If it weren’t for this haze, it would be a very nice day, and actually…its still a nice day anyway. For me personally, the vog will limit my outdoor activities, including my morning fast walk.

~~~ We’ve pushed into the early evening hours here on Maui, and with it, mostly cloudy conditions. The volcanic haze, better known as vog here in the state, is pretty much thick as a brick. There aren’t strong enough winds around, to ventilate this stuff away. These generally light breezes are coming out of the southeast, blowing straight across the volcanic vents on the Big Island…and carrying those emissions right over the smaller islands to the northwest. It’s not a pretty picture by any means, and looks more like Los Angeles, or someplace else, with heavy smog sitting over it! The air temperature at 140pm was 70.2 degrees, while down at the ocean, at Kahului at the same time, it was a warmer 82 degrees.

~~~ It’s cloudy here in Kula at 6pm, with fog just up the mountain from here, and muted sun in the westerly direction…signaling the sunset hour. I caught sight of the sun just before it sunk into the ocean to our west, and it turned out to be a dull red ball, made that color by the haze in the air now. This nasty volcanic haze is still around, and evident in our local atmosphere. I expect this vog to be around again Wednesday, and perhaps right on into Thursday. The returning trade winds Friday will help to ventilate it away…briefly. It was a decent day, despite the stagnant air mass that remains over the state. The clouds overhead at the time of this writing, should evaporate a bit later this evening, making way for a clear to partly cloudy and cool start to the day Wednesday. By the way, thanks to all you folks who are clicking on the Google Ads…its partially what keeps this website going! The ads are at the top and bottom of each page.



World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


Atlantic Ocean: The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th.
Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary


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. 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. 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 14S (Fobane) remains active in the South 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: Climate Change and Human Health – Sea level rises, changes to the severity of monsoon seasons and rainfall, flooding, droughts and heat waves are all having an increasing impact on human health, writes Geordon Shannon.


The loss of healthy life years in low-income African countries is predicted to be 500 times that in Europe.


It is beyond doubt that our emissions of greenhouse gases contribute to climate change. And climate change is making us sick.


The World Health Organization estimates that between 1970 and 2004, the environmental effects of climate change caused more than 140,000 deaths each year.


And the direct financial cost of the damage it will have on our health is estimated to come in at around US $2-4 billion in just over 15 years time.


Extreme weather events


We tend to think of large-scale weather events as ‘natural’ disasters, but the case is increasingly being made for a man-made cause and effect for some of these.


While it is difficult to attribute single events such as Hurricane Katrina to climate change, climatologists have suggested a possible role in contributing to the intensity of these kinds of events. And flooding, droughts, heat waves, and the spread of disease have all been linked to climate change.


In the UK, adverse weather events already have a palpable public presence. Only last year, a prolonged heat wave claimed around 650 excess deaths in England.


Heat wave risk ‘doubled’


And according to the authors of a report on the disastrous 2003 heat wave that claimed 20,000 lives across Europe, it is “very likely” that human influence has at least doubled the risk of another particularly bad one happening again.


Julia Slingo, the Met Office’s chief scientist, said that the evidence suggests climate change is likely to be a factor, in the severe weather that has caused torrential rain and flooding in the south of England over the past two months.


Since December there have been 130 severe flood warnings (compared to nine in 2012) which not only poses an immediate physical risk to people, but also threatens to undermine the country’s food security.


And such climatic events are occurring with increasing severity and frequency across the globe.