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

74  Lihue, Kauai
83  Honolulu, Oahu
82  Molokai
86  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 843pm Saturday evening:

 

Kailua Kona – 79
Lihue, Kauai
– 73


Haleakala Summit –   46
(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.

 


Aloha Paragraphs


http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg

http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif


Locally gusty trade winds across the island chain…gradually
giving way to softer south and southeasterlies

Off and on wet weather through Tuesday…first
on Kauai and Oahu – potentially
very wet at times

Small Craft Wind Advisory…from Kauai
down through Maui County

Gale Warning…offshore waters

Flash Flood Watch…Kauai – from
noon Sunday to 6am Monday

 








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


20  Port Allen, Kauai – E
23  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – NNE
22  Molokai – NE
24  Lanai – NE
35  Kahoolawe – E
27  Kapalua
, Maui – NE
32  South Point, Big Island – NE


Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Saturday evening (845pm totals):


2.84  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
3.13  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.63  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
1.02  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.22  Kawainui Stream, 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 ~~~



Locally strong trades over the islands today…then turning southeast and south into the new week. 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 a Kona Low pressure system just to the west of the islands. Meanwhile, there’s the tail-end of stationary cold front near the islands as well. At the same time, we see high pressure systems well offshore to the northeast of Hawaii, and east-northwest…with ridges extending into the area north and northeast of Hawaii. Winds will remain gusty for the time being, and then gradually veer to the south, with wiggles to the southwest and southeast…depending up on your location.

Satellite imagery shows multi-layered clouds over Kauai and parts of Oahu..although with partly cloudy areas over Maui County and the Big Island.
Most of this cloudiness, or at least a large part, consists of high and middle level clouds…which will dim our Hawaiian sun and moon at times over the next few days. Here’s the looping radar image, showing light to moderate showers to the west and southwest of the state, coming into our western islands locally. At the same time, the trade winds are carrying showers to our windward coasts and slopes locally. As the NWS office has issued a flash flood watch for Kauai, there will be persistent rain, along with some intensity to it as well. Looking at this larger satellite image, which is in the looping mode, we can see many levels of moisture being carried over parts of the western islands from the southwest. There’s a branch of this conveyor belt of cloudiness that’s taking aim on Maui County and the Big Island too. 

The strong trade winds will falter at some point soon…with softening breezes shifting around to the south and southeast.
Prompting this change will be this now evident Kona low pressure system, which is developing several hundred miles to the west of the state. Kona low pressure systems are infamous for bringing wet to very wet weather to our islands. Their counterclockwise circulation can bring heavy rainfall to the islands at times, and are known for their flooding potential. They can kick up strong south and southwesterly winds in some cases too. The brunt of this particular Kona Low will arrive Sunday into Tuesday, bringing inclement conditions to at least some parts of the state. This unsettled weather pattern will continue to make our atmosphere shower prone through much of the new week. I’ll be back again Sunday morning, if not earlier with updates on this soon to be locally wet reality. I hope you have a great Saturday 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 57.4F degrees at 635am on this early Saturday morning. The volcanic haze has thinned this morning, which is a good thing. If you have a chance to look at this looping satellite image, you can see this very impressive counterclockwise rotating low pressure system to our west! This low will become the Kona Low that we’ve been talking about the last five days or more. The skies this morning here on Maui are outstanding, with all manner of clouds being displayed, including some lenticular clouds…which sometimes look like flying saucers. I just got back from the farmers market in Pukalani, and the buzz is around how interesting the clouds were, and this upcoming rainy weather event. There’s a sense of excitement in the air, and of course I’m feeling that too.

~~~ Here on Maui early this afternoon at 1230pm, its quite sunny, although with clouds around in places too. We can clearly see the beginnings of this well advertised Kona Low pressure system to our west. It’s rather remarkably sunny here on Maui, and it looks that way around the rest of Maui County…as well as the Big Island. Oahu is seeing quite clear skies too, although with a bit more thin high cirrus cloud coverage this afternoon. Kauai is mostly cloudy, and Lihue was reporting light rain a few minutes ago, with a rather cool 71 degrees…compared to the much warmer 84 degrees here at Kahului, Maui at the same time.

~~~  It’s now early evening on this Saturday
, at 525pm. Skies are cloudy with a definite sultry edge, with an air temperature of a relatively balmy 68 degrees. There was a 10 minute period this afternoon that very light drops of moisture was falling, it barely covered the deck. It doesn’t feel like showers are in the near vicinity, although I could be fooled. All available evidence at this stage points towards Maui County and the Big Island being outside the primary rain shield. This doesn’t imply that some from of meaningful precipitation won’t arrive over the eastern islands. There are still adjustments that will be made in the general outlook I’ve laid out here.

Saturday evening video…anyone recommend a good song? How that would be done is to leave a song title and group in the “Leave a Reply” box down this page. You can leave your name, or make it anonymous, either way is fine with me. I’ll find that song on youtube, and post it here. Here’s our first suggestion, recommended by Cheryl…which is Michael Hedges — Aerial Boundaries – whose next? Ok, here’s one by Barbara…played by Joe Walsh, Dave Grohl, and Gary Clark Jr. — Guitar Gently Weeps  

Friday Evening Film:
This evening I’m going to see a film that hasn’t interested me, not in the least in fact. However, just to be friendly, I’ve accepted an invitation from my neighbor, his daughter, and her boyfriend. I’ve seen the trailer several times, and none of the times had changed my opinion, it just wasn’t my thing, so to speak. It’s called The Monuments Men, starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, and Bob Balaban…among others. Let me set the record straight here, these are top notch actors, and several of them are among my favorites. So, it’s not that, I think its more the subject matter somehow.

The synopsis: based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, this film is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys – seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 – possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind’s greatest achievements.

You know, I may have made a mistake in this lack of interest, perhaps. The synopsis makes it sound more interesting, than how I was holding it in my mind. So, we’ll see, I’m going to give it a chance, and will share the results with you tomorrow morning. By the way, the critics aren’t feeling all that differently about this film apparently…given their generally low grades for The Monuments Men. Here’s the trailer, have a look, and see what you think, I’d be interested to hear your take on it. ~~~ As I thought, I wasn’t terribly taken by this film, although it may have been slightly better than I had anticipated. It just wasn’t my cup of tea, although I kept trying to be entertained, it just didn’t grab me. As for a grade, I would have to give it a B- rating.



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:
There are no active tropical cyclones

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


Interesting: Spotting Whales from Space! –
Counting individuals of a species is important in order to track wildlife trends. Absence or decline of a species could mean detrimental habitat modifications or that parts of the ecosystem are unbalanced. For marine populations though, trying to count and monitor these species is often a daunting and expensive task as finding these individuals in the vast ocean can be like looking for a needle in a haystack.


Thankfully, scientists lead by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have demonstrated how new satellite technology can be used to count whales, and ultimately estimate their population size.


Using Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery, alongside image processing software, scientists were able to automatically detect and count whales breeding in part of the Golfo Nuevo, Peninsula Valdes in Argentina.


Lead author Peter Fretwell from the BAS, which is funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), explains; “This is a proof of concept study that proves whales can be identified and counted by satellite. Whale populations have always been difficult to assess; traditional means of counting them are localized, expensive and lack accuracy. The ability to count whales automatically, over large areas in a cost effective way will be of great benefit to conservation efforts for this and potentially other whale species.”


The BAS team used a single WorldView2 satellite image of a bay where southern right whales gather to calve and mate. Driven to near extinction, these whales have made a limited recovery following the end of whaling. In recent years, however, many deaths have been seen on their nursery grounds at Peninsula Valdes. Their population size is now unknown but with this sharp increase in calf mortality, estimates are needed.


The enclosed bays in this region contain calm, shallow waters which increase the chance of spotting the whales from space. Three main criteria were used to identify whales: objects visible in the image should be the right size and shape; they should be in the right place (where whales would be expected to be) and there should be no (or few) other types of objects that could be mistaken as whales.


As a result of the satellite imagery, 55 probable whales, 23 possible whales and 13 sub-surface features were identified.


Future satellite platforms will provide even high quality imagery. This will allow for greater confidence in identifying whales and differentiating mother and calf pairs.