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

78  Lihue, Kauai
84  Honolulu, Oahu
77  Molokai
82  Kahului, Maui
84  Kona, Hawaii
80  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 530am Tuesday morning:

 

Kailua Kona – 69
Kahului, Maui – 62


Haleakala Summit –   36 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 32 (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://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg

A weak cold front has reached the Big Island…here’s a looping
radar image showing the associated precipitation – what little
there is left of it

Generally light winds, locally a bit stronger from the north and
northeast with cool weather, followed by briefly stronger
northeast winds…before lighter east to southeast winds
arrive Thursday

The next weak cold front/cloud band will bring more
showers to the state later Wednesday into Thursday –
then a stronger and more robust cold front arrives
during the weekend…bringing widespread showers,
some of which will be locally heavy – first on Kauai

High Wind Warning…Big Island summits – through
6am Wednesday morning / 45-55 mph with gusts
to 75 mph





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

16  Poipu, Kauai – NNE
21  Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
12  Molokai – NNE
15  Lanai – NNE
16  Kahoolawe – NNE
10  Kaupo Gap, Maui – NW
18  PTA West, Big Island – SE


Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Tuesday morning (245am totals):

0.43  Kokee, Kauai
0.07  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.01  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.34  Hana airport, Maui
0.22  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 ~~~



Generally light breezes from the north to northeast today through Wednesday…keeping relatively cool air over the Aloha State. 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 far north of the state, with an associated cold front trailing to the south..which is over Maui and the Big Island. Meanwhile, we see a high pressure systems well offshore to the east and west-northwest of the state…with elongated ridges of high pressure extending east over Kauai. Winds will generally be on the light side, although locally a bit stronger from the north to northeast winds…keeping a cool edge in temperatures across our area. We will find strengthening northeast winds later Wednesday evening into Thursday, followed by lighter east to southeast winds. Friday will find the winds shifting further to the south and southwest into the weekend…ahead of a strong cold front. Our winds will lighten up as we move into the first part of next week…still likely from the cool northerly direction.

Satellite imagery shows a weak cold front now stalled more or less over Maui. The leading edge of this cloud band has pushed across Kauai and Oahu, and Maui County, and may eventually reach the Big Island with time. The back edge of this cloud band was still hanging over Kauai at the time of this writing. Here’s the looping radar image, showing generally light showers pushing down over Maui County, along the cold frontal boundary…with an area of light to moderately heavy showers offshore to the south of the Big Island too. Looking at this larger satellite image, which is in the looping mode, we can see the frontal cloud band steadily moving down through the state, with stable low clouds following in its wake.

We’ll see the arrival of another weak cold front Wednesday night into Thursday…bringing a modest increase in showers. Looking further ahead, the models are suggesting that yet another cold front will approach the state from the northwest later Friday into the weekend. Winds will turn easterly Thursday and southeast to southerly Friday into Saturday, before becoming rather light into the first part of next week. The frontal boundary will reach Kauai and Oahu first, although prefrontal showers will likely precede it. The front will then push down to Maui County during the weekend as it slows its pace…before finally bringing showers to the Big Island early next week. I’ll have more to say about these upcoming cold fronts as we move through this week. I’ll be back many times during the day with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Tuesday 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 48.4F degrees at 555am on this Tuesday morning. It’s the coolest morning we’ve seen for quite some time, and I’m wrapped up in down to keep warm. My fingers aren’t covered though, so that I can type, and they are a little icy. As some of you know, here in the weather tower, the windows are always open…shutting only to keep occasional rains out. This is because, of course, so that I can remain in good touch with my beloved weather! Now at 715am, the temperature has plunged a bit more, with my outdoor temperature sensor reading 47.8 degrees. It’s totally clear overhead, although I can see the clouds to the west of here, over the ocean…associated with this weak cold front dropping down through the state.

~~~ It’s now 945am HST, and still clear overhead, although a definite band of clouds is approaching from the northwest! It’s of course that weak cold front that’s diving down through the island chain. Despite its appearance, there won’t be significant rainfall. There will however be some showers, which are arriving here on Lanai and Maui…having already passed over Kauai, Oahu and Molokai. The winds are still slightly cool from the north through northeast, with an air temperature, after being really cool this morning…have risen to 65.1 degrees now.

~~~ We’re into the early afternoon now, at 130pm, with cloudy and foggy skies, light showers, and an air temperature a cool 64.2 degrees here at my weather tower in upper Kula. I was down in Kihei earlier, where clouds and some localized drizzle was happening. I then went into Wailuku briefly, where it was lightly raining as well, as it was in Pukalani…where I had another short stop. This weak front is producing a bit more rainfall than I thought it might, although nothing overly impressive. I’m curious whether these showery clouds will make it down to the Big Island, and just what those moderately heavy showers are doing just south of the Big Island too. Here’s that looping radar image, just to bring this into focus again.

~~~ My goodness, it’s 515pm, under pea soup foggy skies, with drizzle…and a very cool air temperature of 59.2 degrees – at least for this time of day! By the way, the NWS website, where I get my temperatures and rainfall for the state, that I share with you…has been partially down since early this morning. The sun is trying to break through this overcast, although is having a very difficult time here at 540pm, with an air temperature of 58.6 degrees. The sunset just happened, and the cherished sun came out ever so briefly, although it was so nice to see it! It’s still mostly cloudy up here in Kula, with a chilly 57.6 degree temperature at 645pm.

Interesting video called Gravity Glue…with Michael Grab – Thanks Nancy Lorenz of Sebastopol, California / full screen is best



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: Limitations of climate engineering – Despite international agreements on climate protection and political declarations of intent, global greenhouse gas emissions have not decreased. On the contrary, they continue to increase. With a growing world population and significant industrialization in emerging markets such as India and China the emission trend reversal necessary to limit global warming seems to be unlikely. Therefore, large-scale methods to artificially slow down global warming are increasingly being discussed. They include proposals to fertilize the oceans, so that stimulated plankton can remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, or to reduce the Sun’s incoming radiation with atmospheric aerosols or mirrors in space, so as to reduce climate warming.

All of these approaches can be classified as “climate engineering”. “However, the long-term consequences and side effects of these methods have not been adequately studied,” says Dr. David Keller from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel. Together with colleagues the expert in earth system modeling has compared several Climate Engineering methods using a computer model. The results of the study have now been published in the internationally renowned online journal Nature Communications.


“The problem with previous research was that in most cases the methods were studied with different models using different assumptions and different sets of earth system components, making it difficult to compare the effects and side effects of different methods,” Dr. Keller says. He adds: “We wanted to simulate different climate engineering methods using the same basic assumptions and Earth system model”. For their study, the researchers chose five well-known climate engineering approaches: The reduction of incoming solar radiation, the afforestation of large desert areas in North Africa and Australia, and three different techniques aimed at increasing ocean carbon uptake. In parallel, the scientists also simulated future changes in the Earth system without climate engineering, based on the high-CO2 emission scenario used by the UN IPCC.


Even under ideal conditions assumed in the simulations, the potential benefits of the various climate-engineering methods were limited. Only a continuous reduction of solar radiation could prevent the Earth from warming significantly. The afforestation of the Sahara and the Australian outback, however even caused some additional global warming: “The forests removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but at the same time the earth’s surface became darker and could store more heat,” Dr. Keller explains of this phenomenon. All of the other techniques showed significant side effects, too. For example, the fertilization of the oceans allowed plankton to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, but also changed the size of ocean oxygen minimum zones.