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

72  Lihue, Kauai
80  Honolulu, Oahu
74  Molokai
81  Kahului, Maui
83  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 810pm Saturday evening:

 

Kailua Kona – 77
Lihue, Kauai
– 66


Haleakala Summit –   43
(near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 36 (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

Some showers tonight, mostly along the windward
sides…and around the mountains


Trade winds…becoming lighter from the south and
southeast Monday








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


16  Lihue, Kauai – NE
28  Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
18  Molokai – NE
17  Lanai – NE
21  Kahoolawe – SE

12  Hana, Maui – ESE
18  Upolu airport, Big Island – NE


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


0.45  Kilohana, Kauai
2.00  Olomana Fire Station, Oahu
1.24  Molokai
0.14  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
1.09  Kahakuloa, Maui
0.16  Mountain View, 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 ~~~



Trade winds blowing…lighter Monday from the south and southeast. 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 and northeast of the islands, with the associated tail-end of a trough over the state. At the same time, we see a high pressure system well offshore to east-northeast, with its ridge extending westward towards Hawaii.  Our winds will be from the trade wind direction, generally quite light…followed by a brief period of southeast and south winds later Sunday or Monday into Tuesday, as a weak cold front moves by just to the north of the state, or stalls just to the northwest. It looks as if we may get right back into a trade wind flow thereafter.

Satellite imagery shows partly to mostly cloudy skies over the state, although with a few clear areas here and there as well.
We can see an area of generally thin high cirrus clouds, which has dimmed and filtered our sunshine…and will continue to do so Sunday. Here’s the looping radar image, showing showers coming into the state in a few areas, especially from Oahu down through Maui County and the Big Island…carried our way on the trade wind breezes. Looking at this larger satellite image, which is in the looping mode, we can see clouds being pulled southwest across our area at lower levels, while the higher and middle level clouds are moving towards the northeast in contrast...on the upper winds aloft.

The trade winds blew today, bringing a few windward and mountain showers. Meanwhile, a trough of low pressure remains in place across the island chain, keeping more than the ordinary amount of cloudiness over the state for the time being. The computer models suggest that another low pressure system will approach the state right after the weekend, although its associated cold front should remain just northwest and west of our area. As this front stalls for several days, our weather will remain generally on the dry side. Later in the new week ahead, this front will migrate closer to the state, or over Kauai, bringing increasing showers to both Kauai and perhaps Oahu then too. 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.

Here on Maui, at the 3,100 foot elevation, at my upper Kula, Maui weather tower, the air temperature was 57.6F degrees at 557am on this early Saturday morning. When I got home from the film last evening, there was light showers falling, and this morning, I can still hear drips of water falling off the eaves of my weather tower. If you had a chance to look at the radar image above, you saw that there was an axis of rainfall over parts of Maui County, while the rest of the state was generally drier. It’s still dark outside at the time of this writing, so I can’t get a good look at what’s going on just yet.
I

~~~ We’re now in the early afternoon hours, with mostly to partly cloudy skies overhead, at 110pm. The air temperature was a nice warm 73 degrees, with a light trade wind breeze blowing. I’ve down in Paia for my weekly shopping at the health food store, which is always kind of fun to talk several folks down there. I’ve got no plans to venture out again, so I’ll be back around several more times with more reports along the way / oops, now at 210pm, it has turned foggy and rainy, with the air temperature falling to 69.8 degrees.

~~~ It’s the beginning of the evening here on Maui, and we just had a quick little snippet of sunshine…followed by thick fog which just rolled over upper Kula. It was still nice and warm, with 69.8 degrees showing on my thermometer. The earlier showers have stopped, although just before the fog arrived, I could see some fairly substantial, and taller than normal…cumulus clouds around. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a few more showers before everything is said and done for the day…and here they are (a heavy shower) at 625pm. It was a good day, yet another good day, among all the great days here in this wonderful state of Hawaii. ~~~ On another note, I was just checking the number of visitors to my website, and there have been around 11,000 thus far today. The numbers break down to: 8,726 from the United States, 1,335 from Canada, 136 from Australia, 3 from Russia, 208 from United Kingdom, 23 Norway, 12 Sweden, 31 New Zealand, 11 Mexico, 47 Japan, 14 Italy, 23 Hong Kong, 18 Germany, 11 from France, and a sprinkling from elsewhere in the world. ~~~ I’m enjoying one of my favorite songs, by the Whispers, called Rock Steady ~ as usual volume and full screen enhances the experience, you know…Saturday night!

Friday Evening Film: Well, by now I’ve seen all those great films that came out around Christmas, and enjoyed them very much. There are many available films to see here on Maui, although in terms of films that appeal to me, it’s pretty slim pickin’s this week. Therefore, I’m going to see Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, starring Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh…among many others. The synopsis: Based on the character created by bestselling author Tom Clancy, “Jack Ryan” is a global action thriller set in the present day. This original story follow a young Jack (Chris Pine) as he uncovers a financial terrorist plot. The story follows him from 9/11, through his tour of duty in Afghanistan, which scarred him forever, and into his early days in the Financial Intelligence Unit of the modern CIA where he becomes an analyst, under the guardianship of his handler, Harper (Kevin Costner). When Ryan believes he’s uncovered a Russian plot to collapse the United States economy, he goes from being an analyst to becoming a spy and must fight to save his own life and those of countless others, while also trying to protect the thing that’s more important to him than anything, his relationship with his fiancée Cathy (Keira Knightley). ~~~ The critics are giving this film good enough ratings, not great…nor terrible. Given the trailer, which is pretty wild, it looked good enough for me to drive down to Kahului to see it.

As it turned out, which is often the case, as I’m very easily entertained…I liked this film quite a bit. It was great to see the classic acting of Kevin Costner…who doesn’t like this handsome man. Then, there was the love affair between Chris Pine and Keira Knightley, which was very believable and attractive. Perhaps one of the high points was the dynamic chase scene, which was breath taking in my opinion. Reading what many of the critics had to say, it sounded like a different film than the one I saw. I hadn’t read the Clancy novel Jack Ryan, although I’ve read a few of  his books many years ago, and always found them to be page turners. As a side thought, it did remind me of many of the other thriller films that I’ve seen. However, for me, I say, bring em on…I like them! As for a grade, I’d go so far as to give it a soft B+, and was very happy to have seen it.  



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: USGS Develops Tool to Help Track Oil Spills –
Each year, tons of oil can be spilled into the ocean. Whether it comes from an oil tank spill, a leak that occurs during offshore drilling, or even natural seeps that occur within the ocean, oil spills can cause grave environmental and economic damage to marine and coastal ecosystems.


When an oil spill occurs, the oil that floats on water will usually spreads out rapidly across the water surface to form a thin layer called an oil slick. As the oil continues spreading, the layer becomes thinner and thinner, eventually turning into a thin layer called a sheen. Managing and predicting the spread and path of oil is often very difficult for first-responders and clean up crews, however, a newly developed computer model holds promise to helping scientists track a spill.


U.S. Geological Survey scientists developed the model as a way of tracking the movement of sand and oil found along the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.


Following the Deepwater Horizon spill, denser-than-water conglomerates of sand and oil have been found in the surf zone, ranging in size from less than a millimeter to mats up to a few meters in size. The surf zone is where waves break as they approach the shore. The USGS study looked at conglomerates several centimeters thick — known as “surface residual balls,” or “SRBs”, which continue to emerge in some beach locations more than three years after the first oil reached the shoreline.


Applying the model to movement of SRBs along the coast of Alabama and western Florida showed that normal wave conditions, less than 1.5 to 2 meters, will not move centimeter-sized SRBs alongshore. However, tropical storms, or winter storms can mobilize and redistribute these SRBs alongshore.


The numerical model indicated that inlets trap SRBs, where they could accumulate over time. The model also suggests that when larger SRBs are found they are more likely to have been formed locally when the oil came ashore, rather than being transported from a different location along the coast.


“The techniques developed here can be applied to evaluate the potential alongshore movement of SRBs in other locations or from any future spill where large quantities of oil and sand mix in the surf zone”, said Dalyander.