Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Monday:
84 Lihue, Kauai
88 Honolulu, Oahu
85 Molokai
88 Kahului, Maui
88 Kailua Kona
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 710pm Monday evening:
Port Allen, Kauai – 81
Hilo, Hawaii – 75
Haleakala Summit – 52 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 41 (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
Strengthening trades…remaining active well into the future
There will be some passing showers along the windward sides,
mostly at night…just a few elsewhere around the state
Looping satellite image…showing clouds being carried along
by the trade wind breezes
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph), along with directions…as of Monday evening
18 Poipu, Kauai – NE
23 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – NNE
25 Molokai – ENE
29 Lanai – NE
32 Kahoolawe – NE
27 Kahului, Maui – NE
27 Kealakomo, Big Island – E
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Monday evening (545pm totals):
0.44 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.17 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.03 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.54 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 ~~~
Our local winds will gradually build back strength, lasting through the coming week…and well beyond. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…focused on the Hawaiian Islands. We have a moderately strong high pressure system located to the north of the state. At the same time, we have a low pressure system to our northeast, with its associated cold front extending southwest from its center. The models suggest that the trade winds will rebound as we go through this new week, with no end in sight.
Satellite imagery shows low clouds around the islands in places…although most are offshore to the east and northeast. Looking at this larger looping satellite image, it shows those low level clouds riding along in the trade wind flow. There are a few high cirrus far to our west and north…along with lots of thunderstorms far south of Hawaii. These weather features will not influence our weather here in Hawaii. Here’s the looping radar, showing passing showers arriving over our islands in some locations, although not many for the time being. The windward sides will receive most of these showers, although the leeward sides will find some falling on the smaller islands at times…mostly during the cooler nighttime hours.
We’re heading into a prolonged period of generally fine trade wind weather…with no surprises in store. The trade winds will slowly rebound in strength over the next few days, lasting through the rest of this week at least. As is often the case, most showers that grace our shores and slopes will occur during the night and early morning hours. I expect temperatures, at least near sea level, to reach well up into the 80’s…if not topping out near 90 in places during the days. The waves at our local beaches will be small to very small, if not flat in some places, making our local beaching prospects stand out in particular. I’ll be back again early Tuesday morning, I hope you have a great Monday 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 a 55.9 degrees at 555am on this Monday morning. Skies are mostly clear in all directions, making way for the beginning of yet another great day here in paradise.
We’re into the early afternoon now at 1225pm, under partly to mostly cloudy skies, light winds…and an air temperature of 78.4 degrees. Glancing out over Maui I see mostly clear skies over the beaches, with the usual afternoon clouds over the West Maui Mountains…and of course the Haleakala Crater.
It’s now 530pm in the early evening, under partly cloudy skies, very light winds…and an air temperature of 78.4 degrees. Today was another great early summer day, with very few showers falling anywhere. Here in Kula, it was totally dry, and thank goodness, not as hot as yesterday. My high temperature topped out near 84 degrees on this last day of June…clearly 4 degrees cooler than Sunday’s hot afternoon.
World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
Atlantic Ocean: Tropical Storm 01L (Arthur) is now active just offshore from eastern Florida, and will be strengthening over the next few days. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite image. Here’s what the hurricane models are showing for this tropical cyclone.
Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean
Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 5 days
Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 5 days
Here’s a satellite image of the Caribbean Sea…and the Gulf of Mexico.
Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)
North Eastern Pacific: Tropical Storm 04E (Douglas) is active, and will be strengthening a bit more over the next few days. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite image. Here’s what the hurricane models are showing for this tropical cyclone.
Tropical Storm 05E (Elida) is active, and will be strengthening a bit more over the next few days. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite image. Here’s what the hurricane models are showing for this tropical cyclone.
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: No tropical cyclones are expected through the next two days
Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)
Northwest 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: The link between oceanic currents and climate – For decades, climate scientists have tried to explain why ice-age cycles became longer and more intense about 900,000 years ago, switching from 41,000-year cycles to 100,000-year cycles. In a new study in the journal Science, researchers found that the deep ocean currents that move heat around the globe stalled or even stopped, possibly due to expanding ice cover in the north. The slowing currents increased carbon dioxide storage in the ocean, leaving less in the atmosphere, which kept temperatures cold and kicked the climate system into a new phase of colder but less frequent ice ages, they hypothesize.
“The oceans started storing more carbon dioxide for a longer period of time,” said Leopoldo Pena, the study’s lead author, a paleoceanographer at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “Our evidence shows that the oceans played a major role in slowing the pace of ice ages and making them more severe.”
The researchers reconstructed the past strength of earth’s system of deep-ocean currents by sampling deep-sea sediments off the coast of South Africa, where powerful currents originating in the North Atlantic Ocean pass on their way to Antarctica. How vigorously those currents moved in the past can be inferred by how much North Atlantic water made it that far, as measured by isotope ratios of the element neodymium bearing the signature of North Atlantic seawater. Like a tape recorder, the shells of ancient plankton incorporate this seawater signal through time, allowing scientists to approximate when the currents grew stronger and weaker off South Africa.
They confirmed that over the last 1.2 million years, the conveyor-like currents strengthened during warm periods and weakened during ice ages, as previously thought. But they also discovered that at about 950,000 years ago, ocean circulation weakened significantly and stayed weak for 100,000 years; during that period the planet skipped an interglacial — the warm interval between ice-ages–and when the system recovered it entered a new phase of longer, 100,000-year ice age cycles. After this turning point, the deep ocean currents remain weak during ice ages, and the ice ages themselves become colder, they find.
“The Global Conveyer Belt for Heat” represents in a simple way how ocean currents carry warm surface waters from the equator toward the poles and moderate global climate. This global circuit takes up to 1,000 years to complete. This illustration shows the generalized model of this thermohaline circulation: ‘Global Conveyor Belt.’ Cold deep high salinity currents circulating from the north Atlantic Ocean to the southern Atlantic Ocean and east to the Indian Ocean. Deep water returns to the surface in the Indian and Pacific Oceans through the process of upwelling. The warm shallow current then returns west past the Indian Ocean, round South Africa and up to the North Atlantic where the water becomes saltier and colder and sinks starting the process all over again.
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