Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday:
87 Lihue, Kauai
87 Honolulu, Oahu
84 Molokai
91 Kahului, Maui – the record highest temperature for Sunday was 92…back in 1950
82 Kailua Kona
87 Hilo, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Sunday evening:
0.23 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.66 Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.46 Molokai
0.24 Lanai
0.01 Kahoolawe
0.98 Hana AP, Maui
3.09 Glenwood, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Sunday evening:
24 Port Allen, Kauai
28 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
18 Molokai
30 Lanai
29 Kahoolawe
27 Kahului AP, Maui
25 South Point, 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
Satellite imagery shows clouds over many parts of the state,
which will drop showers…some locally generous tonight
Heavy weather arrives over the smaller islands early Monday –
thanks to an upper level low pressure system moving overhead,
causing localized rain and thunderstorms into Tuesday – good
chance of flooding in places
Trade winds easing tonight, becoming lighter from the southeast…
with voggy conditions – light trade winds return Wednesday through
Friday…then back to southeast, with more vog as a cold front
approaches the state next weekend
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Moderately strong trade winds will be diminishing…becoming lighter from the southeast Monday. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profiler of the central Pacific. We find a moderately strong near 1024 millibar high pressure system to the northeast. There’s a low pressure system to the northwest, which will push its associated cold front in our direction. We have an upper level low pressure aloft to the south of the state as well, which is destabilizing our overlying atmosphere to some degree. Our winds will be moderately strong, coming in from the trade wind direction…then tapering off to lighter southeasterlies Monday. These breezes will usher in voggy weather for a few days, before light to very light trade winds return by mid-week onwards.
Satellite imagery shows clouds and showers in our area…with the heaviest of these mostly offshore at the time of this writing. Looking at this larger looping satellite image, it shows an area of towering cumulus clouds over some parts of islands…with thunderstorms offshore to the southeast. Here’s the looping radar, showing light to moderately heavy showers falling over Oahu and Maui County. The forecast continues to call for off and on showers tonight. There may be localized flooding in areas where heavy rainfall extends over the islands. As we push into early Monday our winds will become lighter…with the chance of heavy rains, and possible thunderstorms continuing. This rainy weather will last into Tuesday, and likely causing flooding conditions in places. Slightly drier weather is expected through the remainder of the new week. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Sunday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Friday Evening Film: Well, I ended up seeing another action film, as is often the case here on Maui, it’s usually that or kids films…and of course the comedies. This one was called The Equalizer, starring Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloe Grace Moretz, David Harbour and Melissa Leo…among many others. The synopsis: In The Equalizer, Denzel Washington plays McCall, a man who believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when McCall meets Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can’t stand idly by – he has to help her. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer.
~~~ As I thought, this was yet another heavy duty film, full of all the things that make these films popular with the theater going audiences. I guess if I had to choose one word to describe it, it would be brutal, with a vein of heart running through it in places. Denzel Washington was a super hero of sorts, while packing a violent wallop…being the good guy. It’s tough to grade these films, as they are so intense, but if I consider how it was advertised, and what it was suppose to be, it came in at B+ in my opinion. This is certainly not the type of film everyone is going to see, with most folks staying well away from it in fact. However, I thought it was very well done, and here’s the trailer…if you want to take a look.
World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
Showers and thunderstorms associated with a low pressure area located just west of Bermuda have become a little better organized overnight and this morning. This system could become a subtropical cyclone today before upper-level winds become unfavorable tonight and Tuesday. This system is expected to move northwestward and then northward during the next couple of days with increasing forward speed. Regardless of development, the low will produce locally heavy rains and strong gusty winds over Bermuda through tonight
* Formation chance through 48 hours...medium...30 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days...medium...30 percent
Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean
>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones
>>> Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones
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: Tropical Storm 18E (Rachel) remains active, located about 485 miles west of the southern tip of Baja California…with sustained winds of near 60 mph. Here’s a graphical track map…along with a satellite image
Here's what the computer models are showing for tropical storm 18E (Rachel)
A large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms extending from near the coast of southern Mexico southeastward for several hundred miles is associated with a trough of low pressure. Environmental conditions are expected to gradually become more conducive for development during the next several days, and a tropical depression could form later this week while the system drifts west-northwestward or northwestward. Regardless of development, this system could produce locally heavy rains over portions of southern Mexico that could cause flash floods and mud slides.
* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...20 percent * Formation chance through 5 days...high...70 percent
Here’s a wide satellite image that covers the entire area between Mexico, out through the central Pacific…to the International Dateline.
>>> Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones
Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)
>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: Tropical Storm 17W (Kammuri) is dissipating, located approximately 320 NM east-southeast of Narita AP, Japan…with sustained winds of near 52 mph. Here’s a graphical track map…along with a satellite image – Final Warning
Tropical Storm 18W (Phanfone) remains active, located approximately 270 NM east-southeast of Saipan…with sustained winds of near 46 mph. Here’s a graphical track map…along with a satellite image
>>> 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: Some good news for the oceans! – Good news for aquatic life: the oceans just got a little bit safer. Okay, so most of the ocean remains vulnerable to human devastation, but on Thursday, President Barack Obama used his authority to create the most massive ocean reserve in the world. In a single day, the amount of the world’s ocean protected from commercial interests has effectively doubled.
Originally, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was something that George W. Bush established during his last weeks in office. However, Obama has taken the symbolic ocean protection and turned it into something useful by growing the area to six times its original size.
Going forward, this nearly half million square miles of the Pacific Ocean will forbid commercial fishing, as well as deep sea mining. For the coral, dolphins, whales, sea turtles, manta rays and numerous fish and bird species that frequent this area, this decision helps to ensure their survival.
“These marine protected areas are very important for the ocean,” said Catherine Novelli, an Obama employee who works on environmental and economic initiatives. “The reason why we are going to get more countries to do them is because the whole biosphere, including the fish, need to be able to regenerate. If everyone is just fishing, fishing, fishing, there is no space for that to occur.”
Though conservationists have labeled the protected ocean a success, they have also dished out some criticism toward Obama for scaling back the project due to external pressure. The limits were originally slated be 1.5 times larger than they currently are, but the tuna industry fought to maintain the right to fish in some of that region.
john Says:
Hi Mike, there are cycles on the earth. Once the antartic had vast forests even palms. Remember the earth was very hot during the dino era, almost 25deg f warmer for the earths avg temps. Omg what caused the earth to warm up during the last ice age? not us. I recycle and use a high mileage car. There is nothing us humans can do to this earth that time will not erase. One big volcano, one astroid strike and game over, if you want to give albert gore all of your money to make yourself feel better so be it, but just remember by your logic just you breathing is causing the earth and everything on it to die. Don’t hold your breath!!!~~~Hi John, thanks for your comment to Mike, Aloha, Glenn
Mike Says:
Glenn; Because of a change in ocean currents this year there is more sea ice in the Antarctic, however, the land ice continues to melt and this is what adds to the oceans of the world. If you have a pan of water outside during the night and it freezes, when it thaws you have the same amount of water. If you have a large ice mass that sticks out of the water and it melts you could well overrun the pan. This is what people have a hard time visualizing and this is why the oceans levels will continue
to rise. John, I am not arguing, just trying to make a point. Even the sea ice increase this year is an anomaly~~~Hi Mike, I don’t perceive your comment as an argument, but rather just a good point. Thanks as usual, for your good comment, Aloha…Glenn
Maui Tom Says:
Glenn, I’ve only been on the island a few years but it seems to me that these cold fronts we are experiencing are highly unusual for this time of year?~~~Hi Tom, you are correct, they are arriving earlier than usual. In the extreme, I remember one year over the last 40 years…that one rare weak cold front arrived over the islands in late August! If we look around the world we’re finding more and more unusual occurrences in our weather, which I suspect will become more and more common going forward. Thanks for your comment! Aloha, Glenn
john Says:
Glenn that is great news about the ocean reserve. More good new is from abc http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-14/record-coverage-of-antarctic-sea-ice/5742668 the Antarctic ice sheet is the largest since recordings began. NASA also has confirmed this.~~~Hi John, I agree, we like some occasional good news…mixed into the otherwise mostly bad news. Thanks for the link…Aloha, Glenn