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

80 – 68  Lihue, Kauai
82 – 69  Honolulu, Oahu
80 – 59  Molokai AP
80 – 69  Kahului, Maui
85 – 70  Kailua Kona
88 – 61  Hilo, Hawaii

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

3.82  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.03  Waianae Valley, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.54  Kula Branch Station, Maui
0.01  Pahala, Big Island


The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Tuesday morning:


32  Lihue, Kauai – SW
35  Bellows, Oahu – SW
40  Molokai – SW
31  Lanai – S
24  Kahoolawe – SSW
33  Kahului AP, Maui – SW
27  Kealakomo, Big Island – WNW


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/cpac/ir4.jpg
A large area of layered clouds associated with a cold front
are located to the north and northeast…and will be
slipping down over the state

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Clouds will be covering the state tonight into Tuesday


http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Generally dry statewide, although showers and localized
heavy rain will increase tonight into Tuesday



~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Wind Advisory…for strong and gusty southwest to westerly
winds across our area – 30-35 mph with gusts to 50+ mph 

Small Craft Advisory…for large northwest swell and combined
seas at hazardous levels

Gale Warning…Hawaiian offshore waters

High Wind Warning…Big Island Summits – west winds 55-85 mph
with gusts over 100 mph

High Surf Advisory…north shores of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai,
Maui and the Big Island


Winds from the southwest becoming much stronger locally into Tuesday…as a cold front approaches our area. 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 high pressure system to the northeast of the state. At the same time, we have lots of low pressure systems to the north, northwest and west. Winds will strengthen significantly from the southwest into Tuesday. Unusual westerly winds will prevail much of this work week, and remain strong and gusty at times…bringing cold fronts our way periodically. The latest model runs show better weather arriving by the weekend, although then yet another cold front is expected early next week.

Increasing clouds and rain, some locally heavy into Tuesday…starting on the Kauai end of the state. Here’s the looping radar image showing the islands dry, although with showers falling over the ocean. A cold front will spread widespread showers across the state tonight into Tuesday. Thereafter, the prevailing westerly winds, which are typically located well north of the Hawaiian Islands, will dip down over our tropical latitudes. This will keep off and on unsettled weather in place through Friday, with cold frontal passages at times. We can expect the second cold front this week to arrive Tuesday night into Wednesday…followed by yet another on Friday, with yet another right after the upcoming weekend. I’ll be back with more information on all of the above, I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here in Kula, Maui: It’s mostly clear and still voggy early this Monday morning. The air temperature near its minimal reading this morning was 47 degrees. Despite it being dark at the time of this writing, the reason I know that there’s still some vog around…is that the Full Moon sunk into the Pacific as a bright orange ball. ~~~ It’s now 11am, under cloudy and foggy skies, and when things clear slightly up enough, so that I can get a peek down into the central valley…there’s still a good amount of vog. ~~~ We’re into the afternoon hours now, with partly cloudy skies, although the strengthening winds are now blowing the volcanic haze away…finally!  ~~~ It’s now into the middle of afternoon, and we just had the first brush of the windy weather that’s on the horizon. It wasn’t alarming, although I must admit it brought it home to me, that this wind that I’ve been writing about…is closing in on us. ~~~ It’s now early Monday evening, with partly cloudy skies, and lots of wind driven Lenticular clouds at the middle levels of the atmosphere. It’s not overly windy yet, although it seems like those very gusty winds are right around the corner…at least locally tonight into Tuesday. The weather is warmer now, as the winds are coming up out of the deeper tropics, the air temperature at 550pm was 67.8 degrees here in Kula, and a warmer 77 degrees down at the Kahului airport at about the same time. We had a great sunset this evening, lots of colors!


World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


>>> Atlantic Ocean: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


>>> Gulf of Mexico: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


Here’s a satellite image of the Caribbean Sea…and the Gulf of Mexico.

>>> Eastern Pacific: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 North Pacific hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


Here’s a wide satellite image that covers the entire area between Mexico, out through the central Pacific…to the International Dateline.


Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)


>>> Central Pacific: The central north Pacific hurricane season has officially ended. Routine issuance of the tropical weather outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, special tropical weather outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)


>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones


 >>> South Pacific Ocean: Tropical cyclone 10P (Ola) remains active, here’s the JTWC graphical track map for this soon to be weakening tropical cyclone. Here’s the NOAA satellite image of this system…to the west-southwest of New Caledonia.

>>> North and South Indian Oceans: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

 

Interesting:  Food Industry has long way to go when it comes to using recyclable and compostable packaging – Let’s face it: We are people who consume many of our meals on the go. That means we’re not eating on real plates or bowls but out of plastic containers and paper boxes. And perhaps daily, we drink our coffees and sodas out of plastic or plastic-lined paper cups.


Overall, Americans recycle at the lamentable rate of 34.5 percent and recycle plastic packaging at the even measlier rate of 14 percent. So the majority of that food packaging is ending up in landfills, or on the street as litter, where it may eventually get swept into the ocean. There, our wrappers and cans and cups become a much bigger problem — a direct threat to marine life that may ingest it and die.


According to a report published this past Thursday by the environmental groups As You Sow and the Natural Resources Defense Council, most of the major players in the restaurant and beverage industry are not doing a whole lot to ameliorate this problem. There’s a big onus on the makers of packaged foods and beverages to reduce plastic and paper waste and also make it easier for us to recycle and compost the materials we use.


“What are companies doing to show that they have a personal and financial responsibility to promote recycling? [We found] relatively weak examples of leadership,” Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, a group that promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility, told reporters Thursday. “This industry has a long way to go.”


The two NGOs surveyed and analyzed 47 companies based on what they call the “four pillars of packaging sustainability”: source reduction, or switching to reusable packaging; recycled content; recyclability and materials use; and boosting materials recycling. None of the 47 companies, which included big players in fast food, beverages and groceries, earned the report’s highest “Best Practices” status.


Only two companies — Starbucks and McDonald’s — got the nod for “Better Practices.” And eight companies — Arby’s, Quiznos, Burger King, Wendy’s, Jack in the Box, Dairy Queen, Domino’s Pizza and Papa John’s Pizza — got the “Poor” designation for showing little to no leadership on packaging sustainability, based on information they make public.>