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

78 – 63  Lihue, Kauai
79 – 66  Honolulu, Oahu
76 – 65  Molokai AP
78 – 70  Kahului, Maui
84 – 73  Kailua Kona
77 – 71  Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.02  Anahola, Kauai
0.07  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.05  Lanai
0.06  Kahoolawe
0.80  Hana AP, Maui
2.08  Honokaa, Big Island


The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Saturday evening:


18  Poipu, Kauai – NE
22  Honolulu AP, Oahu – NNE
23  Molokai – NNE
28  Lanai – NE
25  Kahoolawe – NNE
31  Kapalua, Maui – NE
21  Waikoloa, Big Island – NE


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
Large cloud field offshore…approaching from the west

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
A fragmenting cold front has low clouds stretched out along the
windward sides of the eastern islands to Oahu…with higher level
clouds coming into the state from the west-northwest


http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Light to moderately heavy showers associated with the recent
cold front…are impacting the east side of the Big Island



~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~




Trade winds taking over duty into the new work week ahead…shifting to the southeast locally at times. 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 just to the north, moving northeast, with a second cell far to the east of Hawaii. At the same time, we have numerous gale and storm low pressure systems to the northeast, north and northwest, with a cold front now stalled near the Big Island. Our winds will be generally light to moderately strong trades, veering southeast locally…into the first half of the new week ahead. If and when these southeasterly winds arrive, we may see some volcanic haze then. It’s unclear what the winds will do later in the new week, with the trades possibly continuing, or giving way to lighter breezes…stay tuned.

A few light showers will stick around along the windward sides at times…although locally heavier near the Big Island. Showers in the wake of the recent cold front will keep the windward sides of both Maui and the Big Island a little showery at times. We’ll have yet another cold front pushing in our direction early in the new week ahead, although it will stall before reaching Kauai. Looking further ahead, the trades will continue through Wednesday or so, bringing some windward biased showers our way. The models deviate in their outlooks later next week, with potential wet unsettled weather returning…stay tuned. I’ll be back with more information on all of the above, I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here in Kula, Maui: It’s still too dark to see cloud conditions, although with all the stars, it looks pretty clear overhead. The winds are calm, with a low temperature of 55 degrees here at my weather tower, at 620am on this Saturday morning. It was 70 degrees down at the Kahului airport near the ocean…with 37 degrees atop the Haleakala Crater at the same time. The summit of the Big Island was a colder 28 degrees atop Mauna Kea. The warmest temperature around the state was 71 degrees in Kailua Kona on the Big Island. / It’s a beautiful day here on Maui at 9am, especially here in the upcountry area. There are some clouds around the edges, although nothing serious by any means. 

~~~ It’s now 115pm in the early afternoon, under partly cloudy skies, light breezes, and an air temperature of 70.7 degrees. / 330pm under still partly sunny skies, with a light breeze. We’re starting to see some higher level clouds, which if they stick around through sunset…there may very well be some nice colors showing up.

~~~ We’re into the early evening hours now at 530pm, with clear to partly cloudy skies, although looking to the southwest and west, I see thicker high clouds. The winds are light, with an air temperature of 66 degrees.

~~~ Saturday Evening Film – My neighbor Jeff and I went to see the new film called Kingsman: The Secret Service, although when we tried to buy the tickets it was sold out! So, rather than leave, we looked to see what else was starting about the same time, and it turned out to be the new film called 50 Shapes of Grey, starring Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson, Jennifer Ehle, Luke Grimes, Marcia Gay Harden, and Eloise Mumford…among many others. The synopsis:  E.L. James’ kinky best-seller gets the big screen treatment with this Universal Pictures/Focus Features co-production. The steamy tale details a masochistic relationship between a college student and a businessman, whose desires for extreme intimacy pen from secrets in his past. We’ll, Jeff and I both liked this film, although thought it was like a glorified TV production, brought successfully to the theaters. I don’t see TV generally, although know that things like this are quite common on Netflix or HBO, or at least I think they are. Here’s the trailer for this intriguing film, which captured quite well the current times we live in, the pop culture, rather than shooting forward or backward…as many films do. As for a grade, I’m afraid this will have to get a N/R, under the circumstances. 


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: 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 best-and worst-places to drive your electric car – For those tired of winter, you’re not alone. Electric cars hate the cold, too. Researchers have conducted the first investigation into how electric vehicles fare in different U.S. climates. The verdict: Electric car buyers in the chilly Midwest and sizzling Southwest get less bang for their buck, where poor energy efficiency and coal power plants unite to turn electric vehicles into bigger polluters.


Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, began their research by pulling public data from FleetCarma, a company that tracks vehicle performance among car fleets operated by governments and businesses. The study looked at 7000 all-electric Nissan Leafs across the country and how their driving ranges varied with temperature. Cold reduces a battery’s oomph whether it lives in your car or smart phone. “We then combined those performances with regional reports on weather and drivers’ habits to build a nationwide map of car efficiency for every hour of every day within a typical year,” says co-author and CMU mechanical engineer Jeremy Michalek.


In terms of driving range, electric cars in California and the Deep South travel the farthest, as the balmy temperatures yield the best energy efficiency and therefore longer trips before they must be plugged in again. (That’s a lucky break for Golden Staters, who also purchase the most green vehicles in the nation.) Vehicles in cold places, in contrast, have less battery capacity and thus shorter range. The average range of a Nissan Leaf on the coldest day drops from 112 km in San Francisco to less than 72 km in Minneapolis, according to the study, published online this month in Environmental Science & Technology.


The reason is straightforward. When batteries are cold, they have a lower electrical capacity, which limits the duration in which they can pump power. But extremely hot cities, like Phoenix, were almost as bad as chilly towns. Heat improves battery efficiency, but too much can degrade its overall life span and output.


These temperature extremes require drivers to charge their cars for longer. So the team measured the greenhouse gas emissions that would be generated by power grids as a result of plugging in electric vehicles at home. Average energy consumption by electric cars was 15% higher in the upper Midwest and Southwest versus the Pacific Coast.


“We knew that vehicle range was influenced by AC and heater use in extreme climes, but I was surprised by the size of the cold weather effect on battery efficiency,” says David Greene, an energy and environmental policy expert at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who was not involved with the study.


“But future electric car owners shouldn’t be discouraged by these environmental shortcomings, Greene says. Electric vehicles are still in their infancy, and the findings offer policymakers new insights into how best to introduce electric cars across the country. For example, he says, America’s power plants are “the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions” in the country. Cleaning up the grid would be the cheapest way to cut greenhouse gases, Greene says (along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), and lower the climate impact of electric vehicles. In the meantime, policymakers could push incentives, like access to high-occupancy vehicle lanes or tax breaks for charging stations, in regions where electric cars already perform well (such as the Southeast and Pacific Coast) and spend less effort outside those regions. Such incentives could boost electric car sales overall. “More money equals a greater investment into technology, like improved batteries and power stations, which reduces barriers for all consumers,” Greene says.