Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / September 11-12, 2015

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

85 – 77  Lihue, Kauai
86 – 77  Honolulu, Oahu
89 – 73  Molokai
93 – 73  Kahului AP, Maui – the record Friday…was 95 back in 1950
92 – 81  Kailua Kona
88 – 74  Hilo, Hawaii 

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

3.44  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
5.32  Moanalua RG, Oahu
0.65  Kaunakakai Mauka, Molokai
0.10  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.69  Kepuni, Maui
0.93  Kohala Ranch, Big Island

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

23  Mana, Kauai – SE
24  Kahuku, Oahu – SE
27  Molokai – ESE
21  Lanai – NE
32  Kahoolawe – ENE
25  Kapalua, Maui – NNE
30  Upolu AP, 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

Showers, some heavy well offshore to the north, south and west

Here’s a wind profile…of the area around the islands

Thunderstorms north, west, southwest, south through southeast

Heavy showers falling over the nearby ocean…
extending over the islands locally

There are showers in our area…some are heavy
looping radar image

Flash Flood Watch…Kauai through Oahu –
through this afternoon

Flood Advisory…east Kauai and parts of Oahu –
through 645am

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

Light southeasterly to easterly breezes will continue through the weekend…with trade winds returning early in the new week. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a wind profiler of the central Pacific. We find a large, moderately strong high pressure system far to the northeast of the state. At the same time we see former tropical cyclone Jimena offshore to the northwest of Kauai. Our winds will remain light, as former Jimena’s presence continues to interrupt our trade wind flow. This in turn will keep sultry conditions in place through the weekend. We’ll see southeast to easterly flowing air across the state, which means we’ll see volcanic haze in our skies locally at times. It may take until later Monday or so…before we get back into a late summer trade wind weather pattern.

Showers will arrive in a hit and miss fashion into Saturday…from Kauai to Oahu. The atmosphere remains shower prone, as the moisture in the wake of former Jimena remains over the state. This tropical moisture will work together with an area of low pressure aloft…bringing wet conditions our way locally into the weekend. There will be the chance of a thunderstorm, with flooding at times locally during the 24 hours or so. This wet weather episode will require extra care while driving, and just in general, when you find yourself in one or more of these downpours! When the trade winds return around Monday, we’ll likely see some windward biased showers finally returning…with fine weather along our leeward beaches. The latest models suggest we may see another period of unsettled weather starting around the middle of next week…for a few days.

Here on Maui…It’s 535am Friday morning, although still too dark for me to see what’s going on out there. A few minutes later now, and I can see mostly clear skies, although with thick volcanic haze (vog) making for poor air qualities across Maui County, which includes some of the Big Island…and likely Oahu as well. It’s voggy enough that I had to skip my morning fast walk…grrrr.

– It’s now 215pm, under non rainy clouds, and with a ton of volcanic haze in the air! Despite the fact that it’s cloudy, I don’t get the feeling that rain is imminent. It might arrive later this afternoon, although today, Oahu has been getting the big downpours…with flooding!

– For all the rain on Oahu, Maui County got a few showers only, we didn’t get a drop up here in Kula. If you’re wondering if the vog is still around, oh yeah…still thick!

I’ll be back with many more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Friday Evening Film: My usual movie friend Jeff is out of town, so I’ll be heading downtown alone to see a film. I grew up as a kid in Long Beach, California, and my Dad had a friend who owned a small Pizza restaurant in Compton, which wasn’t too far a drive for our family. So, this time around I’ve decided to see the film called Straight Outta Compton, starring O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Aldis Hodge, Paul Giamatti, Carra Patterson, Elena Goode, and Alexandra Shipp...among many others. The synopsis: In the mid-1980s, the streets of Compton, California, were some of the most dangerous in the country. When five young men translated their experiences growing up into brutally honest music that rebelled against abusive authority, they gave an explosive voice to a silenced generation. Following the meteoric rise and fall of N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton tells the astonishing story of how these youngsters revolutionized music and pop culture forever the moment they told the world the truth about life in the hood and ignited a cultural war. 

This was a strong film, encompassing lots of music, emotion, and yes…violence. It wasn’t one of my favorite films by any means, although I’m glad I got an insiders view into a much different world than my own. This isn’t the type of music that I’m drawn to, although I can appreciate it nonetheless. It had all the necessary ingredients for our current crop of films, music, scantily clad women, drugs, and business deals gone bad. It took the viewer from good music into the music business, leading to the good life…with lots of money flowing. Big parties, bottles and bottles of expensive booze, and of course marijuana smoke filling the room. As for a grade, I’ll give it a strong B, although not quite B+ is how I saw the film. Many of the critics and viewers of this film, at least online, gave it a better rating than I. If you have any interest…here’s the trailer.

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

>>> Atlantic Ocean:

1.)  A tropical wave located south of the Cape Verde Islands is currently producing minimal shower activity. However, environmental conditions are forecast to become favorable for some gradual development of this wave next week while it moves generally westward to west-northwestward across the tropical Atlantic at about 15 mph.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…10 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…medium…50 percent

2.)  A small low pressure system located about 1000 miles southwest of the Azores is producing minimal shower and thunderstorm activity. Development, if any, of this low is expected to be slow to occur while it moves westward to west-northwestward at about 10 mph over the next several days.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…10 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…20 percent

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

1.)   Disorganized showers and thunderstorms continue over the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the northeastern Caribbean Sea in association with the remnants of Tropical Storm Grace. Upper-level winds are not expected to be favorable for redevelopment of this system during the next several days. However, heavy rain and gusty winds are possible across portions of the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola during the next day or two while the system moves west-northwestward at 15 to 20 mph.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…near 0 percent

>>> 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: There are no active tropical cyclones

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: There are no active tropical cyclones

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