Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday…along with the minimums Saturday:
81 – 71 Lihue, Kauai
84 – 73 Honolulu, Oahu
81 – 65 Molokai
85 – 62 Kahului AP, Maui
84 – 71 Kailua Kona AP
84 – 65 Hilo, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Saturday afternoon:
0.36 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.09 Moanalua RG, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.00 Maui
0.01 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Saturday evening:
20 Port Allen, Kauai – ENE
24 Kii, Oahu – ENE
24 Molokai – ENE
28 Lanai – NE
36 Kahoolawe – NE
28 Maalaea Bay, Maui – NNE
24 Pali 2, 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
The Pacific storm track remains well north of our islands…
with the associated cold fronts staying well north as well
Here’s a wind profile…of the offshore waters
around the islands – with a closer view
Active thunderstorms well offshore southwest through
southeast of Hawaii, although there are no areas under
investigation at this time, meaning…trying to spin
Off and on increasing low clouds, mixed with clear skies…
along with a line of high cirrus just south of the Big Island
Showers falling locally windward…otherwise mostly dry
looping radar image
High Surf Warning…surf rising along the north and west
shores, gradually lowering Monday / High Surf Advisory
north shore of the Big Island
Small Craft Advisory in response to very large swells in
coastal and channel waters in all exposed areas
Marine Statement…very large northwest swell will produce
surges and break waves at the harbor entrances exposed to
this swell – including Hanalei, Waianae, Haleiwa and Kahului
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Our trade winds will continue, remaining moderately strong in general Sunday…then lighter Monday. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. We find a moderately strong high pressure system close to our northeast…and with further far northeast. At the same time, we find numerous storm low pressure systems far to our north and northwest. The trade winds will remain active, blowing generally in the moderately strong realms statewide. The trade winds will ease up in strength and veer to the southeast Monday into Tuesday…bringing volcanic haze our way locally. The models show the trade winds picking up again thereafter, lasting through Friday. An approaching cold front will tamp down our trade winds again next weekend.
A few showers will fall along our windward sides locally…leeward areas will remain generally dry. We’ll find generally dry weather continuing, especially along our leeward sections…with an occasional passing shower over the windward sides. This drier than normal weather pattern is being augmented by a ridge of high pressure aloft over the state…in addition to limited low level moisture across our tropical latitudes. We will see another weak front approaching the state, although it will very likely pass by to our north, or stall before arriving…as they have been doing for the last several weeks. The long range models are suggesting that our drier than normal weather conditions will extend all the way through the new week ahead. There are no cold fronts expected to arrive over the islands through the next week at least…with fair weather prevailing in general.
Here on Maui…It’s mostly clear across the island early this Saturday morning, with just a few clouds and a couple of random showers along the windward sides. Here in upcountry Kula, it’s calm and clear…with an air temperature of 49.1F degrees at my place here in upcountry Kula. This temperature is in contrast to the 65 degree reading down near sea level in Kahului…with a pair of 70’s at both Hana and Kapalua.
– Mid-afternoon around 230pm, partly cloudy skies are sharing space with blue skies, and some cloudy areas over and around the mountains. I had a good shopping trip down to Paia, and then took my recyclables to Makawao on the way back home. It always feels good to take those things to the right place, rather than just throwing them out in the trash. Here on this property, we don’t produce much regular trash, which again feels like the positive thing to do. The temperature is a pleasant 67.8 degrees outside, with a warmer 76.2 degrees inside this weather tower of mine. I’ve been watching a few youtube video’s, mostly of people out in the woods during winter, starting fires, and cooking on them…which I find entertaining.
– I didn’t see a film last evening, thus there’s no Friday Evening Film section this weekend. Although, my friend Jeff invited me for a film at his place this evening. I’ll bring dinner up and a bottle of wine, and we’ll sit out on his deck watching the sunset…often until the stars come out in fact. We’ll watch a netflix film on his big wall screen thereafter, and I hope it will be a good one. Otherwise, the weather is about the same as it has been most of this week, clear to partly cloudy, and dry. The clear skies at night are allowing chilly air to slide down the slopes of the Haleakala Crater, bringing cool early mornings to our island…keep that extra blanket handy. By the way, those folks living along the west and north facing shores, will be hearing very loud surf breaking on the reefs and beaches tonight into Sunday!
I’ll be back with many more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn
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 if 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 if 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 if conditions warrant.
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: 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 if 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 if conditions warrant.
Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)
>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones
Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)
Interesting: Global food system faces threats from climate change – Climate change is likely to have far-reaching impacts on food security throughout the world, especially for the poor and those living in tropical regions, according to a new international report that includes three co-authors from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
The report, issued today at the Paris 2015 United Nations Climate Conference (also known as COP21) warns that warmer temperatures and altered precipitation patterns can threaten food production, disrupt transportation systems, and degrade food safety, among other impacts. As a result, international progress in the past few decades toward improving food security will be difficult to maintain.
The report, Climate Change, Global Food Security, and the U.S. Food System, provides an overview of recent research in climate change and agriculture. Led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and published under the auspices of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, it includes contributors from 19 federal, academic, nongovernmental, intergovernmental, and private organizations in the United States, Argentina, Britain, and Thailand.
“If society continues on a path of high emissions of greenhouse gases, there is no way around the fact that climate change is going to be a primary challenge for producing and distributing food,” said NCAR scientist Claudia Tebaldi, a co-author of the report. “If society lowers emissions, climate change will still be a stressor on food security, but other factors such as socioeconomic conditions could be more critical.”
Two other NCAR scientists—Caspar Ammann and Brian O’Neill—also served as co-authors. The report was produced as part of a collaboration between NCAR, the Department of Agriculture, and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which manages NCAR on behalf of the National Science Foundation.
The report focuses on identifying climate change impacts on global food security through 2100. The authors emphasize that food security – the ability of people to obtain and use sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food – will be affected by several factors in addition to climate change, such as technological advances, increases in population, the distribution of wealth, and changes in eating habits.
“Changes in society and changes in climate will both be critically important to food security in the coming decades,” O’Neill said. “This means we have to do a better job of anticipating possible changes in income, governance, inequality, and other factors, and a better job understanding how they interact with food security and climate change.”
Among the report’s key findings:
- The impact of climate change on crop and livestock productivity is projected to be larger for tropical and subtropical regions such as Africa and South Asia, although there will be regional variations. Wealthy populations and temperate regions are less at risk, and some high-latitude regions may temporarily experience productivity increases, in part because of warmer temperatures and more precipitation. However, if society continues to emit more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause climate change, even those regions will face damaging outcomes during the second half of this century.
- Climate change has important implications for food producers and consumers in the United States. The nation is likely to experience changes in the types and cost of food available for import. It can also expect to face increased demand for agricultural exports from regions coping with production difficulties.
- Climate change risks extend beyond agricultural production to critical elements of global food systems, including processing, storage, transportation, and consumption. For example, warmer temperatures can have a negative impact on food storage and increase food safety risks; higher sea levels and changes to lake and river levels can impede transportation.
- Risks to food security will increase with a higher magnitude and faster rate of climate change. In a worst-case scenario based on high greenhouse gas concentrations, high population growth, and low economic growth, the number of people at risk of undernourishment would increase by as much as 175 million by 2080 over today’s level of about 805 million. This would reverse recent gains, as the number of people at risk of undernourishment has dropped from about 1 billion since the early 1990s.
- Society can take steps to reduce the food system’s vulnerability to climate change, ranging from more advanced growing methods to cold storage, improvements in transportation infrastructure, and other strategies. Such adaptations, however, may be difficult to implement in some regions due to availability of water, soil nutrients, infrastructure, funding, or other factors.
Email Glenn James: 
