Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday…along with the minimums Sunday:
83 – 70 Lihue, Kauai
83 – 72 Honolulu, Oahu
83 – 62 Molokai AP
86 – 63 Kahului AP, Maui
86 – 65 Hilo AP, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Sunday evening:
0.05 Lihue, Kauai
0.10 Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.01 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.01 Lower Kahuku, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Sunday evening:
17 Port Allen, Kauai – NW
28 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – SW
25 Molokai – NNE
27 Lanai – NE
28 Kahaloowe – E
28 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
A huge swath of tropical moisture moving up out of the
tropics…far east of the Hawaiian Islands
Scattered low clouds in our area…with a
cold front approaching to the northwest
Clear to partly cloudy…with some cloudy areas locally –
impressive cold front sliding in our direction
A few showers…mostly offshore – looping radar image
Small Craft Advisory…for most coasts and channels statewide
High Surf Advisory…for north and west shores of Kauai,
Oahu, Molokai, north shores of Maui and the
west shore of the Big Island
Gale Watch…for this evening through Tuesday afternoon
for waters around the Big Island
Gale Warning…for Hawaiian offshore waters beyond 40
nautical miles out through 240 nautical miles
Celebrating President’s Day!
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Trade winds increasingly strong during the holiday Monday…for several days thereafter. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. We find a high pressure system far to our northeast towards San Francisco, California, and another far west-northwest in the western Pacific, with an associated ridge to the north of Hawaii. In addition, there’s a low pressure system far to the northeast of Hawaii, moving into southeast Alaska. This low pressure system has an associated very long cold front stretching southwest into the tropics. While still a distance to our northwest…it will continue approaching the state into Monday. As this cold front gets into the state later Monday into Wednesday, northeasterly winds will move over the state for several days…becoming locally strong and gusty. These winds should taper off some during the second half of the week, although remain moderately strong in most areas.
Here’s a wind profile…of the offshore waters around the islands – with a closer view
Here’s the Hawaiian Islands Sulfate Aerosol…animated graphic – showing vog forecast
Generally fine weather will prevail into Monday morning…with an increase in showers later Monday into mid-week. The aforementioned cold front is expected to arrive over Kauai later Monday, and then pass down through the rest of the state into mid-week. The associated moisture from this frontal boundary will reach Kauai Monday night, Oahu and Maui County Tuesday…with showers pushing down over the Big Island by Wednesday. The leeward sides, and especially the beaches, should have decent weather with an occasional shower being carried over to those areas on the gusty trade wind flow. The latest computer models continue pointing towards drier conditions returning to the state as we get into the second part of next week…at least through the work week. As we get into next weekend, the chances increase that we’ll see another cold front bringing showers our way then.
Here in Maui County…It’s mostly clear early this Sunday morning, although still some volcanic haze. Here in upcountry Kula we have an air temperature of 52.7F degrees well before sunrise. The temperature at near the same time was 65 degrees down in Kahului, 72 out in Hana, 63 at Maalaea Bay…and 48 atop the Haleakala Crater. Meanwhile, Kahoolawe was 68 degrees, 67 at Lanai City, with 65 at the Molokai airport.
– Mid-afternoon on Valentine’s Day, under clear to partly cloudy skies, with the trade winds blowing at a pretty good clip. These trades will be picking up more speed soon, and may increase to gale force later tomorrow into Tuesday. We can think of gale force winds in the range between 39 and 54 mph…at least locally in the major channels between the islands.
– Early evening, under clear to partly cloudy conditions….and thick enough volcanic haze that it’s a bit difficult to see the West Maui Mountains from here in upper Kula.
I’ll be back with many more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Sunday 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 2015 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2016. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant. Here’s the 2015 hurricane season summary
Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean
>>> Caribbean Sea: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2016. 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 2015 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2016. 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 2015 North Pacific hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2016. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant. Here’s the 2015 hurricane season summary
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, 2016. During the off-season, special tropical weather outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant. Here’s the 2015 hurricane season summary
Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)
>>> South Pacific Ocean:
Tropical Cyclone 11P (Winston) remains active in the Southwest Pacific Ocean, located 248 NM southeast of Suva, Fiji, with sustained winds of 58 mph. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this system…and what the computer models are showing
>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea:
Tropical Cyclone 13S (Uriah) remains active in the South Indian Ocean, located 600 NM west-southwest of Cocos Island, Australia, with sustained winds of 63 mph. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this system…and what the computer models are showing
Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)
Interesting: Bad air quality is deadly – New research shows that more than 5.5 million people die prematurely every year due to household and outdoor air pollution. More than half of deaths occur in two of the world’s fastest growing economies, China and India.
Power plants, industrial manufacturing, vehicle exhaust and burning coal and wood all release small particles into the air that are dangerous to a person’s health. New research, presented today at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), found that despite efforts to limit future emissions, the number of premature deaths linked to air pollution will climb over the next two decades unless more aggressive targets are set.
“Air pollution is the fourth highest risk factor for death globally and by far the leading environmental risk factor for disease,” said Michael Brauer, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health in Vancouver, Canada. “Reducing air pollution is an incredibly efficient way to improve the health of a population.”
For the AAAS meeting, researchers from Canada, the United States, China and India assembled estimates of air pollution levels in China and India and calculated the impact on health.
Their analysis shows that the two countries account for 55 per cent of the deaths caused by air pollution worldwide. About 1.6 million people died of air pollution in China and 1.4 million died in India in 2013.
In China, burning coal is the biggest contributor to poor air quality. Qiao Ma, a PhD student at the School of Environment, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, found that outdoor air pollution from coal alone caused an estimated 366,000 deaths in China in 2013.
Ma also calculated the expected number of premature deaths in China in the future if the country meets its current targets to restrict coal combustion and emissions through a combination of energy policies and pollution controls. She found that air pollution will cause anywhere from 990,000 to 1.3 million premature deaths in 2030 unless even more ambitious targets are introduced.
“Our study highlights the urgent need for even more aggressive strategies to reduce emissions from coal and from other sectors,” said Ma.
In India, a major contributor to poor air quality is the practice of burning wood, dung and similar sources of biomass for cooking and heating. Millions of families, among the poorest in India, are regularly exposed to high levels of particulate matter in their own homes.
“India needs a three-pronged mitigation approach to address industrial coal burning, open burning for agriculture, and household air pollution sources,” said Chandra Venkataraman, professor of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, in Mumbai, India.
In the last 50 years, North America, Western Europe and Japan have made massive strides to combat pollution by using cleaner fuels, more efficient vehicles, limiting coal burning and putting restrictions on electric power plants and factories.
“Having been in charge of designing and implementing strategies to improve air in the United States, I know how difficult it is. Developing countries have a tremendous task in front of them,” said Dan Greenbaum, president of Health Effects Institute, a non-profit organization based in Boston that sponsors targeted efforts to analyze the health burden from different air pollution sources. “This research helps guide the way by identifying the actions which can best improve public health.”
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