Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / March 16-17, 2011

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday afternoon:

Lihue, Kauai –                   80
Honolulu airport, Oahu –    84
Kaneohe, Oahu –               78
Molokai airport –                81
Kahului airport, Maui –        82
Kona airport –                    82
Hilo airport, Hawaii –          82

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Wednesday evening:

Honolulu, Oahu – 83F
Kaneohe, Oahu – 77

Haleakala Crater –     missing (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 48 (under 14,000 feet on the Big Island)

Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals Wednesday evening:

0.40    Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.05    Maunawili, Oahu
0.02    Molokai
0.00    Lanai
0.00    Kahoolawe
0.30    Puu Kukui, Maui
0.48    Kawainui Stream, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a strong trade wind maintaining high pressure system to the north of Hawaii. Our trade winds will be locally strong and gusty into Friday.

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with this Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean. Finally, here's a Looping IR satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image.

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two web cams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon weather conditions.

Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. Of course, as we know, our hurricane season ended November 30th here in the central Pacific…and begins again June 1st.

 Aloha Paragraphs

Blustery trade wind weather into Friday
 
 

The trade winds will be locally strong and gusty through Friday…easing up a touch this weekend.  According to this weather map, we find a trade wind producing high pressure system to the north of the islands Wednesday night. Our trade winds will remain blustery through Thursday into Friday. The outlook shows the trade winds perhaps easing up slightly this weekend. The longer range forecast shows the strong and gusty trade winds continuing into next week, showing another surge in strength around the middle of next week.      

Strong trade winds…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts, along with directions Wednesday evening:

33 mph       Port Allen, Kauai – NE
36              Waianae, Oahu – ESE
39              Molokai – NE 
39              Kahoolawe – ESE
37              Lipoa, Maui – ESE
05              Lanai Airport  
43                South Point, Big Island – NE

We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Wednesday night. This large University of Washington satellite image shows a large swath of clouds to the west through north of the islands. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture, we see patches of low level clouds surrounding the islands, with lots of them upstream of the state moving in our direction. We can use this looping satellite image to see low clouds are moving westward in the trade wind flow. At the same time we find high cirrus clouds moving into the state from the west. Checking out this looping radar image, shows that there are a fair amount of showers approaching the islands on the gusty trade winds, most of them are on the light side…falling along the windward coasts and slopes.

In sum:  Trade winds, trade winds, and more trade winds is the name of the game now. A solid high pressure center to our north is the source of this gusty flow air, which will peak in strength likely over the next couple of days. Some slight moderation is expected through the weekend, into the first couple of days of next week…and then another early spring season surge of rushing air will arrive about a week from today. By the way, Wednesday afternoon saw winds gusting as high as 55 mph at one recording anemometer on Oahu!

As for shower bearing clouds, there will be a few, although the overlying atmosphere remains dry and stable, limiting precipitation greatly. The models continue to suggest that an old frontal boundary might bring some increase in showers towards the weekend. It’s a fact though that any time the trades are gusting up near 50 mph, that a few showers will be brought our way anyway…generally forced up the sides of the windward slopes.

As for the ocean…besides all the trillions of wind generated white caps covering every square inch of our ocean surface now, there will still be large waves breaking along our north shores for the time being. The wind will also prompt a wind swell, which will break along our windward shores. Then, despite the fact that we are still in our winter season, we have a modest south swell breaking temporarily along our south facing leeward beaches.

~~~ Here in Kihei, as was the cause yesterday when I left for the drive back upcountry to Kula, skies are mostly clear again. It was a lovely day, with lots of warm sunshine beaming down, along with that gusty wind flow of course. I'm getting lots of inquires about the nuclear emissions in Japan, and where it might eventually go. The truth is that I am monitoring this situation, and will add information here if it begins to take aim on our islands, which I highly doubt will happen…or it begins to move toward the west coast of north America. I'd recommend paying attention to the situation, but don't lose sleep over it. If you're reading from Japan, that could be another story. One more thing before I go, there was a magnitude 6.5 earthquake in the Vanuatu Islands, in the southwest Pacific Ocean this afternoon, with no tsunami generated…thank goodness! I'll be back early Thursday morning with your next new weather narrative from windy Hawaii, I hope you have a great Wednesday night until then. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Extra: Here is a story on the Japanese radiation plume…from the NY Times

Interesting: A kiss is just a kiss — unless it's a Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Kiss. In which case, pucker up for a mouthful of PGPR. PGPR, which began showing up on the ingredient list of drugstore chocolate several years ago, is short for polyglycerol polyricinoleate, a goopy yellowish liquid made from castor beans that reduces the viscosity of chocolate.

Since 2006, big chocolate manufacturers such as Hershey's have been replacing the expensive raw ingredient cocoa butter with PGPR in their recipes. In many ways, the story of PGPR in chocolate is but a small chapter in a larger narrative about how convoluted our industrial food system has become: an alphabet soup of fillers and cheap ingredients that challenge the original definition of the product they seek to emulate, questionably sourced raw materials, and a cast of large corporations attempting to appeal to the lowest common denominator acceptable for human consumption to keep costs low and profits high.

PGPR is manufactured by Danisco, which DuPont is negotiations to buy, and by Palsgaard, an international corporation specializing in emulsifiers and stabilizers for the food-processing industry. A statement regarding PGPR on that company's website reads, "Cocoa butter is an expensive raw material for chocolate manufacturers.

By using Palsgaard4150 (PGPR) the chocolate recipe has lower costs in terms of less cocoa butter." In other words, PGPR is a way for chocolate manufacturers to get around the hassle and expense of actually putting chocolate in their chocolate. A quick survey of the candy aisle at a local CVS revealed PGPR in most chocolate products: Reese's, Mounds, Kit Kat, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Hershey's Special Dark, among many others.

Interesting2: If the trauma of going through a horrific earthquake and tsunami were not enough, survivors in Japan waiting in rubble to be rescued amid fears of radioactive exposure will have to continue enduring harsh cold, blustery winds and snow over the next few days. Snow started falling across much of northern Japan, including quake- and tsunami-ravaged areas, Tuesday night into Wednesday local time with an inch or two of snow accumulating in hard-hit Sendai.

More snow showers will dust the area through Thursday. The harsh wintry weather poses added threats to the health of people already in a fragile state. Hypothermia is certainly a concern. Even people who do have shelter will also be subject to the cold, as millions continue to be affected by power outages and rolling blackouts.

The zone worst-affected by the earthquake and tsunami has a similar latitude to the Delmarva Peninsula of the U.S., with Sendai being comparable to Ocean City, Md. The climate of this zone, however, is actually more similar to areas farther north along the East Coast of the U.S., such as Islip, N.Y., or Boston, Mass. Average high temperatures this time of year in Sendai are in the upper 40s, while nighttime temperatures typically fall into the lower 30s.

This week, however, cold, blustery winds out of the west-northwest will keep temperatures below normal in the wake of a storm system through Thursday. Snow showers and flurries will also continue affecting the area through Thursday as well. High temperatures are forecast to be near 40 degrees in Sendai with nighttime lows near 30. Andrews pointed out, it will feel like temperatures are at or below freezing most of the time over the next couple of days.

Gusty winds, generally out of the northwest, at 15-30 mph will make conditions even worse for survivors and rescue workers.  The winds will also govern where any additional radiation potentially released from Japan's troubled nuclear power plants will travel. This AccuWeather.com news story has more information on that threat. The cold, windy conditions will start to let up Friday with a bigger rebound in temperatures following over the weekend.

Highs in the mid- to upper 50s are forecast Saturday and Sunday. A storm system set to cross Japan late this weekend into early next week will bring prospects for rain to the earthquake- and tsunami-ravaged areas. While rain from this system could arrive as early as Saturday, chances are higher Sunday into Monday.

Interesting3: The warmest air of the season thus far is headed to areas from Chicago to New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Nashville Thursday into Friday. For parts of the Chicago area, Thursday will be the first day this year that temperatures will rise into the 60s. The warmth will no doubt be welcomed by many people celebrating St. Patrick's Day along the green-dyed Chicago River.

Detroit will also have a shot at hitting the 60-degree-mark for the first time this year Thursday as well. Farther south Thursday, temperatures will rise well into the 70s from southern Nebraska to Louisiana, northern Georgia and the Carolinas while some areas rise into the 80s.

Farther south and west, much of Texas, western Oklahoma, western Kansas, southeastern Colorado and eastern New Mexico will be in the 80s Thursday with parts of western Texas getting into the 90s. Unfortunately, the warmth combined with low humidity and gusty winds will create a high fire danger for much of this area.

The warmth will also spread into the East Thursday. However, Friday will be the warmest day for many areas in this region. Temperatures are forecast to rise into the 80s from Florida to southern Virginia and 70s farther north to about New York City Friday. This would be the first time New York City hits the 70-degree-mark this year.

Even people as far north as Boston can look forward to some spring warmth with temperatures rising into the 60s Friday. Highs in Atlanta and Nashville are expected to be near 80 Friday, making it the warmest day of the year thus far for these cities. Not only will Friday be the warmest day yet this year for Philadelphia, but it could also end up being the warmest day for the date on record.

The temperature is forecast to rise near the record high of 78 degrees, which was set in 1989. Records will also be challenged in some areas across the Carolinas Saturday, which will be the warmest day of the week for these states. Raleigh and Charlotte are both cities where the temperature is forecast to rise within 4 degrees of the record high.

Interesting4: The fire danger will again be ramping up across Texas and the southern Plains Wednesday and Thursday with temperatures soaring, winds increasing and low relative humidity values. Wednesday, the risk for new wildfires and the spread of existing wildfires will stretch across eastern New Mexico, southern New Mexico, portions of the Oklahoma Panhandle, southwestern Kansas and western Texas.

Warm air will surge in from the Southwest deserts, allowing temperatures to climb well into the 70s, 80s and even the 90s in a few areas. Relative humidity will fall into the teens and 20s across the zone at risk. Gusty winds of 12-25 mph, especially during the afternoon, will blow across the region as a cold front moves through the Rockies.

Gusts of this caliber will threaten to fan the flames of fires burning. With severe to extreme drought conditions across portions of the southern High Plains, there is plenty of tinder-dry vegetation to act as fuel for fires. In southeastern New Mexico and extreme western Texas, the relative humidity will plummet even lower into the single digits during the afternoon, while winds gust to 40 mph.

There will be an extreme fire threat as a result. Carlsbad, Artesia, and Roswell, N.M., as well as Gaudalupe and El Paso, Texas, are included in the area with the most extreme fire threat for Wednesday afternoon. Thursday, the fire risk will span areas from New Mexico to locations farther east across western Oklahoma and western Texas.