Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 85
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 87 (record for Tuesday – 90 in 1995)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 81
Molokai airport – 83
Kahului airport, Maui – 85
Kona airport 84
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 83
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Tuesday evening:
Honolulu, Oahu – 84
Kapalua, Maui – 73
Haleakala Crater – 46 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 46 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Tuesday evening:
1.39 Kilohana, Kauai
0.68 South Fork Kaukonahua, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
1.33 Ulupalakua, Maui
0.09 Kapapala Ranch, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1037 millibar high pressure system far to the north of our islands. Our local trade winds will remain active Wednesday and Thursday.
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. 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 13,500 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 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.
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. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. Here's a tropical cyclone tracking map for the eastern and central Pacific.
Aloha Paragraphs
Trade winds, windward showers…and on leeward slopes
of Maui and the Big Island during the afternoons locally
Moderately strong trade winds will prevail this week…continuing right on into next week. Glancing at this weather map, we find a rather strong 1037 millibar high pressure system located to the north of the islands Tuesday night. This dynamic high dominates the Pacific from the International Dateline, up into the Gulf of Alaska…and then across to the Baja California coast of Mexico. There’s still no end in sight to this common summertime trade wind flow.
Our trade winds will remain active…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Tuesday evening:
25 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
22 Honolulu, Oahu – NE
27 Molokai, – NE
18 Kahoolawe – SW
21 Kahului – NE
18 Lanai – NE
23 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 Tuesday night. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find cumulus clouds generally scattered around the area, generally over the ocean. There’s more clouds upstream of the islands, which the trade winds will carry our way…first Kauai and Oahu, then Maui County and the Big Island later this evening into early Wednesday morning. We can use this looping satellite image to see thunderstorms far to our southwest and west, out over the ocean. Checking out this looping radar image we see scattered showers being carried along in the northeast to easterly trade wind flow, impacting Oahu and Kauai's windward sides…which will stretch down to Maui County and the Big Island overnight.
Sunset Commentary: A sizable and rather strong trade wind producing high pressure system remains well to our north, close to 43N and 157W. This fairly typical high pressure cell will continue to spin-out moderately strong trades through Friday. We’ll likely remain small craft wind advisory free for the time being, although advisories may go up in those windiest channels, and a few coastal areas…by this weekend into early next week. July finds the trade winds blowing on average about 95% of the time, the highest average of any month of the year in the islands.
In the rainfall department, we’ll continue to see passing showers at times, definitely not all the time, riding in on the steady trade wind flow. July isn’t known to be a wet month by any means, although the windward sides usually find off and on showers arriving…especially during the cooler dark hours of the day. Many areas around the state today remained even clearer than normal, although where air currents were converging, there are showers falling. The most notable of these occurred in the Ulupalakua area of east Maui, and were trying to gather their forces over the leeward side of the Big Island early this evening too.
Here in Kihei, Maui at around 530pm HST, skies were mostly clear, although those clouds that developed during the afternoon hours on the southwest slope of the Haleakala Crater were still hanging around. The NWS office in Honolulu issued a flood advisory near Ulupalakua (leeward east Maui) for a few hours, although it got dropped around 5pm. As noted above, the windward sides of all the islands will likely see some overnight showers falling, although Wednesday should be a good day again. By the way, a tropical disturbance is evident about 1000+ miles to the southwest of the islands. This area of disturbed weather has a 0% chance of developing however, so there's nothing to worry about. Here's a satellite image showing this area down to the lower left hand side of the screen…down to the southwest. We might see the tops of those thunderstorms, the cirrus, perhaps spreading over parts of the islands with time. I'm just about ready to head back upcountry to Kula, and before I sign off until early Wednesday morning…I'll send you a warm Aloha from Hawaii! Glenn.
Interesting: Electric vehicle drivers, the wise and uber-eco-conscious members of society, can claim to not have any tailpipe emissions. However, their emissions still exist in the form of a smoke stack from the local power plant. To have a pure green vehicle, the source of power must be sustainable and renewable. Nissan, creator of the all-electric Leaf, has developed a solar charging system that stores its power in the Leaf's lithium-ion battery.
The automaker has installed 488 solar panels at its Japan headquarters, enough to power 1,800 Leafs a year. Since the devastating earthquake hit Japan back in March and knocked out one nuclear power plant and affected many other plants, the island nation has focused on securing its energy supply.
To avoid the widespread blackouts common during that time, off-the-grid electricity sources are being considered. With electric vehicles, each household can have its own mobile power source. The Japanese are also deep into "Setsuden", or power-saving. Big power consumers on the eastern side of the island are now required to cut their power use by 15 percent, and households have been asked to follow suit.
In a joint venture with Sumitomo Corp, Nissan plans to refabricate its electric cars batteries when the cars are traded in, starting in 2016. The batteries will then be resold as power storage units. "These batteries can be useful as back-up power for homes when there's an outage," said Takashi Sakagami, head of the joint venture, 4R Energy Corp.
This venture not only will help households with energy security, they also create a beneficial second life for old car batteries. The high capacity batteries would otherwise be problematic for disposal as they are composed of various heavy, precious, and rare metals.
Other automakers in Japan are joining this trend. Mitsubishi Motors is developing a portable converter which will allow electric vehicles to power household electronics. Toyota is developing batteries directly for home use. In fact, Toyota is developing model homes which manage its power usage, taps into solar power, and then stores excess power in the batteries for night-time use.
"Electricity has become a major issue and people are in 'setsuden' mode, but we want to develop a system that doesn't ask people to endure too much discomfort," Toyota's project manager Hiroshi Okajima said. The "Toyota Home" will be available by the end of 2013.
Interesting2: The monsoons arrived on schedule in northern New Mexico on Monday, bringing with them the promise of containing a monster wildfire that has broken records in the state. But they also brought potential peril from flash floods, wind bursts and lightning, with possible flooding made worse by the ground-clearing fires. "It's such a Catch-22 with the rains," said Arlene Perea, a fire information officer. "The rains are welcome, but we know there are some problems with it."
The National Weather Service on Monday put out a flash-flood watch for the fire area through at least Wednesday. Forecasters said showers and thunderstorms were expected, with hail, lightning and winds up to 45 miles per hour. Last week, Governor Susana Martinez issued an emergency declaration to free up about $700,000 in state funds for flood mitigation efforts across the state.
The Las Conchas blaze, New Mexico's largest wildfire ever, has burned 147,642 acres since June 26 when winds knocked an aspen tree against power lines, igniting the fire in the Jemez Mountains about 12 miles southwest of the city of Los Alamos. As of mid-afternoon Monday, it was 50 percent contained.
At one point, the flames had forced the evacuation of the town of about 12,000 and lapped at the borders of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the linchpin of American's nuclear weapons industry. The lab was shuttered for about a week amid concerns about the possible release of radioactive and other hazardous materials. Lab officials later insisted no such releases occurred.
On Monday, forestry officials seemed as hopeful as they have been since the fire began. "We got a big rain on the fire this morning, and things are really looking good, especially on the north end," Perea said. That area includes the Santa Clara Indian reservation where firefighters have been battling to save sacred and cultural Pueblo sites, including Chicoma Mountain, regarded as "the center of all" by many tribes.
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