Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / October 1-2, 2011

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

Lihue, Kauai –                   84
Honolulu airport, Oahu –   90 
Kaneohe, Oahu –               84
Molokai airport –                87
Kahului airport, Maui –        87
Kona airport                      87
Hilo airport, Hawaii –          84

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

Honolulu, Oahu – 86
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80

Haleakala Crater –     48 (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 Saturday afternoon:

0.84     Kilohana, Kauai
0.13     Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.00     Molokai
0.00     Lanai
0.29     Kahoolawe
0.56     Ulupalakua, Maui
0.55     Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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. 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. The Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui just came back online, after being on the blink for several weeks.

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

  Light to moderate trade winds…generally fair weather 
Molokai
 
 

Our trade winds will be light to locally moderate through Monday.  Glancing at this weather map, showing high pressure systems to the northwest and northeast of the islands. Our local winds will remain light to moderately strong through Monday, then increasing some Tuesday onwards.

Trade winds continue…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Saturday evening:

08                Lihue, Kauai – NE
14                Waianae,  Oahu – NE
07                Molokai – NE
22                   Kahoolawe – ESE
21                Kahului, Maui – NE
00                Lanai – NE
20                Upolu Point,  Big Island – ENE

We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Saturday evening. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find scattered low clouds generally offshore of the islands…although over the slopes on the Big Island and Maui too. At the same time we see high cirrus clouds spreading over the islands in many areas. We can use this looping satellite image to see the low clouds moving along in the trade wind flow. There are those high level clouds coming our way from the southwest. Checking out this looping radar image we see showers over the ocean, moving along in the northeast breezes, which will overlap the islands at times tonight, although nothing unusual. 

Sunset Commentary: A well established light to moderately strong trade wind weather pattern will continue over the state through the weekend. As we push into Monday and Tuesday onwards, high pressure will strengthen to our north, prompting an increase in our local trade wind flow. As the trade winds increase, there’s a chance of finding small craft wind advisory flags going up over those windiest coasts and channels…particularly around Maui County and the Big Island. The forecast models are now showing these trade winds slowing down by next weekend.

Rainfall will continue to fall along our windward sides at times, although nothing of particular note in this regard. Meanwhile, the leeward sides will remain generally dry through the weekend, with perhaps a few showers being carried over that way…once the trade winds show their expected increase early in the new work week ahead. The upcountry leeward slopes on both Maui and the Big Island will once again see afternoon clouds Sunday afternoon. 

The surf will continue to be generally on the small side this weekend on all shores. The surf will begin to rise Monday along our leeward beaches. This larger than normal south swell was generated last weekend down near New Zealand. It will have taken about a week to travel that 3500+ miles from the southern hemisphere to our shores. It's expected to be large enough to trigger a high surf advisory by Monday and Tuesday into Wednesday. These larger than normal autumn waves will demand caution along those south and west shores locally.

Here in Kula, Maui at around 5pm HST Saturday evening, skies were partly cloudy, with an air temperature of 69.3F degrees. There are high cirrus clouds overhead, which will likely light up colorfully at sunset. ~~~ Last evening, rather than going to the movies as I usually do, some friends invited me to join them over on the north shore. There was a social function at the Spreckelsville Country Club, with live jazz, food and drinks. This turned out to be a fun occasion, sitting out under the stars listening to music, eating good food, with a glass of red wine. I hung out with my neighbor and another friend of ours for the most part. At one point one of us wondered off, and so the other two of us took off to find him. This lady whose name is Joy, and I found him down near the beach, and then things took an interesting turn. We all just sort of spontaneously started taking our clothes off in the dark, and ended up going in the ocean! It felt rather chilly at first, but then when we finally dunked under the water, it got a little warmer. We hung out there in the dark, in this small lagoon called Baby Beach, which I've often gone too during the day, but never at night. At any rate, none of us were through having fun after we got out of the ocean, so we drove up to Kula, where we all live. We ended up at Joy's home, drinking bottled fizzy water, listening to some good music, and sitting around talking until around midnight. My neighbor Jeff and I drove up the mountain to our houses, and looking back now, it was a lot of fun!

~~~ These same friends have invited me to go to see this new film Moneyball this evening, which I've been looking forward to seeing. I'm in a little bit of a rush to get ready in time, and to fit in dinner before we head down the mountain towards Kahului. At any rate, Moneyball, stars Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, among many others. Synopsis: Oakland A's manager, Billy Beane, changes baseball with a radically different approach to hiring players. This film is getting very good reviews, averaging B+, which is encouraging. I'll let you know what I think Sunday morning when I get back online with my next new weather narrative from paradise. Here's the trailer, in case you're interested. I hope you have a great Saturday night until then, Aloha for now…Glenn. 

Interesting:  With climate change, the world is generally getting warmer —- but not in a slow and straight line. Instead, many models show that weather is simply becoming more unpredictable and possibly more volatile, with more severe storms, more severe droughts and more peaks in all kinds of weather extremes. All of that volatility raises its own fears. With more extreme weather events, are we getting set up for a rise in related injuries and deaths?

A new study offers some comforting news. Researchers from the Reason Foundation, a public policy think tank, took a decade-by-decade look at the number of deaths caused worldwide by extreme weather events from 1900 to 2010. Over time, the study found, weather has been growing increasingly extreme.

In the last decade, there were 350 reported severe weather events each year, compared with just 2.5 per year in the 1920s and close to 46 per year in the 1960s. When it comes to death by weather, the worst decade was from 1920 to 1929, when environmental conditions killed 241 out of every million people.

Since then, the rate has steadily dropped by 98 percent. In the 1960s, 50 out of every million people around the world died because of floods, fires, storms, extreme heat or cold, and related causes. By the 2000s, the rate was down to about five out of a million.

During the study period, the researchers also found that droughts were responsible for close to 60 percent of extreme weather deaths, while floods caused almost 35 percent. Deaths from both causes have dropped precipitously in recent decades. Even hurricanes, tornadoes and other storms, which claimed 7 percent of extreme weather deaths from 1900 to 2008, kill 55 percent fewer people now than they did in the '70s.