Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Monday:
Lihue, Kauai – 86
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 90 (Record high for the date – 91 in 1984)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 84
Molokai airport – 84
Kahului airport, Maui – 86
Kona airport 87
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 85
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Monday evening:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 86
Princeville, Kauai – 77
Haleakala Crater – 50 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 39 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Monday evening:
0.20 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.06 Punaluu Stream, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.27 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.12 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
Strong trade winds, high cirrus clouds…
rising surf leeward beaches into Wednesday
Our trade winds will be strengthening. Glancing at this weather map, showing high pressure to the north of the islands. Our local winds will become stronger Tuesday into Wednesday. Small craft wind advisories are active over those windiest coasts and channels in Maui County and the Big Island. These stronger trade winds will last through Thursday, with a gradual weakening Friday into the weekend.
Trade winds continue…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Monday evening:
27 Port Allen, Kauai – ENE
25 Honolulu, Oahu – NE
25 Molokai – NE
35 Kahoolawe – ESE
30 Kahului, Maui – NE
17 Lanai – NE
30 Upolu 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 Monday evening. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find scattered low clouds generally offshore of the islands…although they are congregating over and around the mountains and windward sides locally. At the same time we see lots of high cirrus clouds to our south and southwest, spreading over the islands. We can use this looping satellite image to see just low clouds moving along in the trade wind flow. There are those high level clouds coming our way from the southwest too….thick over the central islands at the time of this writing. Checking out this looping radar image we see some showers over the ocean, moving along in the trade wind flow, impacting the islands locally.
Sunset Commentary: The trade winds are on the rise in terms of strength, which will hold steady in the rather strong and gusty realms through Thursday or so. This has sparked a small craft wind advisory over those windiest coastal and channel waters in Maui County and the Big Island. As the high pressure area now to our north, moves eastward through the week…our local trade winds will calm down some Friday into the weekend.
Meanwhile, our island skies will range between clear to mostly cloudy at times, although rainfall will be somewhat limited for the time being. At the moment, we find lots of high cirrus clouds being carried our way aloft, from the southwest. As the trade winds peak in strength over the next few days, they will begin to carry somewhat more showery clouds our way, generally arriving along the windward coasts and slopes. The leeward sides may eventually see a few showers being carried over that way on the locally strong and gusty trade winds.
The weather related feature during this first half of the week, which will have the greatest impact…will be the rising south swell along our leeward beaches. We have an active high surf advisory along those beaches…likely lasting through Wednesday. Large to very large surf in respect to these south and west facing beaches, will necessitate caution for our local visitors and others too. This early autumn south swell will start to ease up Thursday onwards.
The NWS forecast office in Honolulu has also issued a Red Flag Warning for parts of the state, mainly the leeward sides. This is being caused by the combination of strong trade winds, low relative humidity, and the expectations for limited rainfall along those dry sides of the islands. This isn’t a forecast for fire, just noting the higher than normal risk for fires starting along those south and west facing coasts and slopes.
~~~ Here in Kihei, Maui at around 530pm HST Monday evening, skies were cloudy, consisting of those thick high cirrus clouds over us now. As noted above, the three main things that are going on here in Hawaii, include: rising surf along our south and west facing beaches, strengthening trade winds, and generally dry weather for the most part. I should also point out the high cirrus clouds that are reaching up into our area from the southwest, filtering our daytime sunshine considerably. There's nothing too unusual about any of this, with the rising surf the most prominent of these various weather related circumstances. ~~~ I'm heading back upcountry to Kula now, after a long day of weather reporting. It looks as if the high cirrus will be too thick to give us much of a sunset, although keep your eyes peeled just in case. The other islands may have a better chance for good color, as this high stuff is thinner elsewhere around the state. I'll be back very early Tuesday morning with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Monday night until then, either here in the islands, or elsewhere! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Extra: Webcam view of Mount Everest…viewable during the daylight hours
Interesting: Federal and state weather forecasters and climate experts are getting together to brainstorm about the epic 2011 Texas drought and what weather trends might signal for the future. This year's drought already has cost the Texas agriculture and cattle industries more than $5 billion. Intensifying La Nina conditions in the equatorial waters of the Pacific Ocean signal the approach of another dry winter.
That means little to no relief from the drought conditions. State climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon already has told the Austin American-Statesman that the drought could be the beginning of a decade-long dry spell.
He will join National Weather Service forecasters and climatologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Monday's discussion in Fort Worth.
Interesting2: The Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean is to ban shark fishing and trade in shark products throughout its waters, creating a sanctuary roughly eight times the size of the UK. The Marshall Islands archipelago is home to just 68,000 people, with tourism, such as diving, being an important part of the economy.
Senator Tony deBrum said of the new shark protection bill: "In passing this bill, there is no greater statement we can make about the importance of sharks to our culture, environment and economy. Ours may be a small island nation, but our waters are now the biggest place sharks are protected."
The sanctuary, covering nearly two million square kilometers, is larger than the first pioneering shark sanctuary in the waters of the Pacific nation of Palau, which measures 600,000 square kilometers.
The new sanctuary brings the total area of ocean in which sharks are protected to around 4.6 million square kilometers.
Interesting3: A hole that developed in the Earth's protective ozone layer over the Arctic this year was the largest ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere and spread over parts of northern Russia, Greenland and Norway, the journal Nature reports. For the first time, the hole was comparable to one that appears regularly over the Antarctic, researchers found.
The ozone layer in the upper stratosphere provides a shield against UV radiation from the sun that can cause skin cancer and cataracts.
Authors of the report, released today, show that the hole opened over northern Russia, parts of Greenland, and Norway in March, subjecting people there to high levels of the UV radiation.
As reported by The Guardian, the researchers found that the unsually large hole was not due to man-made causes, rather to unusually strong wind patterns at high altitudes and intense cold.
Holes in the ozone layer at both poles increase in size annually, The Guardian notes, but says the huge hole in the Arctic could become an annual event.
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