Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / October 15-16, 2011

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

Lihue, Kauai –                   83
Honolulu airport, Oahu –   86   (record high for the date – 92 in 1995)
Kaneohe, Oahu –               82
Molokai airport –                83
Kahului airport, Maui –        85  
Kona airport                      85
Hilo airport, Hawaii –          77

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

Barking Sands, Kauai – 83
Princeville, Kauai – 75

Haleakala Crater –     48 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 41 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)

Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Saturday evening:

1.98     Mount Wailaleale, Kauai
1.87     Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.10     Molokai
0.00     Lanai
0.02     Kahoolawe
3.21     Puu Kukui, Maui
2.61     Piihonua, 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 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

Improving weather, gradually less windy
Pool and ocean…south Maui sunset

 

Our trade winds will be easing up Sunday…into the first part of the new work week ahead.  Glancing at this weather map, it shows a near 1027 millibar high pressure system to our north-northeast. There’s a dissipating cold front just to the south of the state. The trade winds will remain on the gusty side Saturday evening, although gradually be mellowing out tonight and Sunday. A slightly cooler air mass has moved in over the islands…in the wake of the recent frontal passage.  Lighter and warmer trade winds will continue into the new week. As a second cold front approaches from the northwest Monday and Tuesday…these winds may slow down ahead it, then increase again after its passage around mid-week.

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

29                 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
24                 Honolulu, Oahu – NE
32                    Molokai – NE
28                 Kahoolawe – N
30                 Kapalua, Maui – NE
21                 Lanai – NE
27                 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 Saturday evening. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find the low clouds associated with the cold front, now having passed southward through the state…with some clouds hung up along the windward sides of the Big Island and Maui. We can use this looping satellite image to see that frontal cloud band have broken apart on the brisk northeast wind flow. There are more low clouds to the north and northeast, which are heading our way…along with some approaching high clouds to our west. Checking out this looping radar image we see showers over the ocean, mostly to the southwest of the islands, and to the southeast of the Big Island. Some of these showers will continue to impact the windward side of east Maui, and the Big Island too.

Sunset Commentary:   The well advertised cold front has mostly worked its way through the island chain now. Satellite imagery shows generally clear to partly cloudy skies, with most of the clouds now to the south and southwest of the islands. The one exception at the time of this writing, is the windward side of the Big Island, and a few clouds over windward east Maui too. This frontal passage brought more than the expected amount of rainfall, with all of the islands, at least those typically wetter areas, picking up over an inch to over two inches in a few places. The largest precipitation figure was an impressive 3.19" atop the West Maui Mountains…in the Puu Kukui gauge.

Drier and slightly cooler air is flooding into the state now. The weather in generally will be quite nice, especially along our leeward sides, although locally quite breezy for the time being. As we move into Sunday our gusty trade winds will ease up quite a bit, with generally pleasant weather conditions just about everywhere. Looking a bit further ahead, We'll have the next cold front approaching the state Monday and Tuesday. There continues to be some uncertainty about this front and its potential impact of the islands. At this point it looks like our winds will become quite light ahead of it. It would arrive or possibly just get close around Wednesday, with the winds picking up from the trade wind direction during the second half of the week.

Friday evening I went to see a new film, called Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, and Evangeline Lilly among many others. I must admit that I wasn't looking forward to seeing this film, although nothing else was pulling me into a theater either, so I gave it a chance. The film was about boxing between robots, and the relationship between a man and his son. It was tough at times, and touching at times too. It wasn't the kind of film that I'm naturally drawn to see, so about all I can give it is a soft B, although it did have its unique merits. The critics are giving this film a B-, while the viewers are taking it all the way to the top, giving it an A grade, wow. Here's a trailer for this action film, which is a long one lasting 2 hours and 20 minutes. 

Here in Kula, Maui at around 530pm HST Saturday evening, skies were mostly clear to partly cloudy. I started off the day by taking my usual walk down in Keokea, which was beautiful and peaceful as usual. I came back home and had a nice breakfast followed by espresso. Then it was over to Makawao to get a haircut, and down to Paia for some food shopping. I've been home this afternoon, and enjoyed taking a short nap, which felt like a luxury. This evening I have nothing going on socially, so unless something happens otherwise, I'll just have a nice dinner, and then call a friend who lives in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California. Speaking of the mainland, I'll be leaving this coming Tuesday afternoon for a flight to San Francisco, to begin my three week autumn vacation. I'll have more to say about that over the next few days, and by the way, while I'm gone you'll continue to be able to get the latest forecast for all the islands on this website. ~~~ I'll be back in the morning with your next new weather narrative, so I hope you have a great Saturday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: An international team of scientists has proposed a five-point plan for feeding the world while protecting the planet. The research concludes that "feeding the nine billion people anticipated to live on Earth in 2050 without exhausting the Earth's natural resources is possible, provided that we adopt a more sustainable food production approach."

The findings concludes that we can feed the increasing amount of people on this planet without exhausting the world's resources if we successfully pursue sustainable food production on five key fronts: halt farmland expansion, improve crop production, more strategic use of water and nutrients, reduce food waste and dedicate croplands to direct human food production.

"Agriculture is the largest single cause behind global warming and loss of ecosystem services, and at the same time the key to human well being in all societies. We now have the opportunity to not only cool the planet, but also to build resilient societies, and improve human wealth", says co-author Johan Rockström, Executive Director at Stockholm Resilience Center at Stockholm University and Stockholm Environment Institute.

Together with scientists from the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, McGill University, UC Santa Barbara, Arizona State University and the University of Bonn, Rockström has for two years tried to find an answer to what could be the most compelling question facing humanity today.

Based on data gathered about crop production and environmental impacts using satellite maps and on-the-grounds records, the scientists propose a five-point plan for doubling the world's food production while reducing environmental impacts. "Our research has shown that it is possible to both feed a hungry world and protect a threatened planet," says lead author Jonathan Foley, head of the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment.

Interesting2: Mention prime geography for generation of solar energy, and people tend to think of hot deserts. But a new study concludes that some of the world's coldest landscapes — including the Himalaya Mountains, the Andes, and even Antarctica — could become Saudi Arabias of solar. The research appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. Kotaro Kawajiri and colleagues explain that the potential for generating electricity with renewable solar energy depends heavily on geographic location.

Arid and semi-arid areas with plenty of sunshine long have been recognized as good solar sites. However, the scientists point out that, as a result of the limited data available for critical weather-related conditions on a global scale, gaps still exist in knowledge about the best geographical locations for producing solar energy.

To expand that knowledge, they used one established technique to estimate global solar energy potential using the data that are available. The technique takes into account the effects of temperature on the output of solar cells. Future work will consider other variables, such as transmission losses and snow fall.

As expected, they found that many hot regions such as the U.S. desert southwest are ideal locations for solar arrays. However, they also found that many cold regions at high elevations receive a lot of sunlight — so much so that their potential for producing power from the sun is even higher than in some desert areas.

Kawajiri and colleagues found, for instance, that the Himalayas, which include Mt. Everest, could be an ideal locale for solar fields that generate electricity for the fast-expanding economy of the People's Republic of China.