Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs
Posted by GlennJune 13-14 2008
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday:
Lihue, Kauai – 81
Honolulu, Oahu – 86
Kaneohe, Oahu – 81
Kahului, Maui – 85
Hilo, Hawaii – 82
Kailua-kona – 84
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon:
Honolulu, Oahu – 84F
Lihue, Kauai – 77
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Friday afternoon:
2.13 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.56 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.06 Molokai
0.04 Lanai
0.62 Kahoolawe
0.41 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.27 Mountain View, Big Island
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1034 millibar high pressure system far to the northeast of the islands. This high pressure cell, along with its associated ridge, will keep light to locally moderate trade winds blowing across our area Friday and Saturday.
Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with the Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around the state 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. 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 webcam 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 webcams 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.
Aloha Paragraphs
Nice south swell on the leeward beaches now
Photo Credit: flickr.com
Despite the forecast for light trade winds Friday, they decided to increase in strength today, at least locally. The same near 1035 millibar high pressure system, according to this weather map, remains anchored far to the northeast of the islands Friday night. What happened was that the upper level low, which has been up to the north of the islands the last couple of days, is drifting slowly away. This low aloft has been keeping our local winds lighter than they would otherwise be at this time of year. The way it looks from here, it seems reasonable to look for light to now more likely moderately strong trade winds through the weekend into early next week at least. Those windiest areas could easily see more of the 30+ mph gusts in those windiest spots.
Meanwhile, the expected light winds, which didn’t materialized, have kept the expected afternoon convective clouds away. As a matter of fact, the stronger trade winds have swept much of the moisture downstream, allowing mostly clear and sunny skies to prevail. This satellite image shows the situation well. Looking more closely at that satellite image though, shows more clouds not too far upstream of the windward sides of the islands. This larger view shows that there are even more clouds further east and northeast as well. As there are a minimum of clouds around, it stands to reason that there are very few showers. There will likely be some increase in windward biased showers once the next batch of clouds arrives on the trade winds. It appears that we may see an intrusion of high clouds, those down to the SW of the islands at some point this weekend.
~~~ It’s Friday evening, after work here in Kihei, Maui. Looking out the window, there’s hardly a cloud in the sky! The winds are quite breezy through the central valley…between Kahului, and where they shoot out through the Maalaea Bay. At 5pm Friday, the winds were gusting to 33 mph at that windy bay. There’s still a chance that a few heavier showers may pop up overnight near Kauai, and perhaps offshore from Oahu too…as the upper low migrates by from west to east. I didn’t make any plans for after work, it was a busy week, so I guess I’ll just go home to my weather deck, grab a nice cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and enjoy watching the sunset. I’ll be up early Saturday morning, with your next new weather narrative. Saturday is an exciting day, as I get my new Kettler ping pong table, so that I can start playing table tennis again…yeah! I hope you have a great Friday night, Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: California scientist Meng Lean has invented a new water filtration method that is cheaper and can recycle about five times faster than today’s system, according to ABC7. The water is not safe for drinking but can be used for activities such as agriculture. The system involves a spiral filtration system. Water is funneled through lightweight disks as they spin, separating dirt and particles from the clean water. Another advantage of the new invention is that much less land space is needed than for a water-treatment plant. Lean continues to refine his system. He and his team plan to experiment on a larger level by the end of June. The goal is to recycle 100 liters of water a minute.
Interesting2: When it comes to greening America’s transportation system, most people focus on cars – producing their fuel differently, using different forms of energy, or shifting commutes away from them entirely. But what of the roads we drive on? Asphalt, which is used to pave over 90 percent of American roads, is processed in Western countries through a process requiring the tar-like substance to be heated to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, an energy-intensive procedure that also produces carbon emissions. In less wealthy parts of the world, though, a "cold mix" approach has long been used; the asphalt isn’t heated, but is sheared into fine particles and mixed with water and surfactants so it can be spread across a road’s surface until it hardens. Now a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Hussain Bahia, intends to adapt these African and Indian techniques – developed by road-builders who couldn’t afford to heat asphalt to make it pliable – for use here. Under the auspices of the Asphalt Research Consortium (a group working with the Federal Highway Administration to improve road-surface performance), he has established a Modified Asphalt Research Center with the goal of improving asphalt in various ways by developing cold mixtures that blend polymers or plastics with crude oil-derived asphalt.
Interesting3: The recovery of Earth’s protective ozone layer, expected to heal gradually over the next half-century or so, may be good news for your skin, but it could also put the brakes on a fast-moving wind current, further exacerbating global warming, a new study suggests. The ozone layer protects Earth’s inhabitants from harmful ultraviolet rays, which can cause skin cancer in humans as well as mutations in other organisms. This layer sits in the lower portion of the stratosphere, the layer of the atmosphere above the troposphere, where Earth’s weather occurs (and we live). Ozone absorbs the sun’s UV light here before it can reach the planet’s surface. The gaping hole in the ozone layer was discovered in 1985, eventually leading to the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which moved to ban the substances, such as chlorofluorcarbons (CFCs), which destroy stratospheric ozone. (The hole isn’t a total absence of ozone, but a severe reduction in the concentration of ozone that occurs seasonally.) The new study, detailed in the June 13 issue of the journal Science, compares current climate models used by the International Panel on Climate Change to predict the potential long-term consequences of global warming to another set of models that better account for chemical reactions in the stratosphere. Study leader S-W. Son, of
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