Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / February 6-7, 2012

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

Lihue, Kauai –                     79  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –       72  
Kaneohe, Oahu –                 78
Molokai airport –                  76
Kahului airport, Maui –         83  (Record high temperature on this date – 88F – 1996) 
Kona airport –                     81 
Hilo airport, Hawaii –           79   

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

Kailua-kona – 79
Kaneohe, Oahu – 75

Haleakala Crater –  48 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea –         37 (near 13,800 feet on the Big Island)

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 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. Here's the Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui.

 Aloha Paragraphs

 
  Winds becoming stronger into Tuesday…from the southwest and west…
strong winds for Haleakala, Maui and Big Island summits –
rough surf on our north and west shores through Thursday…
which will become very large and dangerous, along with high tides –
increasing localized showers, then a wet cold front arrives later Tuesday into the night…followed by cool northerly breezes Wednesday – better weather with moderate trade winds and smaller surf later Thursday through Saturday

The February full moon time – late Tuesday morning here in Hawaii
 

As this weather map shows, we have low pressure systems to the north through northeast of the islands…with a dissipating cold front to the east of the Big Island.  Meanwhile, we have a new cold front approaching from the northwest. At the same time, we have a weak high pressure system to the northeast, and another far to the east-northeast. Our winds will become stronger ahead of the next cold front Tuesday…then blustery and cooler from the north in the wake of the frontal passage Wednesday.

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph), along with directions Monday evening:

13                 Port Allen, Kauai – SW 
16                 Wheeler AFB, Oahu – SW
12                 Molokai – SW   
14                 Kahoolawe – SSW  
24                    Kahului, Maui – SW 
09                 Lanai – SW
21                 Hilo, Big Island – NNW

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 clouds over Kauai, Oahu, and parts of Maui County at the time of this writing. We can use this looping satellite image to see the next cold front approaching quickly in our direction to the northwest. Checking out this looping radar image we see generally light to moderate showers spreading across parts of the state, associated with pre-frontal shower bands coming up on the kona winds, especially from Kauai to Oahu and parts of Maui County…at the time of this writing.

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

0.15               Puu Opae, Kauai
0.48               Aloha Tower, Oahu
0.25               Molokai
0.00               Lanai
0.00               Kahoolawe
0.57                 Kepuni, Maui
0.08               Laupahoehoe, Big Island

Sunset Commentary:  The winds will become stronger from the southwest to west into Tuesday…ahead of the next cold front. This last front in a series of three, will reach the islands later Tuesday into the night, bringing briefly heavy showers with it. Cooler northerly winds will fill in behind this vigorous cold front, bringing an unusual blast of winter weather to the state for a day or so. The computer models then predict that we'll see returning trade winds, which will become gusty Thursday and Friday into the weekend. These moderately strong trades will carry at least some showers to our windward sides…with a few stretching over into the leeward sides on the smaller islands.

Larger than normal surf has been breaking along our north and west shores lately…although will be dropping temporarily during the day Tuesday. Then, an even larger northwest swell will arrive late Tuesday into Wednesday. Those folks who live along the beaches of our north and west shores should be very aware of swell activity, especially early Wednesday and Thursday mornings, when these swells will coincide with a higher than normal high tide. During this period between late Tuesday and Thursday we'll see high surf advisories and high surf warnings being in force, with extremely hazardous surf levels occurring Wednesday. This is serious business, and beach goers and property owners should be exercising great caution. Fortunately, the south and east facing shores aren't seeing these large waves breaking, so that these beaches will be much more user friendly to the ordinary citizen wanting gentle beach conditions. The one problem for the south shores will be the onshore gusty kona winds that occur Tuesday ahead of the next cold front. The surf community, especially those big wave riders…may be able to put these winter high surf conditions to good use, before the cooler northerly winds blow this surf out in the wake of the cold front at mid-week!

Here in Kula, Maui at 545pm HST, we have calm winds, with off and on foggy skies…with an air temperature of 64.4F degrees.  Today was the day between fronts, with pretty nice weather for the most part, although locally breezy and cloudy, with showers falling from Kauai and Oahu down to Maui County at times. The winds will become much stronger from the southwest to west into Tuesday…ahead of the next cold front. Here's a satellite image showing this next cold front approaching to the northwest. The latest forecast continues to show this next front arriving later in the day Tuesday, which will bring our next round of showers to the state. Most places in the island chain will pick up showers or rain from this third frontal passage, although the Big Island may come up a bit short on precipitation again, as it has with the two previous fronts. Here's a looping radar image so we can keep track of the incoming showers, on our leeward sides for the most part…carried our way on the strengthening kona winds ahead of the cold front. We still expect a rather strong push of cool northerly winds funneling down across the state in the wake of this next front's passage. This will definitely catch our attention, as unusually cool air rushes into the state on those gusty northerly breezes for a day or so. Our weather will improve Thursday into Friday into the upcoming weekend, associated with the returning trade winds. ~~~ I'll be back early Tuesday morning with a fresh look at the soon to arrive inclement weather conditions. I hope you have a great Monday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: In recent years, media reports of jellyfish blooms and some scientific publications have fueled the idea that jellyfish and other gelatinous floating creatures are becoming more common and may dominate the seas in coming decades. The growing impacts of humans on the oceans, including overfishing and climate change, have been suggested as possible causes of this apparently alarming trend.

A careful evaluation of the evidence by Robert H. Condon of Dauphin Island Sea Lab and his 16 coauthors, however, finds the idea that jellyfish, comb jellies, salps and similar organisms are surging globally to be lacking support. Rather, Condon and his colleagues suggest, the perception of an increase is the result of more scientific attention being paid to phenomena such as jellyfish blooms and media fascination with the topic.

Also important is the lack of good information on their occurrence in the past, which encourages misleading comparisons. Condon and his coauthors describe their findings in the February issue of BioScience. Such fossil and documentary evidence as is available indicates that occasional spectacular blooms of jellyfish are a normal part of such organisms' natural history, and may be linked to natural climate cycles. But blooms drew less attention in decades and centuries gone by.

Condon and his coauthors do not urge complacency, and acknowledge a lack of consensus among researchers. They point out that changes in populations of jellyfish and similar sea organisms do have important consequences for local marine ecology and could be affected by human activity.

For that reason, they are assembling a comprehensive new database that will enable trends in the numbers of such creatures to be assessed and the links to human activity studied. But for now, Condon and his coauthors believe the case for jellyfish-dominated seas in coming decades is not proven.

Interesting2: Penguins imported from Texas are now living at Ski Dubai — an indoor ski slope in the desert! 10 King and 10 Gentoo are living at the Dubai attraction. It's bizarre enough that Dubai has an indoor ski slope despite outdoor summer temperatures averaging at over 40 degrees Celsius, but now a colony of penguins has taken up residence at this popular tourist attraction.

Ten King Penguins listed as "least threatened" on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species, and ten Gentoo Penguins which are "near threatened" were relocated from Seaworld in Texas, where a penguin breeding program has been underway for several years.

Ski Dubai insists the animals are treated like royalty and are there to raise awareness, but animals rights activists are already criticizing at the move. The National reports that the penguins were brought to Ski Dubai so that guests can interact with them, and that they have been set up with luxury accommodation.

"Ski Dubai has specifically built a housing area and pool at the resort to mimic an Antarctic environment. A staff of 13, including a penguin curator in charge of the well-being of the birds, was brought in from different parts of the world," according to the paper.