Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / March 15-16, 2012

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

Lihue, Kauai –                     78  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –      81   
Kaneohe, Oahu –                 M
Molokai airport –                 78
Kahului airport, Maui –      82   (Record high temperature for Thursday – 88 / 1984)
Kona airport –                    80
Hilo airport, Hawaii –           78

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 8pm Thursday evening:

Honolulu, Oahu – 74
Princeville, Kauai – 70

Haleakala Crater –  45 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea –         32 (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…although this webcam is often not working correctly.

 Aloha Paragraphs

   
Nice weather in general, with some windward
showers at times…strong and gusty trades

  Volcanic haze (vog) after the weekend

As this weather map shows, we have a near 1027 millibar high pressure system to the north, with its associated ridges extending east and west of the islands.  Our winds will remain active from the trade wind direction, locally strong and gusty into the weekend.

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

30                 Lihue, Kauai – NE
37                 Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
36                 Molokai – NE
42                 Kahoolawe – ENE
38                 Kahului, Maui – NE
38                 Lanai – NE
37                 Kealakomo, Big Island – NE

We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Thursday evening.  Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see scattered low clouds over the ocean in most directions…with some approaching high clouds to our southwest. We can use this looping satellite image to see low clouds coming into the state, carried by the trade winds.  Checking out this looping radar image we see a few showers being carried over the islands by the trade winds, mostly over the windward coasts and slopes at the time of this writing. 

Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Thursday evening:
 
0.22               Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.20               Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.00               Molokai
0.00               Kahoolawe
0.02               Puu Kukui, Maui
0.26               Kawainui stream, Big Island  

Sunset Commentary:   A well established trade wind weather pattern will remain in control over the islands through Saturday…backing off a bit on Sunday. The wind speeds increased quite a bit today, which triggered small craft wind advisories in the major channels between the islands…and in a few of those windiest coastal zones too. 
At the same time, the deep trade winds atop the Haleakala Crater on Maui increased enough, that a NWS issued wind advisory remains in effect…which may spread to the summits on the Big Island with time.

As we push into the new week ahead, these strong and gusty trade winds will be softening, perhaps already by Sunday even, and swinging around to the southeast. This will be due to a trough of low pressure, or an associated cold front edging into the area west of Kauai then. The models shows this trough stalling before arriving into the Aloha state however. If things work out in such a way that our winds veer around to the southeast, we could increasing amounts of vog arriving over the smaller islands then.

As for showers through the rest of this week, there will continue to be slight increases and decreases, picking up at night and diminishing during the days for the most part. The latest computer forecast models are still showing some possible weather changes arriving early next week. The first of those could be the arrival of volcanic haze carried over the smaller islands on the southeast winds. The second could be, and this isn't a sure thing yet, an increase in clouds and showers…perhaps on the southeast sides of the islands.

Here in Kula, Maui at 620pm HST, we had light breezes, with partly cloudy skies…and an air temperature of 67.6F degrees.  The main thing about today's weather turned out to be the strength of the trade winds, which arrived about a day earlier than expected.  High pressure to our north will keep these active trade winds around, remaining quite blustery over the next several days. These trade winds will carry showery clouds in our direction at times, although they should remain fairly limited for the most part.

I'm taking full advantage of the extra time that I'm finding in my daily schedule, now that I'm semi-retired. For the third time this week, I took the relatively short drive up into the Haleakala National Park this morning. I just love the peace and quiet that I find up there, and so much enjoy watching the weather too. I took a nice hike today, finding an unexpected bubbling spring. I layed down on the grass and just soaked in the warm sunshine, and the wonderful sound of the water. Yes, I even found a little time during the end of my several hours up there, to put my skateboard into action. There's always that chance of falling, as my Mom reminds me with compassion, but fortunately I have good balance! I guess some of us really love to ride bikes, swim, play tennis or golf, the main thing is that it's good to have something that we can turn to, that brings us exercise and good feelings at the same time! I'm already thinking ahead about after my work session in the morning, and after my fast 2.2 mile walk and breakfast…whether or not I'll head back up the mountain again! ~~~ I'll be back early Friday morning with your next new weather narrative. I have plans to take a few friends out to dinner Friday evening at Mama's Fish House in Kuau (near Paia town), which will be a great experience as usual. I hope you have a great Thursday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Extra:  I'm tracking the number of page views for this website, and continue to be happy with the results, as this evening's number shows 402,771…are we heading towards 1/2 a million here folks! At the same time, there have been 3,691 google ad clicks, which is good…as this is how I partly earn a few bucks for my time and effort at keeping Hawaii Weather Today updated each day. 

Last month there were a total of 388,252 page views, with 3,065 google ad clicks.  It's more than the numbers though, its that "I write and you read", that's the real beauty of this weather relationship that we have going on here! It's that you are interested in the weather too, just as I am, and we get the job done together so well.

I absolutely know that when the weather here in Hawaii is a big deal, going off so to speak, many more of you come looking for information…and when things settle down, like they are now, the numbers slim down. At any rate, thank you very much for making this website…at least one of your weather information sources! Aloha, Glenn.

Interesting:  A new study highlights the growing danger of respiratory disease as the Earth gets warmer. Higher temperatures, in and of itself, do not make a person more likely to come down with something like asthma, allergies, infections and the like.

The danger will come from the increase in ground level ozone in urban areas, higher particulate matter in drought-stricken areas, and the ranges of communicable diseases expanding into the higher latitudes.

Incidences of respiratory diseases may likely balloon during climate-change related events such as heat waves, bad air pollution days, and other extreme weather.

It is during these moments that vulnerable populations will need the most support. The paper was published in the Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society, a professional organization composed of pulmonologists, thoracic surgeons, and respiratory therapists.

The goal of the study is to help members of this organization know how to respond with their patients and communities.

"In these proceedings, we address such questions as how climate change may impact the distribution of respiratory disease worldwide, the impact of heat stress and adaptation, and how extreme heat affects the individual and the community," said Kent Pinkerton, professor of pediatrics at the UC Davis School of Medicine and director of the UC Davis Center for Health and the Environment. He was also a co-author of the paper.

"Since my research focuses on environmental air pollution and its impact on the respiratory system, my biggest concern has been with issues of air quality. These include more smoke and particulate matter from more wildfires, which are known to increase in frequency as the climate warms, and the presence of airborne particles from dust storms caused by desertification."

The paper also emphasized how strains of mold, bacteria, and vector-borne diseases will migrate to higher latitudes. It indicates that mold spores once only seen in Central America have been found in British Columbia, and infectious diseases common in the Mediterranean can now be found in Scandinavia.

The biggest concern is the outbreak of infectious respiratory diseases during or in the aftermath of an extreme weather event. For example, diseases can spread like wildfire among throngs of people displaced from their homes by hurricanes or floods. "Our greatest concern is infants, children, the elderly and other sensitive populations," he said. "They will be the first to experience serious climate change-related health problems."