Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday:
Lihue, Kauai – 83
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 85 (Record high for Thursday / 90 – 1979)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 81
Molokai airport – 83
Kahului airport, Maui – 85 (Record high for Thursday / 94 – 1951)
Kona airport – 83
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 81
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain top around the state…as of 5pm Thursday afternoon:
Honolulu, Oahu – 82
Hilo, Hawaii – 77
Mauna Kea – 41 (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 not always working correctly.
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
Artist Credit: Walfrido Garcia
The trade winds will remain active, then
increase a notch later this weekend…
lasting through all of next week
Just a few windward showers, and even
fewer than that in our leeward sections
As this weather map shows, we have a large near 1027 millibar high pressure system to the north of the islands. At the same time, a ridge of high pressure extends southwest from this high pressure cell…which is located to the northwest of the Aloha state. Our local winds will remain active from the trade wind direction through Saturday…blowing generally in the moderately strong category.
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Thursday evening:
28 Port Allen, Kauai – ENE
36 Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
31 Molokai – ENE
28 Kahoolawe – ENE
30 Kahului – NE
31 Lanai – NE
28 Kealakomo, Big Island – ENE
We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean. Here's the latest NOAA satellite picture – the latest looping satellite image…and finally the latest looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands.
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Thursday evening:
0.51 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.80 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.07 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.09 Puu Kukui, Maui
1.24 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
Sunset Commentary: Our trade winds will remain active, blowing in the moderately strong realms…with small day to day variations between now and Sunday morning. These common early summer trades will pick up a notch later Sunday into next week. As for showers, there will continue to be some, although they will be generally quite light along the windward sides. These showers will generally remain away from the leeward sides now, and continue to do so through the next several days…for the most part. As we get into later Sunday, our trade winds will surge a bit, and in the process bring an old cold front into our area. This now retired frontal boundary will take until next Monday to move through our island chain completely.
A friend has invited me out to dinner in Wailea Friday, my regular film viewing evening. So, I've decided to head down to Kahului this evening for see the new one called Prometheus, starring Noomi Rapace, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Charlize Theron, and Michael Fassbender…among many others. The synopsis: Ridley Scott, director of Alien and Blade Runner, returns to the genre he helped define. With Prometheus, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race. ~~~ I must say, this is one that I've been looking forward to seeing for a while, and no, not just because I really like Noomi…or even Charlize! I do like both of them very much, although ever since I saw the trailer for this one, I've been getting excited about seeing it. It came out a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to see it then, although I thought I'd let the crowds thin out a bit before taking it in. I'll have my response ready early Friday morning, although until then, here's a sneak peek. Oh by the way, this is not a light weight film, far from it!
Here in Kula, Maui at 525pm, it was partly cloudy, with near calm winds…and an air temperature of 73.8F degrees. As this satellite image shows, we have a few cloud chunks to the east of our windward sides…especially upwind of Maui County and the Big Island. We will find a few off and on passing showers along our windward sides, although not all that many for the time being. As I was mentioning this morning, I find it interesting to see that the computer models are suggesting that an old cold front will arrive over the islands during the upcoming later Sunday-Monday time frame. Cold fronts are more of a winter and spring phenomenon around here, and something that we aren't usually dealing with during our relatively dry summer season. I'll be discussing this more so tomorrow into the weekend…fine tuning its arrival. ~~~ I'll be back again early Friday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Thursday night wherever you're spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
[World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
Central Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 48 hours.
Eastern Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 48 hours.
Atlantic Ocean: Tropical storm Chris remains active in the Atlantic Ocean. It has 65 mph sustained winds, and was located about 540 miles east-southeast of Cape Race, New Foundland. Here's the NHC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this storm…well offshore to the east of the United States. Long looping satellite image of Chris.
A LARGE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM LOCATED JUST NORTH OF THE NORTHERN COAST OF THE YUCATAN PENINSULA IS PRODUCING AN EXTENSIVE AREA OF CLOUDINESS…SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS OVER MUCH OF THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN GULF OF MEXICO AND THE NORTHWESTERN CARIBBEAN SEA…AND ALSO OVER THE YUCATAN PENINSULA…WESTERN AND CENTRAL CUBA…SOUTHERN FLORIDA…AND THE NORTHWESTERN BAHAMAS. SATELLITE DATA AND SURFACE OBSERVATIONS INDICATE THAT THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS GRADUALLY BECOMING BETTER DEFINED AND SURFACE PRESSURES ARE SLOWLY FALLING ACROSS THE AREA. UPPER-LEVEL WINDS ARE ALSO IMPROVING AND ARE FORECAST TO BECOME MORE CONDUCIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF A TROPICAL DEPRESSION DURING THE NEXT DAY OR SO.
THIS SYSTEM HAS A HIGH CHANCE…70 PERCENT…OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS AS IT MOVES SLOWLY NORTHWARD INTO THE CENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO. INTERESTS ALONG THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES GULF COAST SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS LARGE DISTURBANCE THROUGH THE WEEKEND. HEAVY RAINS AND LOCALIZED FLOODING ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE YUCATAN PENINSULA…WESTERN CUBA…AND SOUTHERN FLORIDA THROUGH SATURDAY. AN AIR FORCE RESERVE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT IS SCHEDULED TO INVESTIGATE THE SYSTEM TOMORROW AFTERNOON…IF NECESSARY.
ELSEWHERE…TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.
Here is a graphical tropical weather outlook…showing Chris and this tropical disturbance
Western Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
South Indian Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
Interesting: As most people on Earth celebrate the Summer Solstice yesterday by enjoying a few extra minutes of sunlight, our fellow global brethren in the Southern Hemisphere celebrated their shortest day of the year. Typically the solstice is on June 21st, but 2012 was a leap year so it is one day before. For those poor unfortunate souls studying the ice in Antarctica, June 20th was the absolute darkest day of the year.
However, if you were to ask the team of British researchers working for the British Antarctic Survey, it was not such a gloomy day. For them and other nationalities at the south pole, it was holiday, started a hundred years ago by Captain Robert Falcon Scott. It was Midwinter's Day, and revelers celebrated the fact that from this point on, the nights will only be getting shorter.
Midwinter's Day, known as Midsummer's Day in the UK, is a strong tradition within the Antarctic community. It is akin to Christmas in Antarctica. The holiday that is currently Christmas began as the midwinter celebration of pagan peoples in Europe.
This does not fit will with folks on the southern hemisphere, as this is their midsummer day. During this time, scientists are usually working hard, as it is in the middle of their busiest season. So Christmas in Antarctica falls on the northern hemisphere's summer solstice.
Researchers take the day off if they can, share in a feast, and possibly have a few drinks. Most of the celebrations took place indoors as the outdoors was far too treacherous. Temperatures can plunge to as low as -30 degrees C and there are extremely high winds.
Add to that a bit of permanent darkness and the outdoor is not the place to be. At this time of year, the Antarctic researchers have not seen the sun in about a month. But it is at this point that the trend is reversed. The days grow longer, and the countdown is on to see the sun again. It will only take one more month. That is a real cause for celebration!
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