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

Lihue, Kauai –                        78
Honolulu airport, Oahu –         83
Molokai airport –                    79
Kahului airport, Maui –       85
Kona airport, Hawaii –        85
Hilo airport, Hawaii –             76

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 510pm Friday evening:

Kailua Kona – 81
Lihue, Kauai – 73

Haleakala Summit –   46      (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 36      (13,000+ 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 – if it’s working.

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.  The 2012 hurricane season is over in the eastern and central Pacific…resuming on May 15th and June 1st 2013.



Aloha Paragraphs

 


Fading trades…shifting to the southeast with localized vog

 

 

The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Friday evening:

20       Waimea Heights, Kauai – NE
27       Bellows, Oahu – NE
27       Molokai – E
42       Kahoolawe – NE
33       Kapalua, Maui – NE
28       Upolu airport, Big Island – NE

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

2.42     Mount Waialeale, Kauai
2.02     Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.39     Molokai
0.00     Kahoolawe
0.72     Puu Kukui, Maui
1.46     Pohakuloa Kipuka Alala, Big Island

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.


                                 ~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

The trade winds will give way to a muggy southeasterly flow this weekend…with returning trade winds next week. Here’s a weather chart showing a near 1036 millibar high pressure system, located far to the northeast of the islands. This high pressure cell has an associated ridge of high pressure extending to the north of the islands. The trades will stick around through tonight, and then shift to the southeast during the day Saturday, and perhaps locally south by Sunday near Kauai…as a new late season cold front approaches Hawaii. We will likely see another episode of vog during the weekend, until the trade winds return again during the new work week ahead.

Satellite imagery shows partly to mostly cloudy skies over the windward sides this evening, with showers falling locally. At the same time, we see an area of high cirrus clouds moving through the state as well. As the trade winds continue to blow over the islands through tonight…we’ll see off and on showers falling along our windward sides. Here’s the looping radar image, showing these showers along our windward sides. The leeward sides will remain mostly clear to partly cloudy…as generally dry weather prevails along those south and west facing beaches. As the winds falter Saturday and turn southeast, the interior sections of the islands will find clouds gathering during the afternoon, with some showers falling. Precipitation will be most notable over the Kauai end of the island chain, until the cold front arrives later Sunday into Monday.

We see a weather change coming our way this weekend…lasting into Monday or Tuesday. The trades will ease up Saturday, with south to southeast winds taking over…along with voggy weather again as well. This will be caused by the approach of a cold front, which will bring showers locally into Monday or Tuesday. Here’s a satellite picture of the approaching cold front to the northwest of the islands. The computer models are showing the front reaching both Kauai and Oahu. They go on to suggest that the front will make it down into the state as far as Maui County by Monday or so. If this holds true, the Big Island will be left out of front’s moisture area, although should see some showers at times anyway. It will take until almost the middle of the new week, before a solid trade wind flow returns, leading us back into a more normal trade wind weather pattern. I’ll be back Saturday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. ~~~ I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

 

Friday evening film: I’m meeting several friends down in Kahului for dinner, before we head over to the theater to see a newly released film, called Oblivion. This film stars Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Andrea Riseborough…among others. The synopsis: 2077: Jack Harper (Cruise) serves as a security repairmen stationed on an evacuated Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying alien threat who still scavenges what’s left of our planet, Jack’s mission is almost complete. In a matter of two weeks, he will join the remaining survivors on a lunar colony far from the war-torn world he has long called home.


Living in and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, Jack’s soaring existence is brought crashing down after he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Drawn to Jack through a connection that transcends logic, her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he thought he knew. With a reality that is shattered as he discovers shocking truths that connect him to Earth of the past, Jack will be pushed to a heroism he didn’t know he contained within. The fate of humanity now rests solely in the hands of a man who believed our world was soon to be lost forever. ~~~ I’ll give you my full impression tomorrow morning, along with the grades that my friends give as well. I’m a bit hesitant to go see this film on opening night, although I’m going along with my friends suggestion. Here’s the trailer for Oblivion, take a pick if you’d like.

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Gulf of Mexico:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Eastern Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Central Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Western Pacific Ocean:   There are no active tropical cyclones

South Pacific Ocean:   There are no active tropical cyclones

North and South Indian Oceans:  There are no active tropical cyclones