Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday:

86  Lihue, Kauai
87  Honolulu, Oahu
85  Molokai
88  Kahului, Maui
87  Kona, Hawaii
83  Hilo, Hawaii


Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops on Maui and the Big Island…as of 343pm Saturday afternoon:


Kaneohe, Oahu – 88
Hilo, Hawaii – 82


Haleakala Summit –    M (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 50 (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.

 


Aloha Paragraphs



http://www.davesanders.biz/KAUAI%20END%20OF%20ISLAND.jpg

Our trade winds will remain active…with showers mostly along
windward sides – increasing Monday and Tuesday

Small Craft Wind Advisory…parts of Maui County and
the Big Island’s coastal and channel waters




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

24  Waimea Heights, Kauai – NE
36  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – NNE
35  Molokai – NE
42  Lanai – NE
36  Kahoolawe NE
36  Kaupo Gap, Maui – NE
44  Kohala Ranch, Big Island – NNE


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

0.35  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.19  Palisades, Oahu
0.13  Molokai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Lanai
0.17  Hana airport, Maui
0.47  Hilo airport, 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 be quite strong and gusty through Sunday…then becoming lighter going into the new week. Here’s a weather chart showing a near 1030 millibar high pressure center far to the north-northwest of the state.

There will be a windward showers…arrving tonight into early Sunday morning. Satellite imagery shows a band of low clouds over the ocean just to the east and northeast, which will arrive over our windward sides this evening. High cirrus clouds continue to move away from the the Big Island, with more visible out to the west and southwest as we head into the night. Here’s the looping radar image, showing light showers moving by, mostly over the offshore waters, arriving over the windward coasts and slopes locally. Showers will become more numerous along our windward sides again Monday and Tuesday…a few of which could be rather generous on the Kauai end of the island chain.


In sum: The trades have increased a touch, and will remain gusty through Sunday…then begin calming down Monday for few days. The NWS forecast office in Honolulu is keeping the small craft wind advisory alive over parts of Maui County and the Big Island…in order to address this quick paced trade wind flow. There will be showers falling along our windward sides, especially during the night and early morning hours. One area of high clouds continues shifting eastward…although it appears that another area of these icy high clouds are approaching the state to the west. As we push into the new work week ahead, our winds will drop a notch or two, along with an increase in showers…especially around the windward sides of the island chain. ~~~ I’m heading out to a party in Haiku with my neighbor Jeff, which will be interesting, as I don’t often go to these types of gatherings. I can only hope that there will be some dancing! I’ll be back again Sunday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Saturday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Friday evening film: This week I went to see a film that has garnered a low rating from the critics, although lots of viewers seem to have enjoyed sitting through it. It’s called The Chronicles of Riddick, starring Vin Diesel, Judi Dench, Karl Urban, Thandie Newton, Colm Feore, and Alexa Davalos…among others. The synopsis: Vin Diesel returns as the nocturnally gifted antihero Riddick in this sequel to the 2000 cult item Pitch Black. Riddick, on the run from the law and evading mercenaries eager to claim the price on his head, seeks refuge on the planet of Helion, only to discover he’s walked into a world in chaos. Helion has been seized by the Lord Marshall (Colm Feore), leader of the Necromongers, a race of blood-thirsty warriors determined to wipe out humanity throughout the universe. Aereon (Judi Dench), leader of Helion’s “elementals,” pleads with Riddick to join them in their fight for survival; Riddick agrees, hoping to fill out some of the blank chapters in his history along the way. As he plots his battle strategy against the Necromongers, Riddick becomes reacquainted with Kyra (Alexa Davalos), whom he knew as a girl but has since grown into a strong and beautiful woman eager to join him in the fight against the Lord Marshall.


This film is being billed as an action adventure, and a sci-fi fantasy. This kind of film will have all the rowdy trouble that one could possibly bring to the screen, pulling me into it as usual! Well, as I suspected, I was enthralled by this film, and ended up liking it quite a bit. It had all the necessary survivalist grind of the hero, coupled with the comical odds against him. This is a mean, testosterone-steeped sci-fi flick, which is over-the-top for the most part. I was solidly entertained by this B movie, and and feel comfortable giving it a soft B+ for its polished efforts. So there we have it, I sat through yet another thriller, packed with nerve jangling moments, which were ridiculous…and I was sitting there in the dark theater, enjoying the heck out of it!  Here’s the trailer, in case you have the slightest interest in viewing it.


World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


Atlantic Ocean: Tropical depression 11L is now active in the central Atlantic. Here’s a NHC graphical track map…along with a NOAA satellite image

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones





 


A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE LOCATED OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN CARIBBEAN SEA
IS PRODUCING A LARGE AREA OF DISORGANIZED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS. SLOW DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM IS POSSIBLE DURING
THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS WHILE IT MOVES SLOWLY NORTHWESTWARD...AND
THIS SYSTEM HAS A LOW CHANCE...10 PERCENT...OF BECOMING A TROPICAL
CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS. AFTER THAT TIME...CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED TO BE MORE CONDUCIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT WHEN THE SYSTEM MOVES
TOWARD THE NORTHWESTERN CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE SOUTHEASTERN GULF OF
MEXICO. THIS SYSTEM HAS A MEDIUM CHANCE...30 PERCENT...OF BECOMING
A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 5 DAYS.





Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones 

Here’s a satellite image of the Caribbean Sea…and the Gulf of Mexico. 

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) 

Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones



A WEAK AND ELONGATED AREA OF LOW PRESSURE LOCATED OFF OF THE
WEST-CENTRAL COAST OF MEXICO CONTINUES TO PRODUCE ONLY LIMITED
SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY.  ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED TO BECOME LESS CONDUCIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT DURING THE NEXT
COUPLE OF DAYS...AND THE POTENTIAL FOR TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION
APPEARS TO BE DECREASING.  THIS SYSTEM HAS A LOW CHANCE...NEAR
0 PERCENT...OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS
AND A LOW CHANCE...NEAR 0 PERCENT...OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE
DURING THE NEXT 5 DAYS WHILE MOVING GENERALLY WESTWARD AT 5 TO 10
MPH.



Here’s a satellite image showing this area just off the south coast of Mexico.





Here’s a wide satellite image that covers the entire area between Mexico, out through the central Pacific…to the International Dateline.



Central Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones



Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)



Western Pacific Ocean: Typhoon 20W (Wutip) remains active over the South China Sea. Here’s a JTWC graphical track map…along with a NOAA satellite image





South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones


 


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



Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC


Interesting: Earlier this week, the government of Norway pledged US$23.7 million to conserve and sustainably manage some of the world’s most important food crops, citing the critical need for crop diversity at a time when populations are soaring and climate change is threatening staples like rice and maize, according to the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT).





“In just 10 years we will have a billion more people at the global dinner table, but during that same time we could see climate change diminish rice production by 10 percent with a one-degree increase in temperature,” said Marie Haga, executive director of the GCDT. “Our best hedge against disaster is to make sure we have a wide array of food crops at our disposal to keep harvests healthy in the bread baskets of the world.”



Crop diversity, which is conserved in farmers’ fields and genebanks around the world, has dwindled as farmers have steadily cultivated a narrower range of crop varieties and as genebanks have suffered from insufficient funding. Meanwhile, a recent study of the 29 most important food crops revealed severe threats to over half of their wild relatives – species that can hold valuable traits for plant breeders.



Worldwide, agriculture depends on a relatively small number of crops; only about 150 are used on a significant scale. Individual crops, such as the 20,000 varieties of wheat, have different traits for drought or heat tolerance, nutritional quality, disease resistance, and other characteristics. Today, much of the world’s crop diversity is neither safely conserved nor readily available to scientists and farmers who rely on it to safeguard agricultural productivity, according to the GCDT. 

Limited crop diversity could prove dangerous in the context of climate change, as extreme and unpredictable weather events place unprecedented pressures on our ability to grow the food we need. Diversity is being lost, according to the GCDT, and with it the biological basis of our food supply.



The announcement of Norway’s new investment in crop diversity came at the opening of the fifth session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The meeting drew more than 450 participants from governments, science, and civil society to Muscat, Oman, where they discussed plans for sharing food crop varieties among farmers and plant breeders around the world.