Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / March 20-21, 2015

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday…along with the minimum temperatures Friday:

80 – 70  Lihue, Kauai
84 – 69  Honolulu, Oahu
78 – 67  Molokai AP
82 – 69  Kahului, Maui
83 – 67  Kailua Kona
83 – 64  Hilo, Hawaii

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

4.89  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.35  Makaha Stream, Oahu
2.76  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.22  Kahoolawe
0.44  Hana airport, Maui
0.61  Kapapala Ranch, Big Island

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Friday evening:

24  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
28  Makua Range – NE
24  Molokai – ENE
37  Lanai – NE
27  Kahoolawe – NNE
31  Kapalua, Maui – NNE
31  Kealakomo, Big Island – E

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.

Aloha Paragraphs



Storms moving by well north and northeast of the
state…with an area of high clouds to the southwest
just missing the southern islands


A mix of patchy low clouds with clear areas…and that
area of cirrus clouds to the south

Showers falling mostly over the nearby ocean…passing
actively along the windward sides locally

Here’s the looping radar image for the
Hawaiian Islands

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

The Mauna Kea Summit…on the Big Island of Hawaii

Small Craft Wind Advisory…Maalaea Bay, Pailolo Channel,
Alenuihaha  Channel, Big Island leeward waters and
southeast waters – in addition to Kauai northwest and
windward and leeward waters, and the Kauai Channel
and Oahu’s windward waters

High Surf Advisory…for north and west facing shores of
Kauai, and north shores of Oahu, Molokai and Maui

Locally strong and gusty trade winds through the weekend…then becoming lighter early next week. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profiler of the central Pacific. We find high pressure systems to the east-northeast and west-northwest…with an associated ridge over the ocean to the north of the islands. At the same time, we have numerous low pressure systems well to the northeast, north and northwest of the islands. As a result of this pressure pattern, we’ll find steady trade winds, locally gusting between 30-40 mph lasting through the weekend. The trade wind flow will slack-off as another late season cold front approaches the state from the northwest early next week.

Cloudy periods and some showers over the windward sides…generally pretty nice along our leeward beaches. Residual moisture from the recent dissipating cold front will keep a few windward biased showers over the islands for the time being…particularly on the Kauai side of the state.  The Big Island and Maui County will see some showers arriving along the windward sides too, especially at times through Saturday. A new cold front will approach the state after the weekend, which is why our trade winds will take a hit in strength into mid-week. This front may act a lot like the most recent one, potentially giving generous showers to Kauai, with much less elsewhere concentrating on Tuesday. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui: The skies are mostly clear over Maui early this morning, with just a few very minor windward showers falling locally. The low temperature was 51 degrees here at my Kula weather tower at 540am, while it was a warmer 71 degrees down at the Kahului airport, 66 at the Hana airport, 54 degrees at Kaupo Gap, and 45 degrees atop the Haleakala Crater at the same time. The warmest low temperature around the state was 73 degrees at Kailua Kona.

~~~ It’s now 1245pm on this Friday afternoon, under partly cloudy skies in general. Here in upcountry Kula, it’s mostly cloudy, with light winds, no rain, and a warm air temperature of 76 degrees.

~~~ We’re into the early evening hours now at 530pm, under partly to mostly cloudy skies, with brisk trade winds locally. Looking over towards the windward side of Maui, from here in Kula, it looks showery. I anticipate that showers will fall in an off and on manner through the night, and likely into Saturday as well. The leeward sides of Maui will probably miss most of these showers, which is often the case when the trade winds are blowing. They are rather strong however, so there is that chance that a few may sneak over in that direction tonight.

Friday Evening Film: I’m on my own this evening, as my other friends that I usually go with, are busy doing other things. I looked at a couple of films that I thought would be good, although since it was opening night for both…I passed. There was one that I was going to skip, although it was one of the only ones left that vaguely appealed to me. It’s called Run All Night, starring Liam Neeson, Ed Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Genesis Rodriguez, Common, Bruce McGill, and Patricia Kalember…among many others. The synopsis: Liam Neeson reunites with Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra, for this Warner Bros. thriller following a mob hit-man and his estranged son (Joel Kinnaman), as they flee the wrath of a vengeful crime boss.  ~~~  This film turned out to be better than I thought it was going to be, and more gnarly than I thought it was going to be too. The critics were quite generous with their praise, and as it turned out, every seat in the theater was taken. It certainly wasn’t a film for the faint of heart, as it was a true shoot-em-up piece of work! I’d say that for how the film was billed, and the good acting throughout, it lived up to its reputation respectably. As for a rating, I’m going to be somewhat generous, and lay a B+ grade on it. Here’s the rough trailer for this mystery and suspense thriller.

>>> Atlantic Ocean: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

>>> Gulf of Mexico: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

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

>>> Eastern Pacific: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 North Pacific hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

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

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

>>> Central Pacific: The central north Pacific hurricane season has officially ended. Routine issuance of the tropical weather outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, special tropical weather outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

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

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> South Pacific Ocean: Tropical Cyclone 18P (Nathan) remains active in the Coral Sea, near Queensland, Australia, here’s the JTWC graphical track map…along with the NOAA satellite image

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

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

Interesting:  Canadian Grocer to Sell “Ugly” Fruit – If you have traveled to regions such as the Balkans, India or rural Latin America, the appearance of misshapen fruit and vegetables everywhere would have hardly surprised you; and of course, they are delicious. But shopping trends on both side of the Atlantic have led consumers to believe fruit should be uniform in color and shape.

One reason why food waste in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom hovers around 40 percent is because misshapen or “ugly” fruit is tossed into the refuse bin. Some retailers have tried to stop this trend, but consumer habits and marketing strategies die hard. Now a Canadian grocer, Loblaw, is selling misshapen produce at some of its outlets in Ontario and Quebec.

The company will sell the produce, starting with apples and potatoes, under its generic “no name” moniker.

Like many food companies, Loblaw first tried to deal with misshapen fruit by processing it into juice, sauces or soups. But those tactics can only go so far, and if you’ve watched any supermarket employee in action at a produce section, those oddly shaped fruits or vegetables often get tossed aside.

Instead of throwing such produce away, Loblaw will sell it at a discount. The company says it will sell the apples and potatoes at a price 30 percent lower than similar fruit without blemishes or odd curves. In a press statement, Ian Gordon, a vice president of Loblaw Companies, said: “We often focus too much on the look of produce rather than the taste. Once you peel or cut an apple you can’t tell it once had a blemish or was misshapen.”

More consumer education and genuine efforts will be needed from food retailers if programs like this will scale and become successful. According to a United Kingdom nonprofit, Waste & Resources Action Program (WRAP), food waste is costing countries across the world US$400 billion annually. If this trajectory does not stop, the growing global middle class could cause that figure to increase by another US$200 billion by 2030. Instead of developing new farmland in pristine regions of Africa or South America, or fantasizing about uber cool-looking vertical urban farms in San Francisco or Brooklyn, plenty can be done to stop food waste across the entire supply chain.

Waste diversion programs are a start, but a campaign like Loblaw’s will take some effort. When “ugly fruit” was sold at a French retail chain, Intermarché, the company watched them fly off the shelves — but had to make smoothies and soups with them first to convince customers that they were just as good.