Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday:
82 Lihue, Kauai
83 Honolulu, Oahu
83 Molokai
88 Kahului, Maui
86 Kailua Kona
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 510pm Wednesday evening:
Kahului, Maui – 82
Hana airport, Maui - 77
Haleakala Summit – 61 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 46 (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.
Aloha Paragraphs
A very lovely beach on Kauai
Light breezes, continuing over the next several days…
making for rather muggy conditions near sea level
Localized showers will occur during the afternoon hours
over the interior sections, with a few showers falling here
and there elsewhere
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions…as of Wednesday evening:
15 Mana, Kauai – SE
16 Kii, Oahu – SE
21 Molokai – SE
15 Lanai – NW
27 Kahoolawe – NW
16 Hana, Maui – SE
25 South Point, Big Island – ENE
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Wednesday afternoon (245pm totals):
0.70 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.68 Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.16 Molokai
0.31 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.17 Kula 1, Maui
0.30 Waikoloa, 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 ~~~
Generally light southeast breezes continuing through later Saturday or Sunday. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…focused on the Hawaiian Islands. ~~~ We see a moderately strong, near 1028 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of our islands. It has a trailing ridge of high pressure located offshore to the north of Kauai. At the same time, we see a gale low pressure system to our northwest, with associated cold front…northwest of the state as well. Our local winds will remain light, although with moderately strong gusts locally, from the southeast in most cases for the time being. The longer range outlook calls for the return of our normal trade winds later this weekend into next week.
Satellite imagery shows patchy lower level clouds…with some clear skies around in places too. Looking at this larger satellite image, we see a counterclockwise rotating low pressure system to our northwest, with its active late season cold front…along with associated thunderstorms offshore to the northwest of Kauai. There are also stable looking lower level clouds moving over us on the south to southeasterly breezes as well. Here’s a looping radar image, showing generally light showers, most of which are over the islands. As the sun goes down, the offshore flowing land breezes will clear things out in most areas. Thursday morning should dawn clear to partly cloudy again, and be a little cooler than normal for this time of year.
Our ongoing placid weather pattern continues, with little change expected over the next several days. This is a modified convective weather pattern, with clear to partly cloudy mornings, giving way to afternoon clouds over the slopes…and a few showers. There’s still that chance that a few of these afternoon upcountry showers may become locally quite heavy here and there. Meanwhile, the latest model output continues to show a late season cold front approaching the islands Friday into the weekend. This in turn will help keep our light breezes in place…as well as bring an increase in showers to some parts of the state. At this point it looks like the front will bring showers to Kauai Saturday, Oahu Saturday evening…and perhaps even on to Maui County by Saturday night or Sunday morning. We should find a return to more normal trade winds early next week, which fits climatology much better than what we’re seeing this week. This week has been muggy and locally hazy, as the unusual southeast wind flow hangs on. I’ll be back many times during the day with more weather updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Wednesday wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Here on Maui, at the 3,100 foot elevation, at my upper Kula, Maui weather tower, the air temperature was 55.4 degrees at 605am on this Wednesday morning. Skies were generally clear to partly cloudy, and still a bit hazy too…part of which is associated with the early morning sugar cane fire in the central valley. As has been the case all this week, we continue to experience lighter than normal winds. This radar image shows more showers in our area than we’ve seen lately, which may bring showers to our islands…especially Oahu. Here on Maui, it’s a pleasant start to the day, with clouds over the windward sides, the West Maui Mountains, while the top of the Haleakala Crater down through Kihei and Wailea are clear.
It’s now 1220pm in the early afternoon here in Kula, under partly to mostly cloudy skies, light winds, and an air temperature of 73.6 degrees. There continues to be a certain amount of volcanic haze in our skies, along with quite a bit of sunshine down at our local beaches. I anticipate that this vog will be a part of our local weather conditions, pretty much statewide, through the next couple of days. It’s thickness will vary from day to day, but nonetheless still be a bother.
Climate Change information for the Hawaiian Islands / Climate Change for the United States – This National Climate Assessment released today…summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. A team of more than 300 experts guided by a 60-member Federal Advisory Committee produced the report, which was extensively reviewed by the public and experts, including federal agencies and a panel of the National Academy of Sciences.
~~~ Here’s a weather product that I produced for the Pacific Disaster Center this morning, which shows a tropical disturbance 400 miles south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico, which could potentially become the first tropical cyclone of the northeast Pacific hurricane season…actually before the season begins on May 15th. The National Hurricane Center is giving this disturbance a medium chance of developing.
World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
Atlantic Ocean: The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th.
Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary
Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean
Caribbean Sea:
Gulf of Mexico:
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: The Eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15th through November 30th. Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary
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: The Central Pacific hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th. Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary
Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)
North 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
Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)
Interesting: Scotland urging citizens to leave the car in the garage! – Scots are being encouraged to leave the car for journeys under two miles and enjoy the stress-relieving and health benefits of active travel, such as walking or cycling.
Minister for Environment and Climate Change Paul Wheelhouse has launched the second phase of the national Active Travel campaign, confirming a further £250,000 for local authorities to promote the initiative.
By using active methods of transport, such as walking, instead of the car for short journeys, Scots can help improve their health and well-being, save money, reduce carbon emissions and help make Scotland a cleaner and greener place to live.
In Scotland:
- One in three car journeys are under two miles
- Nearly a quarter of all trips are one mile or less
- Road transport accounts for 70 per cent of all transport emissions
- Short journeys cause more pollution – emissions are almost double for these journeys as vehicles use more fuel when the engine is cold.
The latest campaign will prompt commuters traveling short journeys to walk or cycle to and from work where practical. Walking to and from work can provide valuable thinking time and relieve stresses of the day.
To help Scots track their progress, the Greener Together ‘Journeys’ app can be downloaded to monitor distance traveled, calories burned, CO2 emissions saved and improvements in mood.