Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / July 11-12, 2012

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

Lihue, Kauai –                     82   
Honolulu airport, Oahu –      85
Kaneohe, Oahu –                 82
Molokai airport –                  84
Kahului airport, Maui –     87  (Record high temperature for Wednesday / 94 -1951)
Kona airport –                     84
Hilo airport, Hawaii –            82

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain top around the state…as of 5pm Wednesday evening:

Port Allen, Kauai – 82
Hilo, Hawaii – 78
 
Haleakala Summit –     M (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit –   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.  

 Aloha Paragraphs

Hawaii – Tropical cyclones  Emilia & Fabio – former Daniel

NHC official track – Emilia

NHC official track – Fabio

 
  Trade winds continue, just a few windward
showers…then increasing over the windward
side of the Big Island…some elsewhere

High surf advisory for the east shores of the Big Island…
generated by former tropical cyclone Daniel

Drier trade wind weather pattern returning this weekend

Additional information on tropical cyclones Emilia and Fabio below
 

As this weather map shows, we have high pressure systems spread out from the far northwest, through the north and northeast of the islands…with the tail-end of a cold front to the north of the state.  Our local winds will remain active from the trade wind direction through the next week…quickening late Thursday into Saturday morning as former tropical cyclone Daniel moves by south of the island chain.

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

25            Port Allen, Kauai – NE 
30            Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
32            Molokai – NE 
32            Kahoolawe – NE
33            Kahului, Maui – NE 
32            Lanai – NE
32            PTA Keamuku, Big Island – SE

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 Wednesday evening:
 
0.06               Kilohana, Kauai
0.13               Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.07               Molokai
0.00               Lanai
0.00               Kahoolawe
0.11               Puu Kukui, Maui
0.06               Saddle Quarry, Big Island  

                                        Sunset Commentary: 

Our typical trade wind weather pattern will prevail through tonight, breaking down during the day Thursday into the early part of the weekend…as (then former) tropical cyclone Daniel moves by to our south. The trade winds will continue, carrying some windward biased showers our way periodically…although beginning to increase early Thursday morning on the Big Island. These showers will be carried over the windward sides of the other islands during the day…locally over into leeward sides at times too. There will be a further change in our weather conditions starting Thursday night, with an added increase in showers, potentially quite generous along the windward sides of the Big Island and Maui into Friday night, as the primary northern fringe of tropical moisture, from former tropical cyclone Daniel…brushes the southern islands in the chain.

As this satellite image shows, we have fewer than the normal amount clouds upstream to the northeast of the islands this evening. These low level clouds will drop just a few showers along our windward sides as they arrive. There will be an increase in windward showers early Thursday morning…first on the Big Island. We can also see weakening tropical depression Daniel 800+ miles to the east-southeast of the Big Island. It likely won't be very long before the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu discontinues advisories on Daniel, perhaps later tonight or early Thursday morning. Here's a closer look at our islands using this satellite picture…so we can keep track whatever showery clouds are upstream of the islands, especially as we get into early Thursday morning. I'm going to add a looping radar image too, although there won't be much action for the time being.

Here in Kula, Maui at 515pm, it was partly cloudy…with an air temperature of 81F degrees. As noted above, our trade winds will continue blowing. These winds will remain moderately strong for the most part. They should accelerate Thursday night into the early part of the weekend. Meanwhile, the overall weather picture here in the islands remains quite typical for July…at the moment at least. These environmental conditions will remain in place until…what will then be former Daniel's influences arrive. Tropical cyclone Daniel continues moving westward in our central Pacific as a weakening tropical depression. High surf generated from tropical cyclone Daniel is forecast to arrive tonight in the islands…which has triggered a high surf advisory on the Big Island's east facing shores.

This weakening low pressure system, former Daniel, will likely prompt stronger trade winds over our islands by Thursday night as well. Here's a looping satellite image of tropical depression Daniel and hurricane Emilia…although Daniel on the left, will spin out of the picture soon. We'll be able to pick it up soon however by using this looping satellite image. Emilia is the stronger of these two systems by far, currently still being rated as a category 3 hurricane…with wind gusts reaching 138 mph at the time of this writing. We also continue to have a tropical disturbance that's trying very hard to become a tropical depression offshore from southern Mexico, with a high 100% chance of that happening soon too. There's more information about all of this just below.

~~~ I'll be back early Thursday morning with your next new weather narrative, and with more information about the tropical cyclones to our east-southeast as well.  I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

[World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Central Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Former tropical cyclone Daniel (4E) was given its final advisory at 5pm HST Wednesday evening. The remnant low pressure system will continue to move generally west across the central Pacific…to the south of the Hawaiian Islands. Here's a satellite image of this area, located to the east-southeast of our Hawaiian Islands. It has now become a post tropical low pressure system, thus losing most of its wind circulation to the southeast of the Big Island from now on out. There's a chance that the northern fringe of its tropical clouds and showers, from this now retired tropical cyclone…will move over the windward sides of Big Island tonight into Friday.

Eastern Pacific Ocean:  Hurricane Emilia (5E) remains active…located approximately 925 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California…with 115 mph sustained winds. This very strong category 3 major hurricane has had a period of strengthening through Wednesday night, although is still expected to gradually weaken throughout the remainder of its life cycle…as it moves in a general west-northwest direction. At this point it's forecast to drop back into the tropical storm category during the day Friday…while still well within the eastern Pacific. Here's the official NHC graphical track map. Here's the hurricane models for Emilia, showing this tropical cyclone moving south below the Hawaiian Islands eventually. Here's a satellite image showing hurricane Emilia in the eastern Pacific...along with newly formed TS Fabio.

The 6th tropical cyclone of the 2012 hurricane season has spun up early Thursday morning, called tropical storm Fabio (6E)…located 425 miles south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. Sustained winds were 40 mph, with hurricane force 74 mph winds expected to develop within 48 hours, as it moves in a more or less northwest direction away from the Mexican coast. Here's the official NHC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this area of the far eastern Pacific…not far to the east-southeast of hurricane Emilia. Here's the hurricane model output for this strengthening tropical storm, showing it staying close to Mexico…and heading generally towards Baja California.

Here's what the hurricane models are showing for what could soon become 6E…and then named tropical storm Fabio thereafter.

ELSEWHERE…TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Western Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

South Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

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

Interesting:  It is summer time in the US and, of course, it is warm. But how bad or good is it compared to the past and what bodes for the future? The average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during June was 71.2°F, which is 2.0°F above the 20th century average. The June temperatures contributed to a record-warm first half of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since record keeping began in 1895.

The nation, as a whole, experienced its tenth driest June on record, with a nationally-averaged precipitation total of 2.27 inches, 0.62 inch below average. It was not hotter everywhere. Based on preliminary data, temperatures in the Northeast averaged 65.4 degrees F, which was normal.

For the first time since October, mean temperatures in June were below average across most of the Southeast region. Rainfall varied significantly depending on where you lived. Overall the northeast was normal. With 176 percent of normal, Maine had it’s 4th wettest June in 118 years, while West Virginia experienced its 11 driest June since 1895.

Maine was one of four states with above normal rainfall totals – New Hampshire, New Jersey and Rhode Island were the other three. Departures in the dry states ranged from 62 percent of normal in West Virginia to 97 percent of normal in Connecticut and Vermont. It is in the west where local wild fires have been fueled by dry conditions where it is particularly hot and dry.

The largest temperature departures occurred in an area encompassing the panhandle of Nebraska, eastern Wyoming, eastern Colorado, and northwestern Kansas where the departures from normal temperature ranged from 6.0-10.0 degrees F above normal. The only areas in the Region to have lower than normal temperatures were northwest Wyoming and a few pockets of North Dakota.

The warm pattern caused many locations across the Region to be ranked in the top 10 warmest Junes on record. Colorado Springs, Colorado had its warmest June on record with an average temperature of 73.2 degrees F which was 8.1 degrees F above normal. Precipitation was significantly lacking in all but a few isolated areas of the High Plains Region this month.

Most of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas received less than 50 percent of normal precipitation. There were even large areas of the Region that received less than 5 percent of normal precipitation, including western and central Wyoming, northwest Colorado, and central Nebraska.

According to the U.S. Seasonal Drought outlook released on June 21st, drought conditions were expected to improve only in eastern North Dakota and the far northwest corner of South Dakota. Current areas of drought in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming were expected to persist, while drought was expected to develop in eastern Nebraska and southern South Dakota.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, as of July 3, 56% of the contiguous U.S. experienced drought conditions, marking the largest percentage of the nation experiencing drought conditions in the 12-year record of the U.S. Drought Monitor. Drought conditions improved across Florida, due to the rains from Tropical Storm Debby. Drought conditions worsened across much of the West, Central Plains, and the Ohio Valley, causing significant impacts on agriculture in those regions.

Now for a different point of view, consider Alaska where it has been wet and cold.