Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 84
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 88
Molokai airport – 85
Kahului airport, Maui – 86
Kona airport – 85
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 83
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 710pm Sunday evening:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 80
Molokai airport – 74
Haleakala Summit – 50 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 45 (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
Trade winds continuing, occasional passing showers,
mostly along the windward sections at night
Active, generally small surf along our south and west shores
As this weather map shows, we have a near 1028 millibar high pressure system located far to the northeast of the islands. At the same time, we find an early season cold front to the northwest of the islands, pushing a high pressure ridge closer to us over the next several days. Our local winds will remain locally gusty, although becoming lighter Monday and Tuesday…then potentially much lighter towards the middle of the new week for several days.
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Sunday evening:
18 Poipu, Kauai – NE
29 Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
24 Molokai – ENE
33 Kahoolawe – E
31 Lipoa, Maui – NE
33 Lanai – NE
25 South Point, Big Island – ENE
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 Sunday evening:
0.56 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.47 Punaluu Stream, Oahu
0.08 Molokai
0.01 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.36 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.36 Glenwood, Big Island
~~ Hawaii Sunset Commentary ~~
Our trade winds will remain active into the new week, although becoming lighter by Wednesday, and turning southeast…through Friday. We find a near 1028 millibar high pressure system (weather map), located far to the northeast of the islands Sunday evening. This high pressure cell will keep light to moderately strong trade winds blowing for the most part. There will be moisture arriving on the trade winds, bringing showers to the windward sides of the state, mostly during the night and early morning hours.
As we look at this satellite image, it shows clouds over the islands in places, although mostly clear over the offshore waters. We'll see the interior clouds evaporating after dark, while clouds will increase from the east, with localized showers falling along our windward sides into Monday morning.
Friday evening film: I went to see a film last evening that was called The Expendables 2, starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Liam Hemsworth, Chuck Norris, and Jean-Claude van Damme…among many others. The synopsis: the Expendables are back and this time it's personal… Barney Ross, Lee Christmas, Yin Yang, Gunnar Jensen, Toll Road and Hale Caesar — with newest members Billy the Kid and Maggie aboard — are reunited when Mr. Church enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time — six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that's nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother. That is done the Expendables way. ~~~ As you can see, this film includes all the heavy hitters from way back when. It certainly lived up well to all the violent action that the synopsis and trailers suggested, and perhaps a bit more than that. I was entertained, and that's all I was asking for, thus, I could give this film a B grade. In a certain way, and this may sound a little strange, but the word I'm coming up with here is endearing…which was one of the emotions that kept reappearing for me during the film. I think is was just something about watching all these old guys being so tough. Here's the trailer in case you are curious.
Saturday evening Film: Well, yep, two days in a row, and this time it will be to see the new film The Words, starring Bradley Cooper, Dennis Quaid, Jeremy Irons, Zoe Saldana, Olivia Wilde…among many others. The synopsis: Young writer Rory Jansen finally achieves long sought after literary success after publishing the next great American novel. There's only one catch – he didn't write it. As the past comes back to haunt him and his literary star continues to rise, Jansen is forced to confront the steep price that must be paid for stealing another man's work, and for placing ambition and success above life's most fundamental three words. A friend of mine on the mainland (Bob) recommended this one, and the trailer looked good too, so my neighbor and I went down to see this dramatic film in Kahului. ~~~ As I was sitting there right after the film stopped, the first thoughts that came to my mind were: I loved that film! I turned to my friend Jeff, and he said "somewhere between an A and an A-"…although this morning he changed that grade to an A. This film was wonderful, I don't care what any critic has to say. I particularly liked Jeremy Irons role. As for my grade, I agree with my neighbor, somewhere right between an A and an A-. Here's the trailer…see how it looks to you.
Here in Kula, Maui at 510pm Sunday evening, it was partly cloudy and calm…with an air temperature of 71.6F degrees. As noted above, our trade winds will continue to blow through Monday and Tuesday, with generally fine conditions. The computer models point out a change in our weather beginning during the middle of the new week. This change will entail an early season cold front pushing towards our islands from the northwest, although it's still too early in the season for it to arrive here in the islands. This frontal boundary will get close enough however, to push a high pressure ridge down closer to Hawaii in the process. This will cause our local winds to become lighter from the east to southeast. Afternoon showers will likely break out in the upcountry areas around the state…during this upcoming period of lighter winds Tuesday or Wednesday through the end of the work week. The Kauai end of the state will see the most of this wind veering action to the southeast, while the Big Island side of the state may still poke into the easterly trade wind flow. The trade winds will fill back into the entire state next weekend. I'll be back early Monday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise, I hope you have a great Sunday night wherever you're spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Extra: youtube video…outstanding dance piece!
World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea: Tropical storm Nadine (14L) is active about 585 miles southwest of the Azores. Sustained winds are 70 mph, moving east at 15 mph. Here's the NHC graphical track map for this tropical storm. Here's what the hurricane models are doing with TS Nadine. Here's a satellite image showing Nadine.
An area of disturbed weather remains active in the western tropical Atlantic, located about 150 miles east of the Northern Windward Islands. Environmental conditions aren't conducive for significant development at the moment…while this area moves west at 15 mph. The NHC is giving this area a low near 0% chance of developing into a tropical depression during the next 48 hours. Here's a satellite image showing this area, and tropical storm Nadine above.
Gulf of Mexico: A tropical disturbance remains active in the north central Gulf. It has a low near 0% chance of developing into a tropical depression within the next 48 hours. Here's a satellite image showing it, and the other disturbance in the far western Atlantic…and tropical storm Nadine as well. It will bring heavy rains along the Gulf coast over the next several days.
Eastern Pacific Ocean: Post-tropical cyclone Kristy (11E) is dissipating about 645 miles west-northwest of the southern tip of Baja California. Sustained winds are 35 mph, and it is moving north-northwest at 6 mph. Here's the NHC graphical track map. Here's a satellite image showing this post-tropical cyclone. There will be no threat to land areas throughout the remainder of Kristy's life cycle. – Final Advisory
Hurricane Lane (12E) is active about 1160 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. Sustained winds are 75 mph, and it is moving north-northwest at 10 mph. Here's the NHC graphical track map. Here's a satellite image showing this hurricane, and dissipating Kristy to the northeast of hurricane Lane…closer to the coast of Baja California. Here's what the hurricane models are showing for this system. There will be no threat to land areas throughout the remainder of this tropical cyclone's life cycle.
Central Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
Western Pacific Ocean: Tropical storm Sanba (17W) remains active…located about 10 miles northwest of Taegu, South Korea. Sustained winds are 45 knots, with gusts to near 55 knots. This tropical storm will move north…northeast across the South Korean Peninsula. Here's the JTWC graphical track map for Sanba…along with a satellite image of Sanba. The JTWC forecast calls for Sanba to weaken rather quickly now, moving inland over South Korea as a weakening tropical storm. Here's the looping radar image for Sanba as it crosses South Korea…with lots of heavy rains soaking the area ahead of the storms passage.
South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
North and South Indian Oceans: There are no active tropical cyclones
Interesting: How fast can glaciers and ice sheets expand and shrink in response to rapidly changing climatic conditions? It's a question that scientists have been pondering with particular interest of late, with Greenland's Peterman Glacier calving large amounts of ice two years in succession, and much of the island's surface ice melting earlier this summer.
Because abrupt climate changes have occurred, across various spatial and temporal scales, at several previous points in the planet's history, scientists can look for prehistorical clues, to see what happened then and thus infer what might happen in a warming 21st century.
A team of geologists has done just that, although it has looked for evidence not during previous warm spells, but by looking at two major cooling events in Earth's past. One, called the Younger Dryas period, began about 13,000 years ago and lasted more than a millennium. A second, less prosaically dubbed the 8.2 kiloyear event (because it occurred approximately 8,200 years ago), was less intense and was far shorter in duration – no more than 150 or so years.
In this week's journal Science, Nicolas Young of Columbia University and colleagues write that, by dating moraines – piles of rocks and debris that glaciers deposit while expanding – on Canada's Baffin Island, they found that glaciers had been significantly more expansive during those cold periods.
No surprise there, of course. What was interesting and seemingly counter-intuitive, however, was that those glaciers appeared to cover a larger area during the more recent, shorter-lived, and less intense cold spell than during the Younger Dryas period.
Interesting2: Since last year's accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant the country's commercial nuclear power plants have been undergoing safety inspections. This posed a major question to many Japanese people: Have nuclear or not have nuclear. Japan on Friday said it planned to phase out nuclear power over three decades in an apparent bow to public pressure after last year's Fukushima disaster, the worst atomic accident in a generation.
Tokyo's ambitious goal would see the nation work to cut its use of nuclear energy to zero by 2040, permanently shutting down a stable of reactors that once supplied resource-poor Japan with about one-third of its energy. This is a 30 year plan as opposed to many European nations that are trying to do in ten years.
Some serious nuclear and radiation accidents have occurred. Nuclear power plant accidents include the Chernobyl disaster (1986), Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (2011), the Three Mile Island accident (1979), and SL-1 accident (1961). There was a survey conducted in March 2012 among 3,000 Japanese voters showed 80 percent support the idea of ending nuclear power while 16 percent are opposed to it.
But 53 percent would allow idled nuclear reactors to be restarted as far as electricity demand required as a realistic short-term approach, said the survey that was conducted by the Japan Association for Public Opinion Research comprising major Japanese newspapers and broadcasters.
So there is a public pressure and desire to do something. The current move would bring Japan into line with Italy, Switzerland and Germany, which have said they will wean themselves off nuclear power by 2022. Ahead of a general election expected this autumn, nuclear energy has become a hot issue in Japan with protests that sometimes attract tens of thousands of people calling for it to be ditched.
The issuing of a policy goal is not binding on any future government, and a new administration could reverse the plan. What the European nations have found that an ambitious short time goal to phase out nuclear power is fraught with high economic costs that the consumer will have top pay. A longer term changeover allows the best use of what is already there while a gradual transition is made.
Tokyo's new energy policy calls for shutting down reactors that are more than 40 years old, not building any new nuclear reactors and only restarting existing reactors if they pass standards issued by a new regulatory agency.
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