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

77  Lihue, Kauai
80  Honolulu, Oahu
76  Molokai
82  Kahului, Maui
78  Kona, Hawaii
84  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 743pm Wednesday evening:

 

Hilo, Hawaii – 74
Poipu, Kauai – 64


Haleakala Summit –   32 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 21 (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


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Very large dangerous surf breaking in the Hawaiian Islands!

A giant northwest swell will continue into Thursday…followed
by more big waves this weekend

A cold front brought a quick bout of heavy showers to the
state…which is being followed by cool northwest breezes –
with dry and generally fine weather into the weekend

There’s a chance we’ll see another period of showers
with the next cold front early Sunday, followed by
another round of cool northerly breezes next Monday,
in the wake of the front 

Small Craft Advisory...coastal and channel waters

High Wind Warning…Big Island summits

High Surf Warning…north and west shores of Kauai –
north shores of Oahu, Molokai, and Maui – west shores
of Oahu, Molokai and west shores of the Big Island

High Surf Advisory…north shores of the Big Island





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

29  Port Allen, Kauai – NW
44  Waianae Harbor, Oahu – NW
38  Molokai – NW
38  Lanai – NW
42  Kahoolawe – NW
35  Kapalua, Maui – NW
32  South Point, Big Island – NW


Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Wednesday evening (545pm totals):

3.21  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.94  St. Stephens, Oahu
1.83  Molokai
0.61  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
5.81  Kaupo Gap, Maui
2.64  Kahua Ranch, 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 ~~~



Our winds will be locally strong and gusty from the northwest, in the wake of the cold front…that moved through the state today. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. ~~~ We find a deep near 961 millibar storm low pressure system far to our north, with its associated cold front near the Big Island. This storm low had hurricane force winds wrapping around its southwest side, which generated a very large northwest swell in our direction, which will last into Thursday. At the same time, we have a high pressure system to the west, with an associated ridge extending southeast…ending over the ocean to the southwest of Kauai. Finally, we have another high pressure ridge over the ocean to the south of the Big Island as well. This will keep northwest to northerly breezes over us for the next few days…cool breezes.

Satellite imagery shows the back edge of the cold front over the Big Island…as it continues moving southeast. There are cloudy conditions over the Big Island, while clearing has occurred over Kauai, Oahu…and the Maui County islands too. This clearing, along with drier area flooding into our area from the northwest, will bring chilly weather our way. Here’s the looping radar image, showing this showery frontal cloud band moving over the ocean to the east and southeast of the Big Island…with hardly any showers in its wake.. Looking at this larger satellite image, which is in the looping mode, we can see this cold front advancing away from the state…which will end up over the ocean to the east and southeast of the Big Island by this evening into Thursday.

The parent storm low pressure system of this cold front, has sent us a very large high surf event…which is causing some problems along our north and west facing beaches. The largest of these waves have reached 20-25 feet, which translates to the faces of these breaking waves being 40-50 feet on our north shores! The west facing beaches have had 10-15 footers, which translates to 20-30 foot wave faces. This extra large winter swell will continue into Thursday, requiring great caution when getting near the ocean on our north and west facing shores! There have been numerous road closures on Kauai and Oahu today, with waves rolling well inland along those effected shorelines. The south and east facing beaches will find continued waves as well…although considerably smaller.

Meanwhile, looking ahead into Thursday and the weekend, we’ll see generally fine weather…although with slightly cooler than normal weather conditions prevailing. We will likely see the next cold front arriving early Sunday into next Monday, bringing another round of showers to the state. This next front may not be quite as rainy, although will bring more of those cool northerly breezes in its wake. ~~~ I’ll be back again early Thursday morning with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.



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)


Western 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: Natural sugar batteries could be running world’s gadgets within 3 years – Scientists have developed a high-energy battery that runs on sugar and could be powering the world’s gadgets within just three years.


Researchers believe the new cheaper, refillable and biodegradable battery could soon replace conventional batteries.


The findings from Y.H. Percival Zhang, an associate professor of biological systems engineering at Virginia Tech, were released today.


While other sugar batteries have been developed, this one has an energy density an order of magnitude higher than others, allowing it to run longer before needing to be refuelled, Zhang said.


In as soon as three years, Zhang’s new battery could be running some of the cell phones, tablets, video games, and the myriad other electronic gadgets that require power in our energy-hungry world.


“Sugar is a perfect energy storage compound in nature,” Zhang said. “So it’s only logical that we try to harness this natural power in an environmentally friendly way to produce a battery.”


In America alone, billions of toxic batteries are thrown away every year, posing a threat to both the environment and human health, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Zhang’s development could help keep hundreds of thousands of tons of batteries from ending up in landfills.


This is one of Zhang’s many successes in the last year that utilize a series of enzymes mixed together in combinations not found in nature. He has published articles on creating edible starch from non-food plants and developed a new way to extract hydrogen in an economical and environmentally friendly way that can be used to power vehicles.


In this newest development, Zhang and his colleagues constructed a non-natural synthetic enzymatic pathway that strip all charge potentials from the sugar to generate electricity in an enzymatic fuel cell. Then, low-cost biocatalyst enzymes are used as catalyst instead of costly platinum, which is typically used in conventional batteries.


Like all fuel cells, the sugar battery combines fuel – in this case, maltodextrin, a polysaccharide made from partial hydrolysis of starch – with air to generate electricity and water as the main byproducts.


“We are releasing all electron charges stored in the sugar solution slowly step-by-step by using an enzyme cascade,” Zhang said.


Different from hydrogen fuel cells and direct methanol fuel cells, the fuel sugar solution is neither explosive nor flammable and has a higher energy storage density. The enzymes and fuels used to build the device are biodegradable.