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

80  Lihue, Kauai
82  Honolulu, Oahu
83  Molokai
85  Kahului, Maui
83  Kona, Hawaii
82  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 830pm Thursday evening:

 

Kailua Kona – 78
Poipu, Kauai – 72


Haleakala Summit –   39 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 39 (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


http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/76/66/d5/7666d50c8366ef049ba39c64605a3ba0.jpg
Kalalau Beach, Na Pali coast…Kauai

Generally light southeasterly breezes…
locally stronger gusts – trades returning
later this weekend into the new week

Localized showers through today, especially
on Kauai and Oahu…then some windward
showers later  this weekend into early next
week – generally fair leeward sides

Flood Advisory…Kauai – until 745am







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

18  Mana, Kauai – SE
18  Makua Range, Oahu – SW
18  Molokai – E
12  Lanai – NE
29  Kahoolawe – E
17  Lipoa, Maui – ESE
22  South Point, Big Island – NE


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

0.21  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.39  Moanalua RG, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.10  Ulupalakua, Maui
0.39  Pahala, 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 breezes in most areas, southeasterlies for the most part…becoming trade winds this weekend.  Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. Here’s a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…centered on the Hawaiian Islands. ~~~ We find a dissipating low pressure system a distance west-northwest of Kauai. At the same time, we find troughs of low pressure to the west and southwest of the islands…and to the northeast of the Big Island. Meanwhile, we see high pressure systems well offshore to the northeast of the state. Winds will generally be on the light side from the southeast through Friday. It will take until this weekend before the trade winds return…continuing on into early next week.

Satellite imagery shows bright white, deep clouds to the north and west of Kauai…while the rest of the state is generally clear to partly cloudy at the time of this writing. The islands started off the day in a clear way, although was Kauai was right next door to an area of heavy showers over the offshore waters. These clouds are associated with an area of low pressure, and several troughs of low pressure…with some heavy rainfall involved. Here’s the looping radar image, showing a small area of moderate to heavy showers offshore to the northwest of Kauai…with a few light showers along the east and southeast sides of the Big Island. Looking at this larger satellite image, which is in the looping mode, we can see this rather impressive area of blossoming cumulus clouds offshore from Kauai. It appears that Kauai will have the best chance of receiving some of these showers today, with a few locally heavy ones in the mix.

We have another day or two of light-moderate winds, with off and on localized showers, before the returning trade winds focus most of our showers along the windward sides later this weekend…into the first half of next week. The heavy clouds to west and north of Kauai will keep the threat of showers over Kauai, which may eventually get to Oahu with time. As a low pressure system moves across the stateFriday, showers may spread across other parts of the state.  This trough of low pressure may prompt a few of these showers to become generous downpours here and there at times. As we move into the later weekend time frame, we’ll see the return of trade winds, with those windward showers, and generally fair weather along our leeward beaches….which should continue on into next week. I’ll be back with your next new weather narrative early Friday morning, I hope you have a great Thursday night 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 54.3F degrees at 6am on this Thursday morning. It’s still way too dark to see what’s going on out there, although according to the satellite and radar imagery above, and the stars that I see…I reckon that its mostly clear. I’ll check back in here as soon as the skies lighten up in a little while. It’s now 650am, and its clear, with just some middle level clouds well offshore to the north, which are lighting up a nice pink color at sunrise. Otherwise, it’s a lovely day, with an air temperature of 53.8 here at my place, with a relatively cool 65 degrees down at the Kahului airport at the same time. In contrast, it was a warmer 73 degrees at the Lihue airport on Kauai, with 71 at Honolulu…and 72 in Kona on the Big Island.

~~~ It’s just now into the early afternoon, at 1220pm here in Kula. It’s a warm 70.9 degrees, with clear to partly cloudy skies. There’s a very light amount of volcanic haze down in the Central Valley, although not enough to have it be a problem. It’s a bit breezy, enough of an air movement to have my wind chimes singing to me a little. A few minutes ago I was looking out of my weather tower windows, and saw a couple of small cumulus cloud turrets. They were just vertical enough to catch my eye, and told me that there is some colder air aloft over the state, which is what helps to get these towers rising. It wasn’t very pronounced, although perhaps enough to give a slight enhancement to whatever showers that might be around. I just got up and looked in another direction, and there were a few more of these minor types of towering cumulus clouds, over on the west slope of the Haleakala Crater. I’ll let you know if this develops further this afternoon, bringing some generous showers my way.

~~~ We’re into the early evening hours now, at 530pm HST, with cloudy skies, fog a short distance up the mountain from here…and an air temperature of 68.9 degrees. Just in the last half an hour or so, the clouds thickened, lowered, and became darker. Looking down the mountain from here, I can see lots of sunshine in the Central Valley. In contrast to up here, the Kahului airport near sea level, was reporting a much warmer 86 degrees…a few minutes ago! This is a good example of what elevation can do to temperature, as its only a 22 minute drive between the two locations. It was a nice day in general, and just a few showers fell anywhere in the state. According to this looping radar image, it looks as if some showers are trying to take aim on Kauai at the time of this writing…with hardly any elsewhere at the moment. I’m expecting that some showers will develop over the western islands tonight, or at least over the nearby offshore waters.



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: Tropical Cyclone 15S (Guito) remains active in the South Indian Ocean. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map…along with a NOAA satellite image.

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


Interesting: Trouble for Tea – Britain’s favorite tipple faces big challenges over coming decades, writes Ann-Marie Brouder. A new report sets out the challenges and proposes sustainable solutions to keep the ‘cup that cheers’ on the nation’s tables.


Tea is big business: three billion cups of it are consumed every day, 4.8 million tonnes are produced annually, and in Britain two in three people drink it daily.


And tea is much more than just a business – many people and cultures have a deep emotional attachment to the ‘cup that cheers’, and would be horrified at the idea that there was any threat to their beloved beverage.


Multiple threats for the future


But a new report on the future of tea by Forum for the Future shows that tea growers face multiple threats, from climate change to increasing competition for land in key tea-growing countries.


The main conclusion? Things could be very bad for our favorite hot drink by 2030 if we don’t take action now.


This is why we started Tea 2030, a coalition of leading companies and NGOs including Unilever, Yorkshire Tea, Ethical Tea Partnership, Tata Global Beverages and James Finlay.


Our aim is to better understand the challenges and prioritise the actions we need to take now for a successful future for the tea industry.


Spreading out the climate risks


So what are those challenges? Let’s start with the 4.8 million tonnes of tea produced annually. Most of this tea is sourced from Kenya, Malawi, India, Sri Lanka, China – some of the countries most vulnerable to climate change.


Because tea is grown in several countries, producers and packers have traditionally been able to shift their sourcing from one country to another; so if yields in Kenya, for example, are bad one year, more tea is sourced from Sri Lanka and vice versa.


But if all of these countries are vulnerable to climate change, and will increasingly be affected simultaneously as conditions worsen, where will the likes of Yorkshire Tea and Unilever turn to then?


Moreover the most immediate impacts of climate change for tea are going to be volatility of yields. Faced with several years of volatility, are tea producers going to continue to grow tea?