As this weather map shows, we have a large near 1030 millibar high pressure system far to the north of the islands. Our local winds will continue to be from the trade wind direction…remaining locally strong and gusty into this new work week.
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Monday morning:
33 Lihue, Kauai – NE
31 Honolulu airport, Oahu – NE
32 Molokai – NE
30 Kahoolawe – NE
32 Kahului, Maui – NE
25 Lanai – NE
37 Puu Mali, 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 Monday morning:
0.16 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.06 St. Stephens, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.05 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.42 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
Sunrise Commentary: The strong and gusty trade winds will remain active through this new week. The NWS forecast office in Honolulu is keeping the small craft wind advisories over all those windiest coastal and channel waters again today. As this satellite image shows, there are considerable clouds over the windward sides already, with more to come. Those higher brighter white clouds a bit further to the east are associated with an upper level low pressure system…edging this way. This low pressure system has cold air aloft, which will act to enhance the incoming showery clouds. There may end up being some locally heavier showers than we've seen lately. There's a chance that one or two thunderstorms might get close to the Big Island later today into tonight. All of the islands will find an increase in showers, with the Big Island and perhaps Maui finding the most. This low pressure system will pass, although some remnant cold air above will keep somewhat more than the ordinary windward biased showers in the forecast through much of this week. The leeward sides will find some increased shower activity at times too. One more thing…all this cold air aloft just might cause snow to fall atop the summits on the Big Island later today or tonight. So, here's a webcam link to Mauna Kea, that near 14,000 foot summit on the Big Island, so we can keep an eye on it.
Yesterday afternoon I went with a couple of my neighbors to Ulupalakua, to see an outdoor jazz show at the winery. It was good, and I enjoyed the mellow nature of being out in that part of the island. Then, last evening those same neighbors and I saw an indie film called Winter Passing (2005), starring Ed Harris, Will Ferrell, Amy Madigan, Zooey Deschanel, Amelia Warner and Dallas Roberts. I found it to be a strangely moving experience, and actually liked it very much. The synopsis: money and emotions lead to a difficult reunion between a father and daughter in this drama. Reese Holden (Zooey Deschanel) is a struggling stage actress in New York City whose life has become an uphill struggle — her career isn't giving her satisfaction, her relationship with would-be rock star Ray (Dallas Roberts) is stuck in neutral, an affair with her friend Rob (Robert Beitzel) brings no excitement, and her colleague Deirdre (Deirdre O'Connell) simply doesn't understand her problems. Reese is also short on money, which is why she's willing to listen to a proposal from a publisher who wants to release a series of love letters that her mother, a well-known author who died years ago, wrote to her father, Don (Ed Harris), another respected novelist who has fallen out of the limelight but is said to be working on a final major work. Having accepted an advance for the collection, Reese pays a visit to Don in Michigan to get his OK for the project and collect the letters, but discovers two strangers have moved in with Don — Shelly (Amelia Warner), who studied under Don and has installed herself as his business manager, and Corbit (Will Ferrell), a neighborhood sad sack who helps with the housekeeping and runs errands for the reclusive writer. As Reese vies with Shelly for her father's attention, she struggles to come to terms with issues from her childhood and the dissatisfaction with her life. Winter Passing was written and directed by noted playwright Adam Rapp; it was his first feature film. ~~~ I give it a B+ rating, it was touching and edgy at the same time, and oh so wonderful to actually see something that wasn't an action flick for once! Here's the trailer for this film.
Here in Kula, Maui at 605am, it was clear, although the considerable clouds over on the windward side of east Maui, seemed to be heading this way…with an air temperature of 55.4F degrees. As noted above, there will be periods of passing windward showers well into the future, at least at times. By the way, I got up last night several times to check out the full moon, and of course the partial lunar eclipse. It was worth the effort, as the moon had a fuzzy 30% chunk taken out of the bottom of its bright disk. Our skies, at least here in Kula, were clear with the eclipse easy to see. Perhaps some of you were able to drag yourself out of bed to see it to? I'll be back many times during the day with more updates, I hope you have a great Monday 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 expected through late Saturday night.
Eastern Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones through the next 48 hours.
Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones through the next 48 hours.
Western Pacific Ocean: The Joint Typhoon Center Center (JTWC) is maintaining warnings on tropical cyclone Mawar (04W)
Indian Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones.
Interesting: On June 5th, 2012, Venus will pass across the face of the sun, producing a silhouette that no one alive today will likely see again. Transits of Venus are very rare, coming in pairs separated by more than a hundred years. This June's transit, the bookend of a 2004-2012 pair, won't be repeated until the year 2117. Fortunately, the event is widely visible. Observers on seven continents, even a sliver of Antarctica, will be in position to observe it.
The nearly 7-hour transit begins at 3:09 pm Pacific Daylight Time (22:09 UT – 12:09pm HST) on June 5th. The timing favors observers in the mid-Pacific where the sun is high overhead during the crossing. In the USA, the transit will be at its best around sunset. That's good, too. Creative photographers will have a field day imaging the swollen red sun "punctured" by the circular disk of Venus.
Observing tip: Do not stare at the sun. Venus covers too little of the solar disk to block the blinding glare. Instead, use some type of projection technique or a solar filter. A #14 welder's glass is a good choice. Many astronomy clubs will have solar telescopes set up to observe the event; contact your local club for details.
Transits of Venus first gained worldwide attention in the 18th century. In those days, the size of the solar system was one of the biggest mysteries of science. The relative spacing of planets was known, but not their absolute distances. How many miles would you have to travel to reach another world? The answer was as mysterious then as the nature of dark energy is now.
Venus was the key, according to astronomer Edmund Halley. He realized that by observing transits from widely-spaced locations on Earth it should be possible to triangulate the distance to Venus using the principles of parallax. The idea galvanized scientists who set off on expeditions around the world to view a pair of transits in the 1760s.
The great explorer James Cook himself was dispatched to observe one from Tahiti, a place as alien to 18th-century Europeans as the Moon or Mars might seem to us now. Some historians have called the international effort the "the Apollo program of the 18th century." In retrospect, the experiment falls into the category of things that sound better than they actually are.
Bad weather, primitive optics, and the natural "fuzziness" of Venus's atmosphere and other factors prevented those early observers from gathering the data they needed. Proper timing of a transit would have to wait for the invention of photography in the century after Cook's voyage. In the late 1800s, astronomers armed with cameras finally measured the size of the Solar System as Edmund Halley had suggested.
This year's transit is the second of an 8-year pair. Anticipation was high in June 2004 as Venus approached the sun. No one alive at the time had seen a Transit of Venus with their own eyes, and the hand-drawn sketches and grainy photos of previous centuries scarcely prepared them for what was about to happen. Modern solar telescopes captured unprecedented view of Venus's atmosphere backlit by solar fire.
They saw Venus transiting the sun's ghostly corona, and gliding past magnetic filaments big enough to swallow the planet whole. 2012 should be even better as cameras and solar telescopes have improved. Moreover, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is going to be watching too. SDO will produce Hubble-quality images of this rare event.
