Weather Apps

[Obie]

That was a great fly by.

Mahalo for the heads up.

[HiloJulie]

Yes, Mahalo HOTPE & kalianna for the heads up!

We have a bunch of mainland visiting friends and family here with their kids. I am 50-50 at the amazement of the Space Station fly-by and that of about 10 pre-teen and teen kids - who dropped the iPhones/iPads and stood there - eyes and mouth wide open - in complete and total awe!

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

eyes and mouth wide open

Me too! I’m always blown away knowing there’s 6 people up there, flying across the sky 250 miles above Puna.

[kalianna]

AND I MISSED IT!! Nine times out of ten itʻs too cloudy. Tonight it was clear and I was in the midst of holy hell. Dang. Next time.

[TomK]

Until Google GenCast gets an app (or if it gets an app) does anyone have a Hawaii forecast model they can rely on?

I've yet to see one. For this island, especially Mauna Kea, we have the MKWC, which is obviously not an app (http://mkwc.ifa.hawaii.edu/forecast/mko/). You get some interesting forecast discussions there, but they are very poor at forecasting winds. I usually combine that site and the NWS state forecast (https://www.weather.gov/hfo/AFD) to make my mind up about things. The thing is, I suspect most apps rely on the NWS for forecasts rather than their staff or programmers, so right now, I don't see how apps can be more reliable or accurate when it comes to forecasts.

[TomK]

Me too.  For those who arenʻt weather geeks, enjoy this gorgeous weather while it lasts and batten down the hatches for next week.

Just curious, but what's forecast to happen next week that requires battening down the hatches?

[kalianna]

Poor Tom.  Let me explain.  Batten is defined as " a strip of wood or metal for securing the edges of a tarpaulin that covers a ship's hatch." And hatch can be defined as, "an opening in the deck of a boat or ship leading to the cabin or a lower level, especially a hold." Since most of us live on land rather than on ships, one could surmise that the statement could be a figure of speech, usually referring to an upcoming weather event; poetic license as it were.  Now since most of us live below 9000ʻ, one could reasonably eliminate snow as the said upcoming weather event.  And since hurricane season is over and tornados and haboobs are not generally found on this island one would surmise that the said upcoming weather event refers to rain.  Hence, "batten down the hatches" would probably mean that if one has a convertible and the top is down, one might want to move said convertible into the garage or put the top up, or generalizing, the statement would probably mean that an extended period of rain is coming.  I do hope this helps you to understand this terribly complicated concept.

[Obie]

I don't understand either. You batten down the hatches for a major storm.

I see a change from 30% chance of rain to 70%.

I see no need to batten anything down.

[kalianna]

Theyʻve backed off considerably from the initial forecast I commented on. Though admittedly, I am quick to batten. :-)

[HiloJulie]

I see that answering a simple question from certain posters make other posters think civility on PunaWeb is a one-way street.

Speaking of weather apps, I find it interesting that my iPhone weather app, when on the Verizon network, gives me current and forecast information I will call "version A," while the same app on the same iPhone when connected via wi-fi to our Hawaiian Telcom Fiber Network gives me "version B."