Lowell Now in Central Pacific

Tropical Storm Lowell crossed in to the Central Pacific region very early this morning. The 5 am public advisory & warning cone showed Lowell just coming in to the region; it was about 1070 miles east-southeast of Hilo. At that time, Lowell had maximum sustained winds of about 50 mph & was moving westerly at about 15 mph. Lowell is expected to strengthen over the next couple of days & become a hurricane before it makes its closest approach early Thursday morning. But we just need to wait & see exactly what will happen; more on that later. 

The disturbance to the south-southwest of us is given a 30% chance of developing into a more organized depression over the next 7 days. Since its motion continues westerly it will likely not be a problem for us.

Karina is currently a Category 1 Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. It is expected to be entering the Central Pacific region on Friday. Currently, Karina has maximum sustained winds of about 80 mph & is moving west-northwesterly at about 9 mph. If Karina's westerly motion speeds up or Lowell's slows down or both, it could impact Lowell's strength. If Karina gets close enough it could take some of the energy from Lowell making it a weaker storm system. We will just have to wait & see.

Badlands Ranch

I have a monthly subscription for a dehydrated beef dog food for Moʻo from Badlands Ranch. I've had it for about 2 years now. I give her about a tablespoon with each meal to add nutrients her dried kibble might be missing. On Sunday I started getting emails saying they were unable to process my credit card; I got 3 emails that day. And another the next day, plus another on Wednesday. I did not contact them as they had asked.

08/23/26 @ 2:15 am. Why are you wanting me to respond when I am asleep?

08/23/26 @ 4:13 am. I am not ignoring you, I am still asleep!

08/23/26 @ 8:12 am. I am now ignoring you.

08/24/26 @ 2:20 am. Asleep, but will ignore you when I wake up.

08/26/26 @ 2:24 am. Still asleep, still going to ignore you when I wake up!

This same thing happened last year at about the same time; I wonder if it has something to do with the expiration month which is July. Last year the customer service rep was great, she checked a bunch of things & everything was correct; I got my order even though I did get more emails saying it was not able to process my card. It happened the next month & the next! I contacted Badlands Ranch each time. Finally the customer service rep said, they were not sure why it kept sending me emails saying something was wrong when nothing was, so just ignore the emails. And then the emails stopped coming; I thought they had fixed the problem. Not. When it started happening this time, I ignored the emails because the card expiration year is 2030 & everything they had in their system was correct; it should be working. I got this email today. (And yes, my dog is spoiled.)

Customer service rep was right; just ignore the other emails!

Neighbor Malia might be having some roof problems from Hurricane Lālā. There were 2 guys up on her roof today. They were there for an hour or so poking around & talking about things. I did not see them do any repairs, they were probably checking to figure out what the problem was & how to fix it. 

 

The Motek Bakery email about tomorrow's breakfast special says its going to be shakshuka! My favorite! There was a very nice photo. 

(Photo by Motek)

I am watching Episode 2 of Yuezhou Unusual News Record on Lingopie. It is an intermediate level video. What I like about Lingopie is that the video has the English subtitles but also has the Hanzi & Pinyin directly above the English. Scroll the cursor over the Hanzi which is then highlighted in orange & the specific English words it translates to pops up along with options to hear it said again (headset), to speak the word yourself (mic), or have a more detailed explanation for the word or phrase (light bulb).

When you click on light bulb, box on right appears.

I learned a bunch of new words on Duolingo today. My 1st session was just before I went to sleep, a little after midnight. I learned about using suggestion particles in regards to transportation. My 2nd session was when I woke up around 6 am; the theme seemed to be watching TV! How appropriate!  

Start of 2nd lesson of the day.

I serendipitously started watching 2 Korean TV series that turn out to have somewhat parallel but opposite themes. How can they be parallel & opposite at the same time? Well maybe those are not quite the right words to describe them, but I'll let you judge for yourself. Both involve time slips during an eclipse but in Bon Appétit, Your Majesty a modern Michelin level Korean chef is transported to Joseon era Korea & in My Royal Nemesis a Joseon era royal concubine is transported to modern day Korea. Both women are strong-willed & self-assured in their original lives & bring that with them & initially act that way but soon figure out they need to suppress that in order to navigate their new lives. Both women also interact with the tyrannical male head (of the country in Bon Appétit & of a very large business conglomerate in Royal Nemesis) & assist the male tyrants in retaining their power through the use of their strengths. And obviously there is romance involved in both. So I think the themes of these series are parallel but opposite. What do you think? (And yes, I am watching them at the same time, alternating episodes between the 2. Another way to exercise my brain.)

Tropical Storm Lowell is expected to enter the Central Pacific region some time late tonight or early tomorrow morning; it is currently about 1210 miles east-southeasterly of Hilo. It is also expected to increase in wind speed & become a hurricane; at 5 pm today it had maximum sustained winds of about 50 mph & is moving west-northwesterly at about 9 mph. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center area is keeping a close watch since it is unknown whether or how Hurricane Karina will affect it.

The window for Episode 55 of the eruption of Kīlauea has not yet been determined. Scientists are collecting more data to provide a more accurate prediction of when the next eruption will occur.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Diana! 

IASA #4-29

Emily's riding mower slid on wet lawn under puakenikeni, hit branch, slid more & dislodged Front Yard security cam; it still works.

 

August Is an Active Month

In an earlier post, I noted that historically August is the month with the most hurricanes in the Central Pacific. And there has been a lot of storm activity going on in the Pacific basin this year. Right now there are 3 disturbances that are tropical storms and 1 disturbance that may become a tropical depression. The disturbance to the south-southwest of us has a 30% chance of developing in to a tropical depression within the next 7 days as it moves west-northwesterly away from us; it is not likely to cause any problems for us. Likewise, Tropical Storm Karina, which is in the eastern Pacific, is likely to peter out before entering the Central Pacific basin & at this time is not seen as a threat. 

Tropical Storm Lowell is not yet in the Central Pacific region; it is about 1545 miles east-southeast of Hilo. Lowell has maximum sustained winds of 40 mph & is moving east-northeasterly at about 5 mph. It is expected to begin moving westerly on Saturday & may be entering the Central Pacific on Sunday. We shall have to watch what it does over the next few days.

Tropical Storm Lālā is slowly weakening & is expected to soon become a post-tropical depression. It is 650 miles north of Kure Atoll with maximum sustained winds of about 40 mph. Lālā is moving north-northwesterly at about 5 mph & expected to cross the International Date Line on Friday.

Grid Back On!

Mahalo e Hawaiian Electric Company! Power was restored at the house at 4:51 this evening according to the Powerwall data. Just after I had finished cooking dinner on the gas stove. And done so without using anything that was in the refrigerator or freezer. Yay! for hurricane emergency food! Works also for times when I want to maximize keeping foods that need refrigeration cold. Now, back to working on those posts that did not get published when Spectrum was out. FYI Over the past day I have been strongly considering switching to Starlink. More on that later. 

From Powerwall data.

 

 

Tropical Storm Moke May Be Here Now

Tropical Storm Moke did not arrive late last night or early this morning as previously predicted. It is still working its way towards us. At 5 this morning it was about 310 miles south of Hilo & moving westerly at about 15 mph. Maximum sustained winds were about 45 mph with tropical storm force winds extending out about 90 miles from the center. As I write this the winds have become very strong making me wonder if it is passing by us now.

Grid Out Again

Last night, at about 7 pm, the Tesla Powerwall system sent me a message saying the grid was out & the Powerwall was providing the energy for the house. Fortunately, Spectrum is still working so I can get information from the Powerwall. I immediately started turning things off because it also told me it was charged up to 24% & could sustain the house for approximately 4.4 hours. The priority is keeping power to the refrigerator, router, & server. So I will not be using the laptop & posts I was working on will be delayed. I should not complain though, since earlier this week some people were without power for 4 days & some are still without power. Hopefully, HECO will be able to get us all hooked up again soon. Or maybe the skies will clear up enough so that the Powerwall can start storing energy for me while the sun is shining. Like the last time, when I was only without power for about 5 hours. Stay tuned!