Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday:
81 Lihue, Kauai
85 Honolulu, Oahu
84 Molokai
85 Kahului, Maui
83 Kona, Hawaii
81 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 Thursday evening:
Kailua Kona – 79
Hilo, Hawaii – 75
Haleakala Summit – 46 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 34 (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. Here’s the Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui – if it’s working.
Aloha Paragraphs
Trade winds gradually turn lighter from the east-southeast and
southeast – becoming locally voggy
Clear to partly cloudy a few windward showers…along with a
few afternoon showers falling locally over the slopes with time
There’s a good chance of rains, or even a thunderstorm Sunday –
into early next week, first on Kauai and Oahu…then Maui
County and the Big Island around Monday and Tuesday
High Surf Advisory Friday…building northwest swell during the
day from Kauai to Oahu and down to Maui County
Geminid Meteor Shower – early Friday and Saturday mornings…
best times between moonset and dawn
Friday moonset ~351am – sunrise ~7am
Saturday moonset ~411am – sunrise ~701am
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Thursday evening:
13 Mana, Kauai -NW
21 Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
27 Molokai – E
27 Lanai – NE
37 Kahoolawe – ENE
25 Lipoa, Maui – E
24 South Point, Big Island – NE
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Thursday evening:
0.05 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.11 Maunawili, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.13 Hana airport, Maui
0.08 Pahoa, 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 ~~~
The current trade winds will gradually give way to lighter south to southeast breezes from Kauai down through Oahu…although may stick around on the Big Island and perhaps Maui a bit longer longer. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the Pacific Ocean. We find a couple of near 1027 millibar high pressure systems to the northeast of the state. At the same time we see a deep near 970 millibar storm low pressure system far to our north-northwest, with an associated cold front approaching to the northwest. As our trade winds swing around into the southeast direction…there will be volcanic haze (vog) being carried up over the smaller islands.
We’ll find a few showers along our windward sides…then shifting over to the leeward slopes during the afternoons…as the lighter wind flow arrives. Satellite imagery shows areas of low level clouds over and around the islands, and in most directions over the ocean as well. We see an area of bright white, high cirrus clouds now moving over the island chain too. These cirrus will filter and dim our moonshine tonight (perhaps the Geminid shooting stars too), and our sunshine on Friday. Here’s the looping radar image, showing showers falling over the windward sides of islands, the most active of which, at least at the time of this writing…were from the Big Island on up through Maui County to Oahu.
Our weather will be generally pleasant through Friday, with Saturday a transition day…leading to more noticeable changes late Saturday night into Sunday and Monday. As far as winds go, we’ll see a shift from the current trades, into a lighter wind regime, as they veer around to the southeast. This lighter wind period will pretty much end whatever windward shower activity we’ve been seeing, except over the windward sides of Maui County and the Big Island to Oahu at times. We’ll then begin to find afternoon cloud buildups, with a few showers around the mountains, and in the leeward upcountry areas into Saturday. Thereafter, the models are pointing out a change in our local weather conditions.
A frontal system is currently moving towards our area from the northwest, although will briefly stall before arriving on Saturday. As this stalled front gets a nudge from another new cold front to the northwest, it will finally progress down into the state later this weekend. This should bring rich tropical moisture over the state, along with a chance of thunderstorms into Monday. Thereafter, and considering the time of year, it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see another cold front advancing towards us by the middle of next week. Then again, the models are trying to push the trade winds back over us then…stay tuned. This outlook will need fine tuning as usual, which I’ll be doing diligently over the next several days. I’ll be back early Friday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Thursday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
Atlantic Ocean: The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th…and has now ended
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…and has now ended. 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…and has now ended. 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: Rodent Study Questions Common Understanding of Evolution – According to new research, studying the rodent family tree can shed some light on how species evolve after they move into a new area.
Conducted in part by researchers at Florida State University, the study of the evolutionary history of rodents calls into doubt a generally held understanding that when a species colonizes a new region, evolution leads to a dramatic increase in the number and variety of species.
“Biological diversification, or adaptive radiation, is generally thought to be the major explanation for diversification across all of life,” said Scott J. Steppan, a Florida State University professor of biological science. “One of the most fundamental questions in biology is why some groups of plants and animals have lots of species and others do not. To address this question, we developed the most comprehensive DNA-based family tree of the most evolutionally successful group of mammals — the muroid rodents.”
In the study, “Ecological Opportunity and Incumbency in the Diversification of Repeated Continental Colonizations by Muroid Rodents,” researchers used the phylogeny, or evolutionary family tree, of these rodents to test whether the adaptive radiation model of biological diversification actually is as common as presumed.
As part of the study, the researchers demonstrated that muroids have colonized continents at least 28 times. Muroids include most of the species used in biomedical research, such as mice, rats, hamsters and gerbils.
When a species first colonizes a new area with no close competitors, biologists would expect the rate at which new species are created to increase rapidly. Then, adaptation into new niches should make the descendent species very different from one another. Finally, as niches fill up, these first two processes should slow down.
“In this study, we discovered that contrary to expectations, colonizing even entire continents does not generally lead to a rapid adaptive radiation, thus calling into question this model as a general explanation about the diversity of life on Earth,” Steppan said.
The study is published in the journal Systematic Biology.
Email Glenn James: 
Toronto, Canada reader Says:
Hi there Glenn, I read your blog on a regular basis, your writing style is witty, keep up the good work! ~~~ Hi up there in Canada, thanks for your shout out. Aloha, Glenn
Susan Says:
Hi Glenn , Jack was commenting on how dry it’s been on his land in Pahoa and was wondering as well if his thermometer reading. 71 late in the evening was broken it seemed unusually warm to him. Will climate change lead to dryer north shores in the islands?~~~Hi Susan, good questions, and I’m afraid I don’t the answers. As for the 71 degrees, that could have been true, as the winds are starting to come up from the southeast now, bringing warmer and more humid air with it. Hopefully we’ll all get some much needed rain as this next cold front arrives during the weekend. Aloha, Glenn