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

85 Lihue, Kauai
88 Honolulu, Oahu
84 Molokai
88 Kahului, Maui
87 Kailua Kona
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 510pm Friday evening (HST):

 

Honolulu, Oahu – 87
Hana airport, Maui
– 80


Haleakala Summit –   63 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 46 (13,000+ feet on the Big Island)


Hawaii’s MountainsHere’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://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/229/cache/news-fireworks_22906_600x450.jpg

Gusty trade winds…remaining active well into the future

There will be some passing showers along the windward sides,
mostly at night…just a few elsewhere around the state

Looping satellite image…showing clouds being carried along
by the trade wind breezes

Small Craft Wind Advisory
windiest areas southeast of
Oahu down through Maui County and the Big Island





The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph), along with directions…as of Friday evening


24  Port Allen, Kauai – ENE
35  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – NNE
24  Molokai – ENE
42  Lanai – NE
29  Kahoolawe – ENE
32  Kahului, Maui – NE

37  Kealakomo, Big Island – NE


Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Friday night (1145pm totals):


0.11  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.05  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.11  Hana airport, Maui
0.60  Kawainui Stream, 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 ~~~



Our local winds will remain rather strong and gusty…lasting through next week at least. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…focused on the Hawaiian Islands. We have moderately strong high pressure systems located to the northeast and northwest of the state.  At the same time we see the tail-end of a cold front breaking through the ridge of high pressure connecting these two high pressure cells. The models suggest that the trade winds will remain active, with no end in sight, generally in the moderately strong realms…locally stronger at times.

Satellite imagery shows high cirrus clouds coming up from the southwest…moving over the island chain.
Looking at this larger looping satellite image, it shows just a few low level clouds riding along in the trade wind flow from east to west. There’s a rather large area of high cirrus to our southwest coming up over the islands, which will be around again Saturday. These high clouds will dim and filter our Hawaiian sunshine, and keep our overnight temperatures warmer than they have been lately. They will likely give us some nice sunset and sunrise colors too. Here’s the looping radar, very few passing showers arriving over our islands at the time of this writing. 

There will be subtle changes in both wind speed and rainfall…although weather through this 4th of July holiday weekend will remain favorably inclined. The trade winds will increase a bit more today, lasting through the next week at least. As is often the case, most showers that grace our shores and slopes will occur during the night and early morning hours. The overlying atmosphere remains dry and stable, and becoming even more so, which will limit showers, especially through the weekend into Tuesday or so. There are those common patches of showery clouds upstream, which will bring some moisture our way periodically…although they will be few and far between. I’ll be back again Saturday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise, I hope you have a Friday 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 a 61 degrees at 555am on this Friday morning. Skies are clear overhead and down through our leeward sides, while the windward sides have some passing clouds and a few showers…which stretch over the West Maui Mountains as usual.

We’re into the early afternoon now at 1210pm, under very sunny skies, light breezes…and an air temperature of 79.9 degrees.

We’re just now poking into our very early evening hours at 505pm, under sunny skies with high cirrus clouds, light winds…and an air temperature of 83.3 degrees. I’ve been invited to a party this evening in Olinda…which I’m sure will be fun. There will be bbq’d stuff, and lots of other good things too. I was asked to bring something bubbly, so I’m bringing a magnum of champagne – wow I’ve never had one of these before!



World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


Atlantic Ocean: PostTropical Cyclone 01L (Arthur)
is now dissipating. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite image. Here’s what the hurricane models are showing for this post-tropical cyclone. – Final Advisory


Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

Caribbean Sea:
There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 5 days

Gulf of Mexico:
There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 5 days

Here’s a satellite image of the Caribbean Sea…and the Gulf of Mexico.

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

North Eastern Pacific: Post
Tropical Cyclone 04E (Douglas) is now dissipating. Here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite image. Here’s what the hurricane models are showing for this post-tropical cyclone. – Final Advisory


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:
No tropical cyclones are expected through the next two days


Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)


Northwest Pacific Ocean: Typhoon 08W (Neoguri) remains active, and will be strengthening over the next several days, becoming a major typhoon. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map…along with a satellite image.


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:  Ocean health depends more on whales than we thought Baleen and sperm whales, known collectively as the great whales, include the largest animals in the history of life on Earth. Though large in size, whales have long been considered too rare to make much of a difference in the ocean, and the focus of much marine ecological research has been on smaller organisms, such as algae and planktonic animals. While these small organisms are essential to life in the sea, they are not the whole story. As great whales recover from centuries of over hunting, scientists are beginning to appreciate their roles as ecosystem engineers of the ocean.


A recent synthesis, published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, evaluates decades of research on the ecological role of great whales. The authors, led by Joe Roman at the University of Vermont, suggest that the influence of these animals has been substantially undervalued because, until now, scientists have underestimated the degree to which the decline in whale population has altered marine ecosystems.


Commercial whaling dramatically reduced the abundance of great whales — by at least 66% and perhaps as high as 90%, according to some estimates — but recovery is possible, and potentially critical for ocean resiliency.


Among their many ecological functions, whales recycle nutrients and enhance primary productivity, locally and on a regional scale. Whales mix the water column, and after feeding at depth, release surface plumes of fecal material. This “whale pump” supplies iron and nitrogen – essentially fertilizers – to primary producers in the surface ocean. Further, the migrations of baleen whales between highly productive, high-latitude feeding and low-latitude calving grounds are among the longest annual movements of mammals. By fasting in these winter calving grounds near the equator, humpback whales, for example, release nitrogen in the form of urea into comparatively nutrient-poor areas — transporting nutrients nearly 10,000 kilometers on the “great whale conveyor belt.”


Sometimes, commercial fishermen have seen whales as competition. But this new paper summarizes a strong body of evidence that indicates the opposite can be true: whale recovery “could lead to higher rates of productivity in locations where whales aggregate to feed and give birth,” supporting more robust fisheries.