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

87  Lihue, Kauai
87  Honolulu, Oahu
87  Molokai
90  Kahului, Maui – the record highest temperature was 93…back in 1961 and 1997
88  Kailua Kona
86  Hilo, Hawaii

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Tuesday evening:

1.02  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.60  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.06  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.84  Hana airport, Maui
1.46  Waiakea Uka, Big Island

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Tuesday evening:

18  Port Allen, Kauai
22  Kahuku Trng, Oahu
25  Molokai
24  Lanai
38  Kahoolawe
29  Kahului AP, Maui
28  Upolu AP, 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.



Aloha Paragraphs




http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/tpac/ir4-animated.gif


http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg


http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif

We find light to moderately heavy showers falling over the
ocean to the south…and over those islands locally


The trade winds will soften for several days – then become
locally very strong and blustery…as hurricane Ana arrives
this weekend


http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/tc_graphics/2014/graphics/CP022014W.gif

Tropical storm Ana to the southeast of the islands is approaching
Hawaii…becoming a category 1 hurricane today

 Webcam view…Big Island summits / recent snows



~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~




Trade winds will become softer today for several days, then potentially much stronger…as (what will then be) hurricane Ana moves into the state this weekend. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profiler of the central Pacific. We find a high pressure cell to the north, moving southeast…which will cause a lighter trade wind flow across our area through Friday. There’s the tail-end of a cold front/trough stretching westward into the area north of Hawaii. Finally, there’s a strong tropical storm named Ana located over the ocean to the southeast…which is forecast to move over or close to our islands this weekend. As what will then be hurricane Ana moves into the state, our winds are liable to become very strong and blustery Saturday and Sunday!
Satellite imagery shows clear to partly cloudy skies over most of the state. Looking at this larger looping satellite image, it shows areas of thunderstorms and heavy showers over the offshore waters to our west and southwest of Kauai. Further from the islands, to the southeast, we see tropical storm 02C (Ana)…which has a counter-clockwise spin to it. Meanwhile, the radar image above shows showers falling over the ocean, and over the islands in a few places too. Tropical Storm 02C (Ana) may bring heavy rains and blustery winds to Hawaii, as a hurricane this weekend…stay tuned. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Tuesday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.


~~~ Tropical Storm Ana formed here in the north central Pacific, thus it took on a Hawaiian name. This tropical cyclone has been steadily intensifying, and is expected to become a hurricane at some point today. It’s expected to peak at the category 1 level, with sustained winds of 92 mph…and higher gusts to near 115 mph. This storm is forecast to top-out in strength at some point Thursday into Friday. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) official forecast track has what will then be a hurricane, clipping the South Point area of the Big Island, then sweeping northwest just to the south of Maui County…before clipping the western tip of Oahu…on towards the north shore of Kauai. This track will likely change a little each day as it continues to get closer Friday night into early Saturday morning. Additionally, the storms interaction with the islands should cause some weakening…as it moves up the chain. If this current track, or even one similar to it occurs, some parts of the Hawaiian Island chain will experience hurricane force winds, rough surf, and flooding rainfall. It’s not too early to begin thinking about what needs to be done on your property, like securing loose objects, such as lawn furniture and plants…among other things. It’s time to take this upcoming threat seriously, and to certainly keep a very close eye on Ana’s progress in our direction!


World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


>>> Atlantic Ocean:  Hurricane 08L (Gonzalo) remains active, located approximately 640 miles south-southwest of Bermuda…with sustained winds of near 130 mph…with higher gusts. Here’s a graphical track map…along with a satellite image – and what the computer models are showing

 
A broad area of low pressure located about 1100 miles east of
the Lesser Antilles continues to produce a large area of showers and
thunderstorms to the east of the center.  Strong upper-level winds
should limit significant development of this system while it
moves generally northward over the central tropical Atlantic.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...10 percent 
* Formation chance through 5 days...low...20 percent


Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones


>>> Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones


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

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

 
Showers and thunderstorms have increased a little in association
with a broad and ill-defined area of low pressure located a few
hundred miles south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec.  Environmental
conditions are somewhat conducive for gradual development, and
a tropical depression could form within this system over the
next few days.  Regardless of whether or not a tropical cyclone
forms, shower activity is likely to spread northward or
northwestward toward and across the southwestern coast of Mexico
over the next few days.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...medium...40 percent 
* Formation chance through 5 days...high...60 percent


Here’s a wide satellite image that covers the entire area between Mexico, out through the central Pacific…to the International Dateline.


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


>>> Central Pacific: Tropical Storm 02C (Ana) remains active, located approximately 680  miles southeast of Hilo, Hawaii…with sustained winds of near 70 mph…with higher gusts. Here’s a graphical track map…along with a satellite image – and what the computer models are showing


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


>>> Northwest 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: How did Icebergs reach Florida in the last Ice Age? – Using a first-of-its-kind, high-resolution numerical model to describe ocean circulation during the last ice age about 21,000 year ago, oceanographer Alan Condron of the University of Massachusetts Amherst has shown that icebergs and meltwater from the North American ice sheet would have regularly reached South Carolina and even southern Florida. The models are supported by the discovery of iceberg scour marks on the sea floor along the entire continental shelf.


Such a view of past meltwater and iceberg movement implies that the mechanisms of abrupt climate change are more complex than previously thought, Condron says. “Our study is the first to show that when the large ice sheet over North America known as the Laurentide ice sheet began to melt, icebergs calved into the sea around Hudson Bay and would have periodically drifted along the east coast of the United States as far south as Miami and the Bahamas in the Caribbean, a distance of more than 3,100 miles, about 5,000 kilometers.”


His work, conducted with Jenna Hill of Coastal Carolina University, is described in the current advance online issue of Nature Geosciences. “Determining how far south of the subpolar gyre icebergs and meltwater penetrated is vital for understanding the sensitivity of North Atlantic Deep Water formation and climate to past changes in high-latitude freshwater runoff,” the authors say.


Hill analyzed high-resolution images of the sea floor from Cape Hatteras to Florida and identified about 400 scour marks on the seabed that were formed by enormous icebergs plowing through mud on the sea floor. These characteristic grooves and pits were formed as icebergs moved into shallower water and their keels bumped and scraped along the ocean floor.


“The depth of the scours tells us that icebergs drifting to southern Florida were at least 1,000 feet, or 300 meters thick,” says Condron. “This is enormous. Such icebergs are only found off the coast of Greenland today.”


To investigate how icebergs might have drifted as far south as Florida, Condron simulated the release of a series of glacial meltwater floods in his high-resolution ocean circulation model at four different levels for two locations, Hudson Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.