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

87  Lihue, Kauai
91  Honolulu, Oahu – the previous record high on Wednesday was 92…back in 1995
87  Molokai
89  Kahului, Maui
89  Kailua Kona
81  Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.27  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.45  Moanalua RG, Oahu
0.16  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.43  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.27  Waiakea Uka & Mountain View, Big Island


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


14  Port Allen, Kauai
17  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
22  Molokai
23  Lanai
25  Kahoolawe
09  Kaupo Gap, Maui
22  Upolu Airport, 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 only a few showers over the offshore waters…elsewhere in a
few places


The trade winds remain quite soft through Thursday – then become
locally very strong and blustery…as tropical cyclone Ana gets closer
and near the state late Friday into the 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 – affecting our island’s
weather later Friday through the weekend as a tropical storm – first
on the Big Island  


Hurricane Warning…offshore waters beyond 40 miles – starting
Thursday night

Flash Flood Watch…for the Big Island – starting noon Friday to
6pm Sunday

Tropical Storm Watch…Big Island and surrounding coastal
waters – starting noon Friday through 6pm Sunday



~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~




Trade winds will be softer through Thursday, then potentially much stronger…as Ana moves close to the state into 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 high pressure cells to the northeast, which are all rather weak…which is causing a lighter trade wind flow across our area now. Meanwhile, there’s a tropical storm named Ana located over the ocean to the southeast…which is forecast to move over or close to our islands later this Friday into the weekend.  Winds will become stronger from variable directions as this unusual tropical storm moves by close to the islands, and as the old saying goes: it will be time to batten down the hatches in some locations around the state.
Satellite imagery shows clear to partly cloudy skies…with high cirrus clouds just to the south. Looking at this larger looping satellite image, it shows areas of thunderstorms and heavy showers mostly over offshore waters to our west of Kauai…associated with a departing upper level low. Further from the islands, to the southeast, we see tropical storm 02C (Ana)…which has a counter-clockwise spin to it. Meanwhile, this looping radar image shows just a few light to moderately heavy showers falling over the ocean in our area…with a few over the islands in places too. Tropical Storm 02C (Ana) will very likely bring heavy rains with localized flooding, and blustery winds to Hawaii…as a tropical storm later this Friday into the weekend. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Wednesday 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 intensifying, although is expected to peak out at the category 1 level. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) official forecast track has tropical cyclone Ana moving by just to the south and west of the islands…although perhaps clipping parts of Kauai and Niihau. This track will likely change a little each day between now and when it gets closer late Friday. However, if this current track, or even one similar to it occurs, some parts of the islands will experience tropical storm 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 threat seriously, and to certainly keep a close eye on Ana’s progress in our direction!

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


>>> Atlantic Ocean: Hurricane 08L (Gonzalo) remains active, located approximately 555 miles south-southwest of Bermuda…with sustained winds of near 125 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 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



 


A large but disorganized area of showers and thunderstorms
associated with an elongated area of low pressure is located a few
hundred miles southwest of the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Environmental
conditions are conducive for the gradual development of this system
into a tropical depression over the next couple of days as it moves
northwestward or northward toward the coast of Mexico. Regardless
of whether or not a tropical cyclone forms, heavy rains will spread
across southwestern Mexico over the next few days. These rains
could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.



* Formation chance through 48 hours...high...60 percent 


* Formation chance through 5 days...high...70 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 570 miles southeast of Hilo, Hawaii…with sustained winds of near 65 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.