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

88   Lihue, Kauai
90   Honolulu, Oahu – the record high on Thursday was 92…back in 1995
85   Molokai
90   Kahului, Maui – the record high on Thursday was 93…back in 1991
88   Kailua Kona
86   Hilo, Hawaii

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


0.22   Waimea Heights, Kauai
0.11   Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.07   Puu Alii, Molokai
0.03   Lanai
0.00   Kahoolawe
0.12   Puu Kukui, Maui
0.40   Honokaa, Big Island


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


16   Port Allen, Kauai
20   Makua Range, Oahu
21   Molokai
22   Lanai
20   Kahoolawe

23   Kapalua, Maui

23   Kealakomo, 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://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 a few showers over the offshore waters…stretching onto
some of the islands locally


The trade winds remain active – then become locally strong
and blustery…as tropical cyclone Ana gets closer to t
he state late
Friday into the weekend

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


Tropical storm Ana to the south-southeast of the islands is approaching
Hawaii…becoming a category 1 hurricane Friday – affecting the island’s
weather later Friday through the weekend – 
first on the Big Island  


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

Tropical Storm Warning…for Big Island leeward waters, and
adjacent coastal waters 

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

Tropical Storm Watch…Big Island and surrounding coastal
waters, including the Alenuihaha Channel and Maui’s
leeward waters 



~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative
~~~




Trade winds will remain light to moderately strong, then potentially much stronger…as Ana moves by to the west of the state into the 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 cell far to the northeast. Meanwhile, tropical storm Ana is located over the ocean to the south-southeast…which is forecast to move by offshore of our islands later Friday into the weekend.  Winds will become stronger from variable directions as this unusual tropical storm moves by close to the islands.

Satellite imagery shows clear to partly cloudy skies…with high cirrus clouds over some parts of the state. Looking at this larger looping satellite image, it shows tropical storm 02C (Ana) to the south-southeast…which has a counter-clockwise spin to it. Meanwhile, this looping radar image shows just a few light 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…later Friday into the weekend, first on the Big Island. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Thursday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

~~~ Tropical Storm Ana has increased a notch in strength, and will increase further to a category 1 hurricane Friday. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) official forecast track has tropical cyclone Ana moving by to the south and west of the islands. This track will likely change a little more between now and when it gets closer late Friday. However, if the current track, or even one similar to it occurs, some parts of the islands will experience strong winds from variable directions, rough surf, and locally heavy rainfall. The Big Island may encounter hurricane force winds, while the rest of the state experiences localized tropical storm force winds. It’s time to begin preparing what needs to be done on your property, like securing loose objects, such as lawn furniture and plants…among other things. It would be wise to keep a very close eye on the path this system takes over the next several days!


The CPHC is saying: IT IS IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE EXACT TRACK THAT ANA TAKES WILL BE CRITICAL TO THE SENSIBLE WEATHER AND WATER IMPACTS THAT THE MAIN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS WILL HAVE TO ENDURE. UNFORTUNATELY IT IS STILL TOO SOON TO TRY TO NAIL DOWN DETAILS…PARTICULARLY FOR THE SMALLER ISLANDS. IF THE CENTER OF ANA TRACKS MORE TOWARD THE RIGHT…THE RESULT WOULD BE DRASTICALLY WORSE WEATHER…THAN A TRACK TO TOWARDS THE LEFT.

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


>>>
Atlantic Ocean:
Hurricane 08L (Gonzalo) remains active, located approximately 150 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


 
Concentrated showers and thunderstorms have developed in association
with an area of low pressure centered about 150 miles south of
Acapulco, Mexico. Environmental conditions are conducive for
further development and a tropical depression may form later today,
as the system moves slowly north or northwestward. If a tropical
cyclone does develop, tropical storm watches or warnings may be
necessary for a portion of the southern Mexico coast. Heavy
rainfall and localized flooding associated with this system could
produce flash flooding and mudslides in portions of southern Mexico,
especially near areas of elevated terrain during the next couple of
days.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...high...70 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days...high...80 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 280 miles south-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.