Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday:
81 Lihue, Kauai
77 Honolulu, Oahu
79 Molokai
82 Kahului, Maui
86 Kailua Kona
83 Hilo, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Sunday evening:
2.83 Kilohana, Kauai
7.63 Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
1.94 Makapulapai, Molokai
1.64 Lanai
0.20 Kahoolawe
2.30 Kula 1, Maui
1.34 Kealakekua, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Sunday evening:
31 Puu Lua, Kauai
35 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
27 Molokai
35 Lanai
35 Kahoolawe
28 Kahului AP, Maui
33 Kawaihae, 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
Tropical storm Ana is offshore to the west-southwest of Kauai…
although continues to bring showers to Kauai and Oahu in places –
turning drier on the Big Island and Maui County
Flash Flood Watch…parts of Oahu and Kauai – until 6pm
Tropical Storm Warning…waters beyond 40 nautical miles
out to 240 nautical miles
High Surf Advisory…north, south and west shores of Kauai, Oahu
and Molokai…and north shores of Maui and the Big Island
Small Craft Advisory…for coastal and channel waters around
Kauai and Oahu
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Our local winds will be locally gusty…as Ana moves away from the state. 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 system to the north-northwest. Meanwhile, tropical storm Ana is located over the ocean just to the southwest of Kauai. Winds will be still locally gusty in some areas as this unusual tropical cyclone moves away from the islands. Wind directions will range between south, southeast and easterly over the next few days…followed by light trade winds during the second half of the week.
Satellite imagery shows partly to mostly cloudy skies…with light to moderately rainfall over the islands in places. Looking at this larger looping satellite image, it shows prominent tropical storm 02C (Ana) just to our west-southwest…having a counter-clockwise spin. Meanwhile, this looping radar image shows showers falling over the ocean…with showers moving over the islands locally. Weather will improve, first on the Big Island side of the chain, working westward towards Kauai Monday. I’ll be back with updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Sunday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
~~~ Tropical Storm Ana may become a hurricane again within 24-36 hours. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) official forecast track has Ana spinning by just to the west-southwest of the islands, bringing lighter rainfall to some parts of the state. Most of the strongest winds remain offshore…at a sustained to 70 mph near the center. A turn towards the west and then northwest will take the center of Ana further and further from the Garden Island. The major threat of Ana has now passed, despite the fact that Ana may try to become a hurricane again by Tuesday…over the ocean well to the northwest of our islands.
World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
A large non-tropical low is located over the far eastern Atlantic
Ocean a few hundred miles southeast of the Azores. This system is
producing gale-force winds and could gradually acquire some
subtropical characteristics during the next few days while it
moves slowly westward over relatively warm waters.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…10 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…medium…30 percent
Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean
>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones
n area of low pressure located over the extreme southwestern
Bay of Campeche continues to produce showers and thunderstorms.
This system has some potential to become a tropical cyclone during
the next two to three days while it moves slowly eastward to
east-northeastward, before it interacts and possibly merges with a
frontal system towards the end of the week.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…medium…30 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…medium…40 percent
>>> 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
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 270 miles west-southwest of Lihue, Kauai…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.
Marie Ming Says:
I expected the ocean temperatures to cool a bit from the hurricane for two reasons: the cool rain and because the hurricane was drawing energy from the water. When I checked this morning, the water was even a bit warmer. Can you explain?~~~Marie, I’m not sure which island you are on, however, the hurricane drew the most energy from the ocean over the area near the center of the system, not near the islands…where we were well removed from the center. I suspect that the ocean was warm, and continues to be warm at the local beach you go to. The sea water temperatures are warmer than normal this year, which feels nice! Thanks for your good question. Aloha, Glenn
Derek Ryder Says:
Two questions, since I’m new to hurricanes:
1) If I mentally overlay the radar on the satellite, it appears that the majority of the rain is behind the eye. Why? Why is there limited precipitation in front of the storm?
2) I couldn’t help but notice on Saturday in Maui that cloudbase during most of that rain was well above the top of West Maui Mountain, and commonly the top of Haleakela was also visible in the rain (though there was some lower cloud around from time to time). Was this as a result of Maui being +100 miles from the eye? Does cloudbase generally rise the farther you get from the eye?
Thanks, and keep up the great work!!~~~Hi Derek, two good questions. The first…what we were seeing on the radar, is just how far the beams could see the precipitation. We couldn’t see the rest of the rainfall because it was too far away. The second…it was just that the higher cased altostratus clouds were abundant then, rather than the lower level cumulus clouds. It’s always interesting to see the tops of the Haleakala Crater and the West Maui Mountains visible, even when light rain is falling from the higher clouds. The cloud bases don’t necessarily rise further from the eye. It was a very interesting sight, rather unusual indeed, Thanks, and thanks for your positive comment about my work. Aloha…Glenn.