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

85 – 67  Lihue, Kauai
80 – 68  Honolulu, Oahu
81 58  Molokai AP
84 – 60  Kahului, Maui
82 – 72  Kailua Kona
84 – 67  Hilo, Hawaii

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


0.02  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.06  Palehua, Oahu
0.04  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Maui
0.03  Honaunau, Big Island


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


15  Poipu, Kauai – SW
16  Kahuku Trng, Oahu – SW
10  Molokai – SE
17  Lanai – SW
13  Kahoolawe – SW
10  Hana, Maui
– SE

17  South Point, Big Island – NE


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/cpac/ir4.jpg
A cold front approaching Kauai

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Clouds from a cold front, and some pre-frontal clouds
and over Oahu to Kauai


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

Showers locally…around Kauai and Oahu



~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative
~~~


High Surf Advisory
…most north and west shores


Small Craft Advisory
…Kauai through Maui County…
into parts of the Big Island

 

Generally light and variable winds…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 systems far to the east-northeast and west-northwest…with a ridge of high pressure over the islands. At the same time, we have low pressure systems to the north, with the tail-end of an associated cold front draping southwestward…approaching Kauai. We’ll find light winds from varying directions, along with daytime sea breezes. Meanwhile, those areas that are exposed to light southeasterly breezes will continue to see volcanic haze (vog). It looks like the trade winds will hold off returning until next Monday or so…lasting through Tuesday. Thereafter, we’ll find more light southeasterly winds returning by mid-week for several days thereafter, as another cold front approaches the state.

Rainfall will remain limited, although a cold front will bring some showers to the Kauai end of the state…into Saturday morning. Here’s the looping radar image showing a few showers across our area, out ahead of the approaching frontal cloud band. These light winds will prompt late morning through afternoon upcountry clouds from Maui County to the Big Island…although showers will be spotty. A high pressure ridge remains stalled over the islands, continuing the light winds, and keeping a light rainfall weather pattern in place. The cold front to the northwest will bring some fairly minor showers with it. It appears that the front will stall or dissipate somewhere near Oahu, rather than pushing down through the rest of the state. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Thursday there wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here in Kula, Maui:  It’s still dark as I write this first observation, so I can’t see the nature of the cloud cover…or the thickness of the volcanic haze. The air temperature was a bit warmer this morning, at 51.3 degrees, so I suspect that there are some clouds around early this morning. There is no wind to speak of, which has become the norm lately. ~~~ As it turned out, now that it’s light enough to see, our skies are actually mostly clear. The air temperature at around 830am, was still a bit cool at 53.8 degrees. As for the vog…it’s still moderately thick. ~~~ It’s now early afternoon, with partly cloudy skies now settling in over the slopes…which will do nothing but close in over me soon. The vog is still here too, which I’m afraid won’t be going away anytime soon. We may have to put up with its presence well into next week! The air temperature has risen from the lower 50’s earlier…now up into the upper 60’s. ~~~ At 535pm, it was cloudy up here, and a bit foggy…along with that persistent thick vog! The temperature has fallen to 64, on its way down into the lower 50’s tonight. ~~~ The air temperature at 840pm had dipped to 53.8 degrees.


World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


>>>
Atlantic Ocean:
The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea:
The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


>>> Gulf of Mexico:
The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


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

>>> Eastern Pacific: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 North Pacific hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


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
: The central north Pacific hurricane season has officially ended. Routine issuance of the tropical weather outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, special tropical weather outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


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


>>>
Northwest Pacific Ocean:
Tropical cyclone 01W (Mekkhala) remains active in the western Pacific. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map for this slowly strengthening tropical storm. Here’s the NOAA satellite image of this system…to the north of Yap Island.


>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> North and South Indian Oceans:
Tropical cyclone 05S (Bansi) remains active in the south Indian Ocean. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map for this strengthening tropical cyclone. Here’s the NOAA satellite image of this system…to the northeast of La Reunion Island.


Tropical cyclone 06S (Chedza)
is now active in the south Indian Ocean. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map for this briefly strengthening tropical cyclone. Here’s the NOAA satellite image of this system…in the Mozambique Channel.

Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)

 

Interesting:  New data suggests sea levels are rising faster than previously thought  The acceleration in global sea level from the 20th century to the last two decades has been significantly larger than scientists previously thought, according to a new Harvard study.


The study, co-authored by Carling Hay, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS), and Eric Morrow, a recent PhD graduate of EPS, shows that previous estimates of global sea-level rise from 1900-1990 had been over-estimated by as much as 30 percent.


The report, however, confirms previous estimates of sea-level change since 1990, suggesting that the rate of sea-level change is increasing more quickly than previously believed.


“What this paper shows is that sea-level acceleration over the past century has been greater than had been estimated by others,” Morrow said. “It’s a larger problem than we initially thought.”


“Scientists now believe that most of the world’s ice sheets and mountain glaciers are melting in response to rising temperatures.” Hay added. “Melting ice sheets cause global mean sea level to rise. Understanding this contribution is critical in a warming world.”


Previous estimates had placed sea-level rise at between 1.5 and 1.8 millimeters annually over the 20th century. Hay and Morrow, however, suggest that from 1901 until 1990, the figure was closer to 1.2 millimeters per year. But everyone agrees that global sea level has risen by about 3 millimeters annually since that time, and so the new study points to a larger acceleration in global sea level.


“Another concern with this is that many efforts to project sea-level change into the future use estimates of sea level over the time period from 1900 to 1990,” Morrow said. “If we’ve been over-estimating the sea-level change during that period, it means that these models are not calibrated appropriately, and that calls into question the accuracy of projections out to the end of the 21st century.”


To obtain their improved estimate of 20th century global sea level, Hay and Morrow approached the challenge of estimating sea-level rise from a completely new perspective.


Typically, Hay said, estimates of sea-level rise are created by dividing the world’s oceans into sub-regions, and gathering records from tide gauges – essentially yard-sticks used to measure ocean tides – from each area. Using records that contain the most complete data, researchers average them together to create estimates of sea level for each region, then average those rates together to create a global estimate.