Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday…along with the minimum temperatures Friday:
85 – 71 Lihue, Kauai
80 – 71 Honolulu, Oahu
79 – 68 Molokai AP
84 – 68 Kahului, Maui
83 – 69 Kailua Kona
85 – 60 Hilo, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Friday evening:
0.57 Puu Lua, Kauai
0.41 Ahuimanu Loop, Oahu
0.07 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.04 Ulupalakua, Maui
0.09 Lower Kahuku, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Friday evening:
21 Lihue, Kauai – SW
16 Waianae Valley, Oahu – SW
22 Molokai – SSW
20 Lanai – SW
17 Kahoolawe – SW
13 Kaupo Gap, Maui – S
16 South Point, Big Island – E
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
Mostly clear to partly cloudy across the state…with a
cold front over Kauai, heading towards Oahu
A band of low clouds out ahead of the cold front
Generally light showers locally across the state…
although light to moderately heavy with clouds
associated with the cold front, and from clouds
out ahead of the front too
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
High Surf Warning…north and west shores of Kauai,
Oahu, Molokai, and north shore of Maui, west
shores of the Big Island
High Surf Advisory…west shores of Maui, Lanai and
Kahoolawe, and for south shores of Oahu
Small Craft Advisory…for all waters except Maalaea Bay
South to southwest kona winds preceding a weakening cold front. 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 far to the northeast, with a ridge extending southwest…to the south and southeast of the Big Island. At the same time, we have low pressure systems far to the north, with a cold front moving down through the state. This cold front bring southwest kona winds ahead of it into Saturday. The cold front will usher in a brief period of cooler north to northeasterly winds in its wake, followed by moderately strong trade winds for a couple of days.
Clouds and showers will accompany a cold front moving through the state…into Saturday. Here’s the looping radar image showing generally light to moderately heavy showers in a few areas…which are associated with prefrontal showers out ahead of the front itself. This front, after passing Kauai, will move down across Oahu during the evening hours…and finally over Maui County late tonight into Saturday. It will likely stall and dissipate over Maui or possibly the Big Island during the day. The trade winds behind the front will bring showers to our windward sides into early next week…especially over the Big Island and Maui. Then drier weather will take over statewide after Monday for several days. The latest model output now shows another cold front approaching Kauai next Thursday.
Large to very large surf will continue to pound our north and west facing shores…the south shores will have large waves locally too. The more westerly aspect of this swell will cause shadowing in places…while other areas will be more exposed, such as the west facing shores of the Big Island, ;and parts of Maui. Some south facing shores will also experience larger than normal waves. A reinforcement to this recent very large swell is expected Saturday into Sunday, then surf will subside next Monday. Tides will be running on the high side during this time, so run-up along our beaches may be higher than normal. Please be very careful when getting near the ocean in these areas! I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Here in Kula, Maui: It’s still too dark to see what kind of clouds exist on this Friday morning, and if there’s volcanic haze still in our air as well. The air temperature near its minimal reading, was a warmer 59.5 degrees (about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday morning), while at the same time down near the ocean in Kahului…it was an even warmer 71 degrees. The reason that it’s warmer this morning is that we have southwest breezes blowing…bringing tropical air up our way. I just went downstairs from my weather tower, to get hot water to pour over my fresh squeezed lemon juice, and on the way back up the stairs…I felt light sprinkles dropping. ~~~ It’s now 730am Friday morning, with enough light for me to see what’s going on now. It’s partly cloudy, near calm, with an air temperature of 60.3 degrees. My weather deck is a little wet from earlier very light showers, which have stopped now. As for the vog, it’s very light this morning…although is still faintly there. ~~~ At 930am the clouds have given way to mostly clear skies, with breezy kona winds beginning to blow…and an air temperature of 64.6 degrees. ~~~ It’s now early afternoon, as I just got back from another skateboarding expedition up the mountain from here. It was near totally free of clouds, although just before I left the fog came rolling up the slopes. It’s almost totally clear at the moment, a bit breezy, with the return of some volcanic haze too. The air temperature was reading 70 degrees at 1pm, while the Kahului airport was checking in with 83 degrees at about the same time. ~~~ It’s now early evening, with an area of low clouds being carried through the central valley…on the breezy kona winds. There’s still a fair amount of volcanic haze in the atmosphere too. The air temperature at 515pm was 66.2 degrees, while the summit of the Haleakala Crater at the same time was a bit cooler at 61 degrees.
Friday Evening Film: There are two films that I’m looking forward to seeing, one is called the American Sniper, while the other is called Blackhat. Blackhat stars Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Manny Montana, Tracee Chimo, and William Mapother…among many others. The synopsis: set within the world of global cybercrime, Legendary’s Blackhat follows a furloughed convict and his American and Chinese partners…as they hunt a high-level cybercrime network from Chicago to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Jakarta. I’ll be seeing this with my neighbor Jeff, and perhaps another friend or two. I’m aware that some critics aren’t being very generous, in terms of praise. I’ll let you know what we thought Saturday morning. If you’re curious, here’s the trailer for this film.
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: There are no active tropical cyclones
>>> South Pacific Ocean: Tropical cyclone 07P (Niko) remains active, here’s the JTWC graphical track map for this strengthening tropical storm. Here’s the NOAA satellite image of this system.
>>> North and South Indian Oceans: There are no active tropical cyclones
Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)
Interesting: India’s Tiger Population on the Rise – India’s tiger population has significantly increased according to the 2014-15 India tiger estimation report released today. Recent years have seen a dramatic rise in numbers– from 1,411 in 2006 to 2,226 in 2014.
The increase in the tiger population can be largely attributed to better management and improved protection within tiger reserves and other tiger bearing protected areas. Poaching remains the greatest threat to wild tigers today with tiger parts in high demand throughout Asia.
“These results confirm that more than half of the world’s tigers are in India, and thus, an up-to-date and precise estimation becomes imperative for assessing the success of future conservation efforts. This demonstrates that species conservation works, especially when it brings together political will, strong science and dedicated field efforts,” said Ravi Singh, Secretary General & CEO, WWF-India.
The report, Status of Tigers in India, 2014, published by the National Tiger Conservation Authority of the Government of India, highlights that the future of tigers in India depends on maintaining undisturbed core habitats for breeding tiger populations, habitat connectivity and protection from poaching of tigers and their prey.
“At a time when the global tiger population is under threat, it is heartening that India’s tiger numbers are increasing. This was not the situation a decade ago and I am proud that we have risen to the challenge and turned the situation around,” said Prakash Javadekar, Indian Minister for Environment and Forests, at an event marking the release of the figures.
Since 2010, all tiger countries have been working to double global tiger numbers, a goal known as Tx2. This new result from India coupled with the increase from the last census demonstrates that even in densely populated and economically booming Asia, ambitious targets for species recovery can be achieved. India’s tiger population in 2010 was estimated to be 1,706.
An essential part of Tx2 is for countries to count their tigers. India’s 2014 tiger estimation is the largest and most thorough tiger census ever undertaken; covering 18 states with more than 300,000 sq km surveyed including areas outside tiger reserves.
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