Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday…along with the minimum temperatures Thursday:
77 – 62 Lihue, Kauai
80 – 61 Honolulu, Oahu
75 – 53 Molokai AP
79 – 56 Kahului, Maui
79 – 67 Kailua Kona
79 – 66 Hilo, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Thursday evening:
0.01 Kapahi, Kauai
0.01 Waianae Valley, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.00 Maui
0.00 Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Thursday evening:
15 Waimea Heights, Kauai
17 Kalaeloa, Oahu
21 Molokai
18 Lanai
25 Kahoolawe
10 Hana, Maui
22 Kealakomo, 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
Very stable and dry clouds…with a fragmented cold front located
to the north…and an area of thunderstorms well south
Generally clear along the leeward beaches…some
low clouds along the north and east slopes at times
Limited showers…mostly dry weather
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
High Surf Advisory…north and west shores of Kauai, Oahu
and Molokai, and north shores of Maui – starting this afternoon
Small Craft Advisory…windward Maui and the Big Island –
starting this evening
Winds becoming lighter Friday…light and variable into 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 to the west of the state, with another more primary high pressure cell to the northeast. At the same time, we have low pressure systems well to the northwest, north and northeast, with the tail-end of cold fronts draping southward. We’ll find gradually lighter winds through Friday, which will become even lighter during the weekend. Those areas that are exposed to these light southeasterly breezes, will find localized volcanic haze (vog) arriving…along with warmer temperatures, at least during the days. The light winds will then make it all the way around to the south and southwest early next week…with still some localized voggy conditions prevailing.
Rainfall will remain limited, with a just a few showers here and there…through early next week. Here’s the looping radar image showing a bare minimum of showers across our area. Friday into the weekend, we’ll see our winds becoming lighter from the southeast. These light winds will prompt clear mornings, giving way to afternoon upcountry clouds…although showers will be spotty and generally light. As we get into early next week, an approaching cold front will keep a high pressure ridge over the islands, or perhaps even over the ocean to the south of the Big Island. This in turn will continue the light winds, with a dry convective weather pattern in place. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Thursday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
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: 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: Lake Erie dead zone increased drastically by 2012 drought – Lake Erie just can’t catch a break. The lake has experienced harmful algal blooms and severe oxygen-depleted “dead zones” for years, but now a team of researchers led by Carnegie’s Anna Michalak and Yuntao Zhou has shown that the widespread drought in 2012 was associated with the largest dead zone since at least the mid-1980s.
Until now, the size of the dead zone each summer and the factors explaining the variability from year to year have been elusive. Using 28 years of data collected in and around the lake, the team was able to “measure” the size of the dead zone each summer and identify factors that explain the year-to-year variability for the first time. They found that the 2012 drought, with extremely low water inflow from tributaries, was associated with a record-breaking dead zone in the lake, and that meteorological factors together with agricultural practices explain why these events vary annually. Previous studies have focused on phosphorous from agricultural runoff as the primary driver of the lake’s dead zones, but this analysis shows that the inflow of water from tributaries is actually the largest explanatory factor. The results are published in Environmental Science & Technology.
“Fresh water dead zones—areas depleted of oxygen—result when massive amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen are added to the water, often from fertilizer runoff from agriculture,” explained Michalak. “The excessive nutrients promote excessive growth of algae. When the algae die and decompose, the oxygen in the water gets used up and can drop to levels too low for aquatic life to survive. This happens especially when the water is stratified, with warm water layered on top of cold water, keeping new oxygen from reaching the bottom of the lake.”
The revelation about the size of the dead zone in 2012 comes on the heels of the record-setting harmful algal bloom that occurred in 2011, and the closure of the Toledo water supply in August 2014 due to high concentrations of Cyanobacteria-produced toxins at the city’s water intake.
Whereas the record-setting dead-zone event occurred during the 2012 drought, the 2011 record-setting algal bloom was attributed to intense spring storms and various other confounding factors.
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