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

80 – 68  Lihue, Kauai
84 – 70  Honolulu, Oahu
78 – 68  Molokai AP
81 – 72  Kahului, Maui
84 – 73  Kailua Kona
82 – 68  Hilo, Hawaii

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

4.67  Kilohana, Kauai
0.45  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
2.50  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
3.37  Puu Kukui, Maui
1.85  Keaumo, Big Island


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


40  Barking Sands, Kauai – NNE
27  Honolulu AP – NE
24  Molokai – NNE
32  Lanai – NE
28  Kahoolawe – N
27  Kapalua, Maui – NNE
27  Upolu AP, Big Island – NE


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

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
Lots of clouds surrounding the islands…although partly cloudy over
much of the state – except the Big Island

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Heavy rains and isolated thunderstorms over parts of the Big Island


http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Showers, some heavy offshore the Big Island…
stretching onshore in a few areas – on the
north shore of east Maui too



~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~


Winter Weather Advisory…Big Island summits 

Small Craft Wind Advisory…for trade winds blowing
over most coastal and channel waters

High Surf Advisory…north and west facing shores of Kauai,
and for north shores of Oahu, Molokai and Maui



Trade winds lasting through the next week…strong and gusty at times locally. 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 northeast and northwest of the islands. At the same time, we have a gale low pressure system well to the north, with the tail-end of an associated frontal boundary/trough near the Big Island and Maui. The trades have rebounded across the state, and will prevail through the next week.

Off and on showers, some heavy will fall over the eastern islands at times…mostly along the windward sides. Here’s the looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands. The most pronounced part of this wet weather activity will occur from Maui County to the Big Island, although Kauai and Oahu will see periodic windward biased showers arriving on the gusty trade winds. These trade winds will continue to bring off and on wet weather conditions to our windward sides well into the future. The models diverge as we approach next weekend, with some suggesting more widespread wet weather, while others keep the wetter weather from arriving until right after next weekend…stay tuned.  I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Sunday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui: The skies are mostly clear here on Maui before sunrise, although I can see heavy duty clouds still packed along the windward sides…dropping rain. There were thunderstorms in the area overnight, with lots of lightning and rumbling thunder at times. The winds are generally quite light early this morning, with a low temperature of 55 degrees here at my weather tower in Kula. It was 72 degrees down at the Kahului airport near the ocean, which was the wettest place on Maui during the last 24 hours. At the same time, it was a cooler 66 degrees at the Hana airport…with 37 degrees atop the Haleakala Crater. The warmest temperature around the state was 73 degrees at Kailua Kona on the Big Island.

~~~ It’s now 120pm Sunday afternoon, under generally sunny skies, with light breezes here in Kula. There are some low clouds at lower elevations, although the thunderstorms that popped-off early this morning are now gone. There have been some towering cumulus, although even those are now fading away. This suggests that our recent unsettled weather is starting to settle down, at least temporarily. We’ll have to wait and see what the daytime of heating of the mountain slopes does for us, and they could bring back showers…perhaps even one or two generous downpours, time will tell.

~~~ We’ve moved into the early evening hours now at 525pm, under clear to partly cloudy skies. Looking over towards the north shore however, and out to sea from there, there are towering cumulus clouds. These have the look like they may continue growing into possible cumulonimbus clouds, with the chance of more lightning and thunder tonight…like we saw last night. Time will tell, although its certainly not out of the question as we head into the sunset period. / Big thunderstorm just off the north shore of east Maui at 615pm…big rumbles of thunder!


~~~ Friday Evening Film – My neighbor Jeff and I, along with his daughter Jill whose visiting from New York, went to see the new film called Kingsman: The Secret Service, starring Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson, Sofia Boutella, Corey Johnson, and Sophie Cookson…among many others. The synopsis: based upon the acclaimed comic book and directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick Ass, X-Men First Class), Kingsman: The Secret Service tells the story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency’s ultra-competitive training program, just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius. ~~~ This wasn’t a bad film, although the three of us were throwing around the words...kind of stupid. Still, with that being said, it was an entertaining film no doubt, although it wasn’t my favorite film of late. Jeff and I were a bit more generous than Jill, who found it much less favorable. I’d be hard pressed to give it anything much above a B grade. The bottom line here is that it was definitely fun to watch, punctuated by a ton of killing. It was rude, stylish, and with more than enough to offend just about everyone watching! It was definitely a spoof on the James Bond concept of a dapper gentleman, involved in international intrigue. Here’s the trailer to this film, which left out most of the heavy stuff. 


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: Why the sun impacts climate more in cooler periods – The activity of the Sun is an important factor in the complex interaction that controls our climate. New research now shows that the impact of the Sun is not constant over time, but has greater significance when the Earth is cooler.


There has been much discussion as to whether variations in the strength of the Sun have played a role in triggering climate change in the past, but more and more research results clearly indicate that solar activity – i.e. the amount of radiation coming from the Sun – has an impact on how the climate varies over time.


In a new study published in the scientific journal Geology, researchers from institutions including Aarhus University in Denmark show that, during the last 4,000 years, there appears to have been a close correlation between solar activity and the sea surface temperature in summer in the North Atlantic. This correlation is not seen in the preceding period.


Since the end of the Last Ice Age about 12,000 years ago, the Earth has generally experienced a warm climate. However, the climate has not been stable during this period, when temperatures have varied for long periods. We have generally had a slightly cooler climate during the last 4,000 years, and the ocean currents in the North Atlantic have been weaker.


“We know that the Sun is very important for our climate, but the impact is not clear. Climate change appears to be either strengthened or weakened by solar activity. The extent of the Sun’s influence over time is thus not constant, but we can now conclude that the climate system is more receptive to the impact of the Sun during cold periods – at least in the North Atlantic region,” says Professor Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz, Aarhus University, who is one of the Danish researchers in the international team behind the study.


A piece of the climate puzzle


In their study, the researchers looked at the sea surface temperatures in summer in the northern part of the North Atlantic during the last 9,300 years. Direct measurements of the temperature are only found for the last 140 years, when they were taken from ships.


However, by examining studies of marine algae – diatoms – found in sediments deposited on the North Atlantic sea bed, it is possible to use the species distribution of these organisms to reconstruct fluctuations in sea surface temperatures much further back in time.


The detailed study makes it possible to draw comparisons with records of fluctuations of solar energy bursts in the same period, and the results show a clear correlation between climate change in the North Atlantic and variations in solar activity during the last 4,000 years, both on a large time scale over periods of hundreds of years and right down to fluctuations over periods of 10-20 years.


The new knowledge is a small but important piece of the overall picture as regards our understanding of how the entire climate system works, according to Professor Seidenkrantz.


“Our climate is enormously complex. By gathering knowledge piece by piece about the way the individual elements work together and influence each other to either strengthen an effect or mitigate or compensate for an impact, we can gradually get an overall picture of the mechanisms. This is also important for understanding how human-induced climate change can affect and be affected in this interaction,” she says.