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

84 – 73  Lihue, Kauai
84 – 78  Honolulu, Oahu 
87 – 72  Molokai
91 – 79  Kahului AP, Maui – the record high for Monday of 93…was set back in 1951
90 – 79  Kailua Kona AP
88 – 73  Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.11  Moloaa Dairy, Kauai
5.46  Waiahole, Oahu
1.13  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.15  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.87  Kula Branch Station, Maui
0.25  Kaloko-Honokohau, Big Island

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

27  Mana, Kauai – NNW
16  Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
14  Molokai – SE
10  Lanai – NW
25  Kahoolawe – NE
13  Maalaea Bay, Maui – NW
28  Kealakomo, 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

http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_ir_enh_west_loop-12.gif
Tropical Storm 18E (Nora) remains active to the southeast
of Hawaii…with a cold front to our north and northwest

Here’s a wind profile…of the offshore waters
around the islands – with a closer view

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/tc_graphics/2015/graphics/EP182015W.gif
Here’s the latest track map of this tropical storm – slow
weakening from here on out

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/floaters/18E/imagery/vis0-lalo.gif
Here’s a close-up look at Tropical Storm Nora

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/vis.jpg
There’s a trough of low pressure over the central islands, which
will keep localized showers active, plus there’s an area of
thunderstorms far southwest of our islands…
Tropical Storm Nora southeast – and finally there’s a cold
front approaching the islands from the north and northwest

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/vis.jpg
Partly to mostly cloudy…with a weak trough of low pressure
over the central islands…keeping the chance of showers active


http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Showers falling over the islands locally…mostly
on Oahu and Molokai – looping radar image


~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



Our winds will remain quite light in most areas…then become somewhat stronger and cooler into mid-week. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a wind profiler of the central Pacific. We find high pressure systems well to the northwest and northeast of the state. At the same time, we find a low pressure system to our north, with an associated cold front draping back to the southwest from its center…to our northwest. Our winds will come in from the east to southeast, remaining quite light into Tuesday. We’ll find cooler north-northeast winds following in the wake of this cold fronts passage later Tuesday-Wednesday. These winds will weaken again Thursday, as another cold front approaches the state Friday into the weekend.

We’ll find showers falling locally…some of which will become quite generous. A trough of low pressure remains over the state, keeping our atmosphere shower prone for the time being. At the same time, the lighter winds will prompt showers locally during the afternoons in the upcountry areas here and there. The outlook shows moisture from a couple of cold fronts being carried towards our islands this week. The first of these shower bands will arrive from the northwest Tuesday into Wednesday…with the second Friday night into the weekend. These showers will focus their efforts best over the windward coasts and slopes. The wild card is whether some of the moisture from tropical cyclone Nora may get pulled into the eastern side of the state later this week as well…stay tuned.

Tropical Storm 18E (Nora)…remains active here in the central Pacific…to the southeast of the islands. Here’s a satellite image of this tropical storm, with the Central Pacific Hurricane Center’s (CPHC) graphical track map…along with what the computer models are showing. The latest forecast track shows this storm taking a turn to the north, and then a short jog to the west. As this shift to the west happens, not too far to the southeast of the Big Island, it will likely run out of steam. As a matter of fact it should dissipate offshore from the islands by later Friday into the early part of the upcoming weekend.  If this turns out as expected, the Hawaiian Islands probably wouldn’t see any direct influence in terms of clouds, rain and wind. We may see some rise in our surf along the east or southeast shores with time.

Here on Maui…It’s 540am Monday morning with partly cloudy skies. / Now at 650am, it’s clear to partly cloudy, a very nice start to our day. We’ll find clouds forming over the mountains later, leading to localized rain or even a thunderstorm. / At 830am it’s turned mostly clear, with streaky high cirrus clouds coming in from the north. I also see some towering cumulus clouds developing somewhere over the ocean to the west of Molokai. / 850am, clouds are increasing rapidly…at least around the mountains.

– We’re into the middle of the afternoon, and it hasn’t showered or rained here in Kula yet. The bulk of the rainfall so far today as focused over the island of Oahu…where two gauges have measured over 5.00+ of water! It’s getting darker, or at least the clouds are, by the minute, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this area getting wet within a couple of minutes. As is often the case, there’s lots of sunshine showing up down in the central valley, and likely at many of our beaches too. / Finally at 440pm we’ve just had a very light sprinkle, hardly amounting to anything…although a little something nonetheless.

– We’ve broken into the early evening, under cloudy skies, with a mix of low and the high cirrus types. We also have quite a lot of volcanic haze in our local skies as well, you know…vog. I would expect the cirrus clouds to light up nicely at sunset, providing some color to our skies briefly.

I’ll be back with many more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.


World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

1.)   A low pressure area located about 625 miles southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico continues to produce limited shower and thunderstorm activity. Environmental conditions are expected to become more conducive for the development of a tropical depression by the weekend while the low moves westward at 10 to 15 mph.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low 10 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…high 80 percent

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 18E (Nora) remains active in the central Pacific Ocean, located 575 miles southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, with sustained winds of 45 mph. Here’s the CPHC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this system…and what the computer models are showing

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

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: 


Tropical Storm 24W (Koppu) remains active in the northwest Pacific Ocean, located 382 NM north of Yap, with sustained winds of 40 mph. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this system…and what the computer models are showing

Tropical Depression 25W is now active in the northwest Pacific Ocean, located 842 NM east of Andersen AFB, Guam, with sustained winds of 30 mph. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this system…and what the computer models are showing

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


>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

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


Interesting:  Ecotourism can put wild animals at risk – Ecotourism, in which travelers visit natural environments with an eye toward funding conservation efforts or boosting local economies, has become increasingly popular in recent years. In many cases it involves close observation of or interaction with wildlife, such as when tourists swim with marine animals.

Now, life scientists have analyzed more than 100 research studies on how ecotourism affects wild animals and concluded that such trips can be harmful to the animals, whose behaviors may be altered in ways that put them at risk.

The research is published October 9th in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution.

Protected areas around the globe receive a total of more than 8 billion visits each year. “This massive amount of nature-based and ecotourism can be added to the long list of drivers of human-induced rapid environmental change,” said Daniel Blumstein, the study’s senior author and professor and chair of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA.

The presence of humans changes the way animals behave, and those changes may make them more vulnerable — to poachers, for one, but also in less obvious ways, said Blumstein, who is also a professor in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability in the UCLA College.

When animals interact in seemingly benign ways with humans, they may let down their guard, Blumstein said. As animals learn to relax in the presence of humans, they may become bolder in other situations; if this transfers to their interactions with predators, they are more likely to be injured or killed.

The presence of humans can also discourage natural predators, creating a kind of safe haven for smaller animals that may make them bolder. For example, when humans are nearby, vervet monkeys have fewer run-ins with predatory leopards. And in Grand Teton National Park, elk and pronghorns in areas with more tourists are less alert and spend more time eating, Blumstein and his colleagues report.

Interacting with people can cause significant change in the characteristics of various species over time. “If individuals selectively habituate to humans — particularly tourists — and if invasive tourism practices enhance this habituation, we might be selecting for or creating traits or syndromes that have unintended consequences, such as increased predation risk,” the researchers write. “Even a small human-induced perturbation could affect the behavior or population biology of a species and influence the species’ function in its community.”

Ecotourism has effects similar to those of animal domestication and urbanization, the researchers argue. In all three cases, regular interactions between people and animals may lead to habituation — a kind of taming. Research has shown that domesticated silver foxes become more docile and less fearful, a process that results from evolutionary changes, but also from regular interactions with humans, Blumstein said. Domesticated fish are less responsive to simulated predatory attacks. Fox squirrels and birds that live in urbanized areas are slower to flee from danger.

Blumstein hopes the new analysis will encourage more research into the interactions between people and wildlife. It is essential, he said, to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how various species in various situations respond to human interaction and under what conditions human exposure may place them at risk.