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

81 – 74  Lihue, Kauai
85 – 75  Honolulu, Oahu
82 – 74  Molokai
83 – 75  Kahului AP, Maui
85 – 73  Kailua Kona AP
83 – 72  Hilo, Hawaii

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

4.01  Kilohana, Kauai
1.11  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.34  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.01  Kahoolawe
0.28  Hana airport, Maui
2.17  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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

25  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
27  Kii, Oahu – ENE
35  Molokai – E
35  Lanai – NE
40  Kahoolawe – NE
31  Kaupo Gap, Maui – N 
42  Waikoloa, 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://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_ir_enh_west_loop-12.gif
Considerable high clouds to our west and southwest…
some of which are moving over the islands locally

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

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/vis.jpg
Thunderstorms well offshore south and southwest…
sending high clouds our way

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/vis.jpg
Clear to cloudy with the remnants of an old cold front near
Kauai…high clouds southwest – that area of clouds to our
east will bring another increase in windward showers
tonight into the morning


http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Passing showers along the windward sides of the
islands … looping radar image

Small Craft Advisory…most coasts and channels
across the state of Hawaii

High Surf Advisory…north and west shores of Kauai,
and north shores of Oahu, Molokai, Maui and the
Big Island – through 6pm Sunday


~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



Our winds will be trades across the state through the weekend…then easing up some early next 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 moderately strong high pressure systems to the northeast and northwest of the state. At the same time, we find a deep low pressure system far to our north…with a comma shaped cold front draping southwest from its center. Gusty trade winds continue, and will accompany us through the rest of the weekend. A new cold front will approach the state early in the new week, with relaxing trade wind speeds then, strengthening again by mid-week…and then slipping again next Friday into the weekend.

Weather conditions will remain showery along the windward coasts and slopes tonight…then drier during the weekend. The forecast continues to show that we’ll see off and on passing showers arriving, carried our way thanks to the substantial trade wind flow. A slightly more organized area of showery clouds is getting ready to impact our windward sides this evening into Saturday morning. As this area passes off to the west, we’ll see generally drier weather arriving later Saturday through Sunday. The longer range forecast shows the next cold front approaching early in the new week, although have it migrating by offshore to our north. Looking even further out, by next Friday into the weekend, yet another weak cold front will approach the state…although its too early to know of its influence here in the islands.

Here on Maui…It’s still too dark for me to see what’s going on, although I do see a big bright moon…and lots of stars twinkling at the time of this writing. / Now just a little while later, and still before sunrise, I’m seeing the thin high cirrus clouds beginning to light up a nice pink color!

– We’re into the afternoon now, with partly cloudy skies in general, and just a few showers falling along our windward sides.

– We’ve pushed into the early evening hours now, and as we get into the sunset period…it’s partly cloudy in general. I expect an area of showers to reach the Big Island’s windward sides this evening, then arriving over Maui County later in the evening, and finally Oahu and Kauai tonight into Saturday morning. This should be a brief interruption to our otherwise pretty good, late autumn weather conditions this weekend.

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

Friday Evening Film:  There are several good looking films showing now, including Brooklyn and Trumbo, both of which I hope to see before they leave town. However, a few friends and I have chosen to see the new film called Spotlight, starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Billy Crudup, Liev Schreiber, and Stanley Tucci…among many others. The synopsis: Spotlight tells the riveting true story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation that would rock the city, and cause a crisis in one of the world’s oldest and most trusted institutions. When the newspaper’s tenacious “Spotlight” team of reporters delves into allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church, their year-long investigation uncovers a decades-long cover-up at the highest levels of Boston’s religious, legal, and government establishment, touching off a wave of revelations around the world. Directed by Academy Award-nominee Tom McCarthy, Spotlight is a tense investigative dramatic-thriller, tracing the steps to one of the biggest cover-ups in modern times.  

What a powerful film! The individual performances were just outstanding, some of the best of the year in my opinion. The subject matter of this film is touchy, very touchy indeed. In civilian law, such acts would be slam dunks…people would be thrown in jail or prison, in no uncertain terms! However, because these terrible sexual acts by priests towards children happen behind closed doors, and in a church setting, somehow people turn their backs. In my mind, the bishops and cardinals are responsible, and even the Pope. I don’t mean to be pointing my finger at the church exclusively, because I know that these sorts of things happen in other areas of life too. If there’s an opening or opportunity, there’s always people who take advantage, and there are victims in turn. Spotlight is the true story behind the Catholic Church’s cover-up of decades of sexual abuse, and it is unflinching in its focus, and animated by its outrage, which is the best and worst part of this excellent film. If you have any interest…here’s the trailer.


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:

Former tropical cyclone Sandra is dissipating, moisture associated with the remnants of Sandra’s mid- and upper-level circulations could still produce heavy rains over portions of central Mexico during the next day or so, potentially causing localized flash flooding and mud slides. The remnant moisture could also contribute to the significant heavy rain event already occurring over the south-central United States.

Here’s the current NHC graphical track map, along with a satellite image – Final Advisory has been issued

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: There are no active tropical cyclones

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 04P remains active in the southwest Pacific Ocean. Here’s the current JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image…and what the hurricane models are showing.


>>> 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:  Rapid plankton growth seen as indicator of carbon dioxide loading in oceans – A microscopic marine alga is thriving in the North Atlantic to an extent that defies scientific predictions, suggesting swift environmental change as a result of increased carbon dioxide in the ocean, a study led a by Johns Hopkins University scientist has found.

What these findings mean remains to be seen, as does whether the rapid growth in the tiny plankton’s population is good or bad news for the planet.

Published today in the journal Science, the study details a tenfold increase in the abundance of single-cell coccolithophores between 1965 and 2010, and a particularly sharp spike since the late 1990s in the population of these pale-shelled floating phytoplankton.

“Something strange is happening here, and it’s happening much more quickly than we thought it should,” said Anand Gnanadesikan, associate professor in the Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins and one of the study’s five authors.

Gnanadesikan said the Science report certainly is good news for creatures that eat coccolithophores, but it’s not clear what those are. “What is worrisome,” he said, “is that our result points out how little we know about how complex ecosystems function.” The result highlights the possibility of rapid ecosystem change, suggesting that prevalent models of how these systems respond to climate change may be too conservative, he said.

The team’s analysis of Continuous Plankton Recorder survey data from the North Atlantic Ocean and North Sea since the mid-1960s suggests rising carbon dioxide in the ocean is causing the coccolithophore population spike, said Sara Rivero-Calle, a Johns Hopkins doctoral student and lead author of the study. A stack of laboratory studies supports the hypothesis, she said. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas already fingered by scientific consensus as one of the triggers of global warming.

“Our statistical analyses on field data from the CPR point to carbon dioxide as the best predictor of the increase” in coccolithophores, Rivero-Calle said. “The consequences of releasing tons of CO2 over the years are already here and this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

The CPR survey is a continuing study of plankton, floating organisms that form a vital part of the marine food chain. The project was launched by a British marine biologist in the North Atlantic and North Sea in the early 1930s. It is conducted by commercial ships trailing mechanical plankton-gathering contraptions through the water as they sail their regular routes.

William M. Balch of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine, a co-author of the study, said scientists might have expected that ocean acidity due to higher carbon dioxide would suppress these chalk-shelled organisms. It didn’t. On the other hand, their increasing abundance is consistent with a history as a marker of environmental change.