Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday…along with the minimums Saturday:
82 – 74 Lihue, Kauai
85 – 75 Honolulu, Oahu
81 – 74 Molokai
83 – 74 Kahului AP, Maui
86 – 73 Kailua Kona AP
85 – 70 Hilo, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Saturday evening:
1.78 Kilohana, Kauai
0.33 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.10 Molokai 1, Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.59 Hana airport, Maui
3.01 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Saturday evening:
27 Lihue, Kauai – N
35 Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
27 Molokai – NE
36 Lanai – NE
30 Kahoolawe – NE
27 Kapalua, Maui – NNE
43 Kohala Ranch, 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
Cold fronts moving by far north of Hawaii
Here’s a wind profile…of the offshore waters
around the islands – with a closer view
Thunderstorms well offshore southwest
Clear to cloudy…with areas of low clouds bringing
windward showers – especially to the Big Island and
Maui County tonight into Sunday morning
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
Wind Advisory…mountains of Lanai and through the
Kohala Mountains on the Big Island
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Our winds will be trades across the state through Sunday…then easing up some Monday for a few days. 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 storm low pressure system far to our northwest…with a comma shaped cold front draping southwest from its center. Gusty trade winds continue, and will accompany us through Sunday. A new cold front will approach the state early in the new week, with slightly softer trade wind speeds then, strengthening again some by mid-week…and then slipping down again next Friday into the weekend.
Showery along the windward coasts and slopes of Maui County and the Big Island…then drier into the new work week ahead. 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 will impact the windward sides of the Big Island and Maui again tonight. As this area dissipates, we’ll see generally drier weather arriving later Sunday into Monday. 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 then.
Here on Maui…It’s cloudy and showery along the windward sides, with clear skies prevailing across the leeward sections. Here in upcountry Kula, it’s windy with a bit of mist flying through at times. Otherwise, it’s clear overhead, and I see some high cirrus clouds lighting up pink near sunrise offshore to the south of Wailea and Makena. / It’s now 830am, and the earlier winds here in Kula have stopped, with sunny and clear skies abounding. Looking down towards Kahului, Kihei, Wailea, Maalaea Bay, and to Lahaina town…all looking good!
– We’re into the early evening, with a continued rather noticeable difference between the windward and leeward sides. The windward coasts and slopes have continued to be at least partly cloudy today, with some off and on passing showers. In contrast, the leeward beaches have remained mostly sunny and dry, just the way our visitors like it! It looks like this difference will remain in place tonight into Sunday, as yet another showery area of clouds impacts the windward sides tonight into Sunday morning…influencing the windward side of the Big Island too.
I’ll be back with many more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Saturday 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 went 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: There are no active tropical cyclones
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)
>>> South Pacific Ocean:
Tropical cyclone 04P (Tuni) 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.
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