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

82 –  63  Lihue, Kauai
80 –  65  Honolulu, Oahu
83 –  56  Molokai
83 –  57  Kahului AP, Maui
84 –  62  Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.02  Kilohana, Kauai
0.12  Palolo Fire Station, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Maui
0.01  Kamuela, Big Island

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

20  Puu Opae, Kauai – NW
17  Kii, Oahu – SW
14  Molokai – WSW
13  Lanai – W
25  Kahoolawe – NW
13  Maalaea Bay, Maui – N
16  PTA Range 17, Big Island – NW

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
The winter storm track remains north of Hawaii…
with a parade of cold fronts moving by to our north

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
The next cold front is pushing in our direction…northwest

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/vis.jpg
Mostly clear to partly cloudy skies…with the well
defined frontal cloud band reaching Kauai tonight

 

http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Mostly dry over the islands, with showers offshore
to the southeast of the Big Island…a few elsewhere
   looping radar image


High Surf Warning…north and west shores Kauai, Oahu and
Molokai, and the north shore to Maui

High Surf Advisory…west shore of the Big Island

Small Craft Advisory…all coastal and channel waters

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



Light and variable breezes giving way to breezy southwest kona winds…still volcanic haze locally. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. We find high pressure systems far to our west-northwest and east-northeast…with an associated ridge of high pressure stretching across the state. Meanwhile, we see a storm low pressure system to our north. This storm, with hurricane force winds, has a cold front located offshore to the northwest of the islands, moving in our direction. Our winds will remain light and variable in direction for the time being, with a brief period of southwest Kona winds arriving, as the cold front gets closer. Then a brief period of somewhat cooler north to northeasterly breezes arrives Friday into the weekend…finally ventilating away the long lasting volcanic haze (vog), at least temporarily. Lighter winds will return later Sunday into early next week, which may bring back more volcanic haze then. The models then show a short period of trade winds arriving later next week, which should help to sweep the haze away again temporarily.

We see just a few clouds over the islands locally…although most areas are totally clear. The overlying atmosphere remains dry and stable, as it has been for an extended period of time. Thus, the few clouds that are around now, aren’t dropping rainfall. Looking ahead, periodic cold fronts are expected to continue moving by just to our north, with the continued chance of occasionally sliding down into the state with a few showers…as is common during an El Nino winter. One such cold front will push into the state tonight over Kauai and Oahu, reaching as far as Maui County Friday into Saturday morning, where it will stale and dissipate. This front certainly isn’t going to be a big rainfall producer, far from it as a matter of fact. Looking further ahead, yet another weak cold front will approach our area by next Tuesday or so. As light to moderate trade winds return by during the middle of next week, there should be some modest increase in windward showers for a day or two. If things continue as they have, we’ll see yet another cold front approaching next Friday into the weekend.

Here in Maui County…We have mostly clear skies early Thursday morning before sunrise…along with moderately thick volcanic haze in the air. Here in upcountry Kula we have a cool air temperature of 46.2 F degrees at 535am. The temperature was a cool 59 degrees down near sea level in Kahului, with 64 out in Hana…and 46 atop the Haleakala Crater at the same time. Meanwhile, Kahoolawe’s highest elevation was reporting 66 degrees, with 63 degrees at Lanai City, and 60 at the Molokai airport. / 650am here in Kula…45.6 degrees / Now at 8am here in Kula, I can see that the volcanic haze is still around, although seems to be lighter (less thick) at the time of this writing.

– Now at 145pm here in upcountry Maui, the winds are strengthening ahead of the quickly approaching cold front. These winds would be strong enough to whisk away the volcanic haze over Maui County. However, there is still plenty of vog over the ocean to our south and west, which is being carried over the islands. It will take north to northeasterly winds to finally get rid of this long lasting haze. Winds from these directions will also bring cooler air into the state briefly…in association with this next cold front. We’re also finding clouds increasing over and around the mountains, while the beaches, at least for the most part, remain quite sunny this afternoon.

– 530pm, mostly clear to partly cloudy…and very voggy!

I’ll be back with many more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Thursday 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 2015 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2016. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant. Here’s the 2015 hurricane season summary

Out of season Tropical Storm Alex remains active, located about 35 miles north of Terceira in the Azores. Here’s the NHC graphical track map, along with a satellite image…and finally what the computer models are showing.

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2016. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant.

>>> Gulf of Mexico: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2016. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant.

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: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2015 North Pacific hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2016. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant. Here’s the 2015 hurricane season summary

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, 2016. During the off-season, special tropical weather outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant. Here’s the 2015 hurricane season summary

The remnants of Tropical Depression 01C (Pali) are now dissipating, located about 1700 miles southwest Honolulu, Hawaii…. Here’s the CPHC graphical track map, along with a satellite image – Final Advisory

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 07P (Victor) remains active, located about 262 miles east of Pago Pago, American Samoa. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, along with a satellite image...and finally what the computer 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: Why the Himalayas keep growing – An international team of scientists has shed new light on the earthquake that devastated Nepal in April 2015, killing more than 8,000 people.

In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the scientists show that a kink in the regional fault line below Nepal explains why the highest mountains in the Himalayas are seen to grow between earthquakes.

Study co-author Dr Pablo González, from the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, said: “We successfully mapped the earthquake motion using satellite technology on a very difficult mountainous terrain.

“We developed newly processing algorithms to obtain clearer displacement maps, which revealed the most likely fault geometry at depth to make sense of the puzzling geological observations.”

The researchers, from the UK’s Centre for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tectonics (COMET), as well as academics from the USA and France, also demonstrate that the rupture on the fault stopped 11km below Kathmandu.

This indicates that another major earthquake could take place within a shorter timeframe than the centuries that might be expected for the area.

Lead author Dr John Elliott of Oxford University, a member of the COMET team, said: “We have shown that the fault beneath Nepal has a kink in it, creating a ramp 20km underground.

“Material is continually being pushed up this ramp, which explains why the mountains were seen to be growing in the decades before the earthquake.

“The earthquake itself then reversed this, dropping the mountains back down again when the pressure was released as the crust suddenly snapped in April 2015.

“Using the latest satellite technology, we have been able to precisely measure the land height changes across the entire eastern half of Nepal. The highest peaks dropped by up to 60cm in the first seconds of the earthquake.”

Mount Everest, at more than 50km east of the earthquake zone, was too far away to be affected by the subsidence in this event.

Another key finding of the study shows that the rupture in the fault stopped 11km below Kathmandu, leaving an upper portion that remains unbroken and will build up more pressure over time as India continues to collide with Nepal.

Dr Elliott said: “As this part of the fault is nearer the surface, the future rupture of this upper portion has the potential for a much greater impact on Kathmandu if it were to break in one go in a similar sized event to that of April 2015.

“Work on other earthquakes has suggested that when a rupture stops like this, it can be years or decades before it resumes, rather than the centuries that might usually be expected.”