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

80 – 65  Lihue, Kauai
84 – 67  Honolulu, Oahu

8267  Molokai AP
8661  Kahului AP, Maui

81 – 73  Kona AP
87 – 67  Hilo, Hawaii tied the record for the date – set back in 1980

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

1.40  Hanalei, Kauai
0.01  Poamoho RG 1,
Oahu
0.21  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.04  Kaupo Gap, Maui
0.13  Mountain View, Big Island

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

24  Mana, Kauai – NW
24  Kuaokala, OahuNNE
18  Molokai – NE
17  Lanai – NE

27  Kahoolawe – ENE
25  Maalaea Bay, Maui – NW

27  Pali 2, Big Island – ENE

Hawaii’s MountainsHere’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
A cold front is well to the northwest
of the islands

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
Numerous thunderstorms far south of the islands

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/vis.jpg
Clouds banked-up against the windward sides of Kauai, Maui County
and Oahu…leftover from the recent cold front

 

http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Some showers…mostly over the nearby ocean, and along
the windward sides locally –
looping radar image


Small Craft Advisory
…most coasts and channels around

the state

High Surf Advisory…north and west shores of Kauai, Oahu,
Molokai, and north shores of Maui – starting this evening

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



Light to moderately strong trade winds…backing off briefly Monday.  Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. We find a high pressure system well to our east-northeast…with a ridge of high pressure extending westward, just to the north of the state…running to another high pressure cell west-northwest of Hawaii. Meanwhile, there’s another high pressure system well to the northeast of our islands. At the same time, there’s a developing storm far north-northwest, moving into the Bering Sea, that has the next cold front…which will be running by north of the state. The recent long bout of volcanic haze is now being swept away over the ocean to our south…thank goodness! Light to moderately strong trade winds will continue into Monday morning. The current forecast has lighter winds returning briefly thereafter, with alternating periods of trade winds and light and variable winds prevailing through next week…with volcanic haze coming and going along the way.

A cold front brought some showers locally to Kauai…and to the central islands at times during the day. It was able to bring 1.40″ of rain to the gauge at Hanalei Bay, on the windward side of Kauai. Elsewhere in the state, rainfall was rather limited with the front, which of course is indicative of our dry El Nino winter conditions. The relatively close proximity of this front however, will keep some showers over the windward sides of the islands…at times into Sunday. The leeward sides of the islands should have decent weather, especially now that the trade winds have finally got rid of this long lasting volcanic haze. The models suggest that yet another weak cold front will approach the state during the Monday-Tuesday period, and then again around next Friday, although there isn’t much chance of either of them bringing all that many showers our way, if any…as they pass by to our north. The models portray another quiet week of weather up ahead, at least until we get into next weekend, when things could become much more interesting.

Here in Maui CountyIt’s mostly clear to partly cloudy early Saturday morning. Here in upcountry Kula we have an air temperature of 46.5F degrees. The temperature at near the same time was 63 degrees near sea level in Kahului, 70 out in Hana, 68 over in Kapalua…and 50 atop the Haleakala Crater. Meanwhile, Kahoolawe’s coolest temperature was 70 degrees, with 65 degrees at Lanai City, and 70 at the Molokai airport.

Looking at the latest satellite image and radar, we see that this retiring cold front is trying to hold together for a while longer. What I can see around Maui this afternoon looks sunny to partly cloudy, with some cloudy areas along the windward sides too…with a few light showers here and there

Early evening, with quite a few clouds around, especially along the windward side…with what looks like a few showers. The latest models are FINALLY showing something that catches my eye, in a rather exciting way I might add. They depict a rather deep low pressure system edging into the area not far north, with the possibility of some good rainfall! The bulk of this precipitation will likely remain north of our area, although I’m hoping that the southern portion of the associated moisture dips down into the state! We could definitely use the rain, as likely we’ll grade right back into a relatively dry pattern thereafter…given El Nino and all.

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 still a couple of films that I’ve been hankering to see the last several weeks, there are so many in fact, that I had to see two last week…just to try and keep up. Tonight, my film viewing friend Jeff and I have decided to see one that looks pretty darn gnarly, called The Revenant. This dramatic action and adventure film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleason, Will Poulter, Forrest Goodluck, Paul Anderson, and Melaw Nakehk’o…among many others. The synopsis: Inspired by true events, The Revenant is an immersive and visceral cinematic experience, capturing one man’s epic adventure of survival and the extraordinary power of the human spirit. In an expedition of the uncharted American wilderness, legendary explorer Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is brutally attacked by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team. In a quest to survive, Glass endures unimaginable grief as well as the betrayal of his confidant John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy). Guided by sheer will and the love of his family, Glass must navigate a vicious winter in a relentless pursuit to live and find redemption. This film is directed and co-written by renowned filmmaker, Academy Award (R) winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman, Babel).

This film was elemental…a real force of nature! It was such a raw film, an epic tale of human survival out in the cold snowy world. This film swept me up, carried me along roughly for a couple of hours, and then plunked me back in my seat, sitting in that theater half dazed. It was a fabulous story, filled with vengeance, incredible beauty…and of course the requisite horror. A punishing drama, in which Leonardo DiCaprio is totally mauled by a mother bear, and then left for dead by members of his own team. There was subtle beauty filled with magnificence, and yet otherworldly grittiness was waiting around every corner. In sum, revenge has never been more brutally depicted, as it is in this epic tale! Jeff gave the film a B+, while I went a tad bit higher, with a strong B+…almost reaching A minus. Here’s the trailer – full screen is always best, although as I mentioned above…this film is not a light weight piece of work.


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

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

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 / Arabian Sea:

Tropical Cyclone 09S (Stan) is dissipating inland over Australia, located 52 NM east-northeast of Port Hedland, Australia. Here’s a satellite image of this cyclone – Final Warning

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


Interesting: 
Study finds toxic pollutants in fish across the world’s oceans
– A new global analysis of seafood found that fish populations throughout the world’s oceans are contaminated with industrial and agricultural pollutants, collectively known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The study from researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego also uncovered some good news…concentrations of these pollutants have been consistently dropping over the last 30 years.

The findings, reported in the Jan. 28, 2016 issue of the journal PeerJ, were based on an analysis by Scripps researchers Lindsay Bonito, Amro Hamdoun, and Stuart Sandin of hundreds of peer-reviewed articles from 1969-2012. The pollutants studied included older ‘legacy’ chemicals, such as DDT and mercury, as well as newer industrial chemicals, such as flame retardants and coolants.

“Based on the best data collected from across the globe, we can say that POPs can be anywhere and in any species of marine fish,” said Scripps biologist Sandin, a co-author of the study.

Although POPs were found in fish in all of the world’s oceans, the researchers say that concentrations in the consumable meat of marine fish are highly variable, where one region or group of fish may find concentrations of POPs that vary by 1,000-fold. The analysis revealed that average concentrations of each class of POP were significantly higher in the 1980s than is found today, with a drop in concentration of 15-30 percent per decade.

“This means that the typical fish that you consume today can have approximately 50 percent of the concentration of most POPs when compared to the same fish eaten by your parents at your age,” said Bonito, the lead author of the study. “But there still remains a chance of getting a fillet as contaminated as what your parents ate.”

The researchers also compared the results to federal safety guidelines for seafood consumption and found that the average levels of contaminants were at or below the health standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Mercury and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl) concentrations were at the EPA threshold for occasional human consumption, while concentrations of DDT were consistently much lower than the established threshold.

According to the authors, these results suggest that the global community has responded to the calls-to-action, such as in the Stockholm Convention, to limit the release of potentially harmful chemicals into the environment.

The authors caution that although pollutant concentrations in marine fish are steadily declining, they still remain quite high, and that understanding the cumulative effects of numerous exposures to pollutants in seafood is necessary to determine the specific risk to consumers.