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

75 – 64  Lihue, Kauai
78 – 66  Honolulu, Oahu
74 – 65  Molokai AP
78 – 66  Kahului AP, Maui
86 – 70  Kailua Kona
78 – 67  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

0.66  Kilohana, Kauai
0.04  Waiahole, Oahu
0.14  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.60  West Wailuaiki, Maui
1.69  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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

28  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
37  Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
28  Molokai – N
30  Lanai – NE
35  Kahaloowe – NNW
30  Kapalua, Maui – N
42  Kealakomo, Big Island – NNW

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
Big storm continues spinning far north-northeast of the
islands, in the Gulf of Alaska…with high clouds moving
by south of the state

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
The old cold front remains southeast of the Big Island

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Variable clouds across the state

 

http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
A few showers falling over the windward sides…locally elsewhere
looping radar image

 

Small Craft Advisory…coastal and channel waters across
all of the state of Hawaii

High Surf Advisory…for large waves along all north shores

 

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



Winds are locally strong and gusty from the northeast…which will continue through the weekend. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. We find high pressure systems to the northeast and northwest of Hawaii, with an associated ridge of high pressure to our north. At the same time, we see a storm low pressure system far to the north-northeast…with its associated cold front now over the ocean to the southeast of the Hawaiian Islands. In the wake of this old front, we’ll continue to have northeasterly winds. Trade winds will ease-up in strength as we move through the weekend. The models are suggesting that the trade winds will fade away again later Sunday into early next week. They will give way to lighter southeast winds, carrying volcanic haze over the smaller islands by Monday.

There will be a few localized windward showers…with drier weather prevailing in most areas for the next several days. The recent cold front, which moved across all of the state, and is now stalled over the ocean to the southeast of Big Island. This front was quite shallow, although that didn’t stop it from dropping some decent moisture over many parts of the state…during its journey through the islands. This weakening cold front has stalled over the ocean just southeast of the Big Island. Windward shower chances will remain a little higher there…and perhaps over east Maui for a day or two as well. We’ll find generally fair, late winter weather conditions in most areas through the weekend. The next potential weather change, will entail showers arriving Tuesday-Wednesday of next week…as a new cold front presents itself then.

 

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Marine environment details: The buoys at Waimea and Pauwela continue to report a large north-northwest swell. The waves at the buoys remain higher than what has been forecast. A high surf advisory remains up for north facing shores and a marine weather statement for north facing harbors because of the large swell. The north-northwest swell will continue through the weekend, and a new northwest swell is expected to arrive Saturday. The high surf advisory is likely to continue through the weekend.

The pressure gradient remains tight enough to produce strong northeast trade winds over the area. A small craft advisory, is in effect for all coastal waters, due to the strong trade winds along with the large north-northwest swell. The advisory is likely to remain up for most areas through the weekend. The winds will weaken and veer out of the southeast Monday as a surface ridge of high pressure shifts south near the islands.

 

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

Here’s the Hawaiian Islands Sulfate Aerosol…animated graphic – showing vog forecast


Here in Maui County…It was clear to partly cloudy leeward sections, with cloudy conditions and a few light showers along the windward sides early this Thursday morning. Here in upcountry Kula, it was mostly clear and breezy, with the air temperature 46.9F degrees at sunrise. The temperature at near the same time was 68 degrees down in Kahului under cloudy skies, 64 out in Hana, also under cloudy skies, and 39 atop the Haleakala summit. Meanwhile, Kahoolawe was 68 degrees, 62 at Lanai City, with 66 at the Molokai airport…with mostly cloudy skies.

– Early evening, under mostly clear skies, with some minor low clouds around the edges. Looking down into the central valley, from up here at my weather tower in Kula, I can see some sort of haze…light to moderately thick in appearance as we head towards sunset.


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 15S (Emeraude) remains active in the South Indian Ocean, with winds of 115 knots and gusts of 140 knots…located approximately 700 NM east-southeast of Diego Garcia. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, a NOAA satellite image, a near real time wind profile…and what the computer models are showing.

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


Interesting: Generating electricity with tomato waste – A team of scientists is exploring an unusual source of electricity — damaged tomatoes that are unsuitable for sale at the grocery store. Their pilot project involves a biological-based fuel cell that uses tomato waste left over from harvests in Florida.

The researchers present their work today at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS, the world’s largest scientific society, is holding the meeting here through Thursday. It features more than 12,500 presentations on a wide range of science topics.

“We have found that spoiled and damaged tomatoes left over from harvest can be a particularly powerful source of energy when used in a biological or microbial electro-chemical cell,” says Namita Shrestha, who is working on the project. “The process also helps purify the tomato-contaminated solid waste and associated waste water.”

Shrestha is a graduate student in the lab of Venkataramana Gadhamshetty, Ph.D., P.E., at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. They are collaborating on this project with Alex Fogg, an undergraduate chemistry major at Princeton University. Other project collaborators include Daniel Franco, Joseph Wilder and Simeon Komisar, Ph.D., at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Tomatoes are a key crop in Florida, notes Gadhamshetty. He stresses that the project is important to the state because Florida generates 396,000 tons of tomato waste every year, but lacks a good treatment process.

Gadhamshetty began working on the topic as a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University. “The project began a few years ago when Alex visited my lab in Fort Myers, Florida, and said he was interested in researching a local problem, especially local tomatoes grown in our state and the large waste treatment issue,” Gadhamshetty says. “We wanted to find a way to treat this waste that, when dumped in landfills, can produce methane — a powerful greenhouse gas — and when dumped in water bodies, can create major water treatment problems.”

So, the team developed a microbial electro-chemical cell that can exploit tomato waste to generate electric current. Shrestha explains, “Microbial electro-chemical cells use bacteria to break down and oxidize organic material in defective tomatoes.”

The oxidation process, triggered by the bacteria interacting with tomato waste, releases electrons that are captured in the fuel cell and become a source of electricity. The natural lycopene pigment in tomatoes, the researchers have found, is an excellent mediator to encourage the generation of electrical charges from the damaged fruits.

Some of their results proved to be counter-intuitive. “Typical biotechnological applications require, or at least perform better, when using pure chemicals, compared to wastes,” Gadhamshetty notes. “However, we found that electrical performance using defective tomatoes was equal or better than using pure substrates. These wastes can be a rich source of indigenous redox mediators and carbon, as well as electrons.”

At the moment, the power output from their device is quite small: 10 milligrams of tomato waste can result in 0.3 watts of electricity. But the researchers note that with an expected scale up and more research, electrical output could be increased by several orders of magnitude.

According to calculations by Shrestha, there is theoretically enough tomato waste generated in Florida each year to meet Disney World’s electricity demand for 90 days, using an optimized biological fuel cell.

“Our research question at this time is to investigate the fundamental electron transfer mechanisms and the interaction between the solid tomato waste and microbes,” Gadhamshetty notes. They plan to improve the cell by determining which of its parts — electrode, electricity-producing bacteria, biological film, wiring — are resisting the flow of electricity. Then they will tweak or replace that part.