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

80 – 64  Lihue, Kauai
81 – 65  Honolulu, Oahu

8260  Molokai AP
8361  Kahului AP, Maui
83 – 68  Kailua Kona
85
– 68  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

0.14  N Wailua Ditch, Kauai
0.14 
Waianae, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.39  Kaupo Gap, Maui
1.32  Kealakomo, Big Island

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

15  Waimea Heights, Kauai – SW
16  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – NW
08
  Molokai – NNE
15  Lanai – WSW

16  Kahaloowe – SW
12  Kaupo Gap, Maui – SE

23  Puu Mali, Big Island – WNW

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
Approaching early spring cold front northwest of the islands

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
An area of low pressure is moving slowly away towards the
northeast…with a large swath of high clouds to the southeast
of the state – a weakening cold front northwest

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Lots of rainy clouds offshore to the northeast…with
generally fair weather over the islands

 

http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Just a few showers here and there…very few in fact
looping radar image


Maui had a magnitude 3.6 earthquake this morning at 403am –
no tsunami was generated


~~~
Hawaii Weather Narrative
~~~



Light and variable breezes…becoming southwest ahead of a cold front into Monday. 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 of Hawaii.
At the same time, we see troughs of low pressure over the ocean just east and west of the state. Looking further out to sea, we see a storm low pressure far to the northwest, with its associated cold front. Our local winds are generally light and variable, with daytime sea breezes. The forecast has our winds turning breezier from the southwest ahead of a cold front Monday into Tuesday. We’ll likely see another short period of light winds…in the wake of the cold front. It looks as though we should return to light to moderately strong trade winds during the later part of the new week.

Marine environment details: A small northwest swell will linger into Monday. A large warning level northwest swell will arrive on Tuesday, peak Tuesday night and early Wednesday…then gradually lower through the rest of the week. A small north-northwest swell is expected next weekend. There will also be a series of small south swells throughout the forecast period along our leeward shores.

Winds will remain below small craft advisory levels throughout the forecast period. However, the above mentioned large northwest swell will cause seas to exceed the 5 feet (10 foot wave faces) advisory threshold over exposed waters…Tuesday through Thursday.

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

Nice weather for Easter…some afternoon and early evening clouds. The recent unsettled weather was due to nearby areas of low pressure, which were keeping our local atmosphere very shower prone. These low pressure troughs are losing their influence…bringing back more typical early spring weather our way briefly. Today’s holiday turned out to be an even better day than what we experienced Saturday…although we are beginning to see an increase in volcanic haze. As we move into Monday, we’ll find the next cold front approaching. This frontal boundary will bring a period of showers to the island chain later Monday into early Wednesday morning. The longer range outlook then shows relatively drier weather returning during the middle to later part of the week, with fairly routine windward showers at times into next weekend.

 

   http://www.fodors.com/ee/files/slideshows/4-Explore-Kauais-Napali-Coast-2.jpg
The beautiful island of Kauai


Here in Maui County
…We’re seeing a very clear start to our Easter holiday here in Maui County. It’s just now getting light as I write these words, so that I can see our environment has cleared of the recent long lasting volcanic haze. It’s clear early this Sunday morning. Here in upcountry Kula, it was clear and calm, with the air temperature 47.8F degrees. The temperature at near the same time was 63 degrees down in Kahului under clear skies, 63 out in Hana, 61 at Maalaea Bay, and 39 atop the Haleakala summit. Meanwhile, Kahoolawe was 64 degrees, 61 at Lanai City, with 61 at the Molokai airport…with clear skies.

Mid-afternoon Easter, under clear to partly cloudy skies…a lovely day indeed! / Now a little later in the afternoon, skies have turned partly cloudy, with what looks like light volcanic haze beginning to arrive in our environment.

Early Easter Eve, our clouds have increased greatly over what we saw this morning, when there was hardly a cloud in the sky. Here in upcountry Kula, it’s mostly cloudy, although looking down in the central valley, I see some patches of sunshine still around. As I glance down in that direction, I can sure see lots of volcanic haze now too. I’m pretty sure that most of these clouds were prompted by the daytime heating of the islands, and that they should mostly evaporate after the sun goes down.


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: No active tropical cyclones

>>>
South Pacific Ocean:
No active tropical cyclones


>>>
North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea:
No active tropical cyclones

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


Interesting:
Human impact on Earth’s global energy
The impact humans have made on Earth in terms of how we produce and consume resources has formed a ‘striking new pattern’ in the planet’s global energy flow, according to researchers from the University of Leicester.

The research suggests that Earth is now characterized by a geologically unprecedented pattern of global energy flow that is pervasively influenced by humans — and which is necessary for maintaining the complexity of modern human societies.

The new study, published in the journal Earth’s Future, is led by Professors Mark Williams and Jan Zalasiewicz of the University of Leicester’s Department of Geology working with an international team of scholars.

While analyzing the Anthropocene phenomenon — an epoch where humans dominate Earth’s surface geology — the team identified that human patterns of production and consumption are a key factor characterizing the epoch, and when measured against the billion-year old patterns of planet Earth, they form a striking new pattern.

Professor Zalasiewicz said: “Very big changes in our planet’s pattern of biological production and consumption do not happen very often. The appearance of photosynthesis was one, about two and a half billion years ago. Then, a little over half a billion years ago, animals like trilobites appeared, to add scavengers and predators into a food web of increasing complexity.

“Other major events have happened since, such as five major mass extinctions, but even measured against these events, human-driven changes to production and consumption are distinctly new.”

Dr Carys Bennett, co-author on the study from the University of Leicester’s Department of Geology, added: “It is without precedent to have a single species appropriating something like one quarter of the net primary biological production of the planet and to become effectively the top predator both on land and at sea.”

In addition, by digging phosphorus out of the ground and by fixing nitrogen out of the air to make fertilizers; and by exploiting hundreds of millions of years-worth of stored carbon-based energy in a still-accelerating trend, humans are increasing productivity well above natural levels — and directing much of it towards animals that have been re-engineered to suit our purposes.

Professor Zalasiewicz added: “This refashioning of the relationship between Earth’s production and consumption is leaving signals in strata now forming, and this helps characterize the Anthropocene as a geological time unit.

“It also has wider and more fundamental importance in signaling a new biological stage in this planet’s evolution.”

Archaeologist Dr Matthew Edgeworth, Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Leicester’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History, added: “Recent changes in Earth’s biosphere, caused in part by human activity, are starting to become evident in rock and soil strata. Unprecedented stratigraphic signals are challenging disciplines like geology and archaeology to assess such changes and put them in temporal context, relative to other major transitions in Earth’s history.”

Dr Colin Waters of the British Geological Survey said: “Modern human society is structured around economic production and consumption and our recent perturbation of the balance between the two, notably since the mid-20th century, will leave a signal that will provide a lasting legacy of our existence on this planet.”

In 2016 the Anthropocene Working Group led by Professor Zalasiewicz will gather more evidence on the Anthropocene, which will help inform recommendations on whether this new time unit should be formalized and, if so, how it might be defined and characterized.