Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday…along with the minimums Sunday:
74 – 69 Lihue, Kauai
77 – 69 Honolulu, Oahu
78 – 70 Molokai AP
83 – 68 Kahului AP, Maui
84 – 71 Kailua Kona
82 – 65 Hilo AP, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Sunday evening:
5.71 Kilohana, Kauai
2.96 Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.83 Puu Alii, Molokai
0.02 Lanai
0.06 Kahoolawe
0.30 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.46 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Sunday evening:
30 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
47 Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
33 Molokai – NNE
35 Lanai – NE
27 Kahoolawe – NW
30 Kapalua, Maui – NNE
28 Pali 2, Big Island – SW
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
Low pressure systems over the ocean far to the north…along
with their trailing cold fronts
Partly to mostly cloudy…thunderstorms well south
A ragged frontal boundary is moving through the state
Showers falling along the frontal boundary
looping radar image
(Kauai radar not working)
Small Craft Advisory…coasts and channels around parts of
Kauai, Oahu, Maui County, and the Big Island
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Trades strengthening…continuing into the new week. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. We find high pressure systems offshore to the north-northwest of the islands. At the same time, we see low pressure systems northeast, along with the tail-end of an associated cold front now moving through the islands. The trade winds will continue, and as this dissipating cold front moves across our area…they will strengthen. It looks like moderately strong trade winds will be blowing throughout the new week, with minor fluctuations in strength along the way. A cold front moving by the state next weekend, will cause our long lasting trade wind regime, to finally falter some.
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
Moisture from a weakening cold front…bringing increased showers through Monday. The trade winds will keep showers focused along the windward sides for the most part, although stretching over into the leeward sides at times. The moisture from a weakening cold front will move over the state now, riding down over Maui County and the Big Island into Monday…bringing showers. This shower activity will arrive generally along our windward sides, although not exclusively. A drier trade wind weather pattern will move into place, with most showers landing on the windward coasts and slopes…beginning Tuesday through Friday. As a cold front moves by to the north of the islands next weekend, we’ll see some increase in localized showers.
Marine environment details: The current northwest swell will continue to diminish through Monday, but increasing trade winds today will bring an increase in short period wind waves from the northeast. Resultant surf will remain below advisory levels. A long period west-northwest swell arriving Tuesday and peaking Wednesday, will bring surf heights near advisory levels along exposed north and west facing shores…before gradually diminishing Thursday and Friday. A small south swell is possible around Friday, with a small northwest swell possible next weekend.
A small craft advisory /SCA/ is in effect for most zones due to seas and winds. A relatively brief surge in trade wind speeds is expected from today into tonight, as high pressure builds north of the area. The high is expected to weaken on Monday, but an east-west ridge axis developing along 30°N will provide moderate to locally fresh trade winds over the upcoming week, that may be strong enough to warrant an SCA in the windier areas around Maui County and the Big Island.
Lowering surf along north and
west shores…gusty trades
Here on Maui – At sunrise Sunday, we find generally clear skies, with clouds along the windward sides, and stretching up over the West Maui Mountains as usual. Here in upcountry Kula, it’s clear and calm, with an air temperature at my weather tower of 46.2F degrees at 6am. At near the same time, the Kahului AP was registering 68 degrees, while it was 72 at Maalaea Bay, 52 at Kaupo Gap, 68 out in Hana, and 41 atop the Haleakala Crater.
– Mid-afternoon Sunday, with just about equal parts clouds and blue skies. I’m seeing more and more clouds along the windward sides, and over towards Keokea and Ulupalakua too. Here in Kula, I’m beginning to sense that showers aren’t that far away, although nothing is falling yet. I can see on the latest satellite images, that the leading edge of this approaching cold front isn’t very far north of Maui County.
– Early evening, with increasing clouds, and radar shows some rain in the area. It shouldn’t be too long before showers arrive in Kula, although it’s not here yet. Observations in Kahului show that it’s raining there already, also over in Kapalua…with light rain at the Molokai airport as well.
Friday Evening Film: My film buff friend Jeff is in Germany this week, visiting and working with his friend Svetlana. So I’ll be heading down to Kahului this evening to catch one of the new films. This time I’ll see one called Criminal, starring a rather impressive cast, including Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, Ryan Reynolds, Jordi Molla, and Gal Gadot…among many others. The synopsis: the memories and skills of a CIA agent are implanted into the brain of a dangerous criminal, in order to stop an international terrorist. The critics aren’t very enthused about this film, despite the top notch caste, as a matter of fact…they are rather negative about it across the board. Oh well, I saw it anyway, and can’t give such a dreadful review. It was full of action, and I guess because of its R rating, it allowed Kevin Costner to really bear down with some pretty heavy violence. As far as a grade goes, I’ll give it a strong B, although not as far as a B+ I’m afraid. Here’s the trailer in case you want to take a quick peek at what I sat through.
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)
>>> South Pacific Ocean: No active tropical cyclones
>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea:
Tropical Cyclone 19S (Fantala) remains active in the South Indian Ocean…here’s the JTWC graphical track map, a satellite image, and what the computer forecast models are showing
Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)
Interesting: Clear cutting forests and its influence on carbon storage – Clear-cutting loosens up carbon stored in forest soils, increasing the chances it will return to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and contribute to climate change, a Dartmouth College study shows.
The findings appear in the journal Soil Science.
Soil is the world’s largest terrestrial carbon pool. In northern hardwood forests in the United States, mineral soil pools store up to 50 percent of total ecosystem carbon. Logging and other land-use changes are a major cause of soil carbon release, but there has been recent interest to further understand soil carbon dynamics in forested ecosystems after logging. This is of particular importance in the northeastern U.S. because of the great potential for the use of biomass as part of a diversified renewable energy portfolio.
The Dartmouth researchers explored whether clear-cutting changes the strength of the chemical bonds of carbon stored in mineral soils in hardwood forests in the northeastern United States. Clear-cutting involves harvesting all timber from a site at once rather than selectively culling mature trees. Carbon is stored in soil by binding only to certain soil structures.
The researchers collected soils from recently clear-cut forests and from older forests, and pulled carbon from the soil in a sequence of gentle to stronger extractions. The results showed that mature forest stands stored significantly more soil organic carbon in strongly mineral-bound and stable carbon pools than did soils from cut stands.
“Clear-cutting forests has an effect of mobilizing the carbon, making it more likely to leave the soil and end up in the atmosphere,” says senior author Andrew Friedland, a professor of environmental studies. “These findings are important because differences in the relative distribution of carbon in organo-mineral pools in mature and cut forests may inform our understanding of soil organic matter stability and bio-availability, microbial decomposition and carbon dioxide production in ecosystems after clear-cutting.”
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