Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday…along with the minimums Friday:
85 – 75 Lihue, Kauai
83 – 71 Honolulu, Oahu
83 – 70 Molokai AP
86 – 68 Kahului AP, Maui
84 – 72 Kailua Kona
83 – 67 Hilo AP, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Friday evening:
3.02 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.34 Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.05 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.24 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.08 Puuanahulu, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Friday evening:
27 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
29 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – SSW
28 Molokai – E
28 Lanai – NE
37 Kahoolawe – NE
28 Kahului AP, Maui – NE
25 Upolu AP, Big Island – NE
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
A couple of low pressure systems over the ocean far to the north…
along with their trailing cold fronts
Clear to partly cloudy, windward cloudy areas locally,
a few thunderstorms southeast through southwest
Cloudy periods windward…mostly clear to partly cloudy
leeward areas
A few showers – Looping radar image
Small Craft Advisory…windiest coasts and channels
around Maui County and the Big Island
Celebrating Earth Day 2016
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Trades winds continuing…into next week. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. We find a high pressure system not far offshore to the north-northeast, and another to the north…with associated ridges extending from their centers to the northwest and northeast of the state. At the same time, we see gale low pressure systems far northwest through northeast, along with their trailing cold fronts. Moderately strong trade winds will continue well into the future, with minor fluctuations in strength along the way. Trade wind strengths will be strongest during the late morning through early evenings…and lightest through the nights into early morning hours.
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
Trade wind weather pattern holding firm…well into the future. The trade winds will keep most showers focused along the windward sides, arriving generally during the night and early morning hours. Otherwise, nothing out of the ordinary expected…with pleasant April weather conditions prevailing. The one thing I do notice, is that’s there’s a trough of low pressure over the state, which may lead to a few locally heavier showers tomorrow. The leeward sides of the islands will remain in good shape, with few showers anticipated through the rest of the weekend…into next week.
Marine environment details: The current northwest swell will continue to lower through the weekend…with another small northwest swell expected on Tuesday and Wednesday. Surf heights will remain well below advisory levels. Storms in the far southern hemisphere will continue to produce small surf along south facing leeward shores throughout the forecast period, and the easterly trades will continue to produce short period choppy surf along east facing shores.
A small craft advisory remains posted for the typically windy waters around Maui County and the Big Island.
The path to a lovely beach…Oahu
I’m honoring the music that…recently deceased Prince left behind for the world. I wasn’t a huge fan of his music, although I certainly enjoyed listening to it at times over the years. Here’s a short list of several of his popular songs that I’ve picked out to share with those of you that may be interested: Little Red Corvette, Let’s Go Crazy, Delirious and Purple Rain – by the way…I’m quite sure that Prince would have recommended turning up the volume!
Here on Maui – Well before sunrise on this Friday morning, we find partly to mostly cloudy skies along the windward coasts and slopes…stretching up over the West Maui Mountains. These clouds are dropping a few showers, although nothing unusual. Elsewhere around the island, skies were mostly clear, setting the stage for another nice day coming up. Here in upcountry Kula, it’s clear and calm, with an air temperature at my weather tower of 48.9F degrees. At near the same time, the Kahului AP was registering 69 degrees under mostly cloudy skies, while it was 72 out in Hana, and 43 atop the Haleakala Crater. / Now at 925am, I’m noticing some pretty well developed cumulus clouds forming over the island. They aren’t of the towering cumulus variety yet, although they seem to be heading in that direction. This suggests that there is colder than normal air aloft, and may eventually translate into a few heavier showers locally today.
– Later afternoon, with more clouds than we’ve had most of this work week, stretched over most of the island…although the north shore looks pretty cloud free in comparison. Here in upcountry Kula, we actually had a very light sprinkle, the first precipitation I’ve seen in quite a while…although it didn’t amount to more than a trace.
– Early evening, lots of clouds around, although offset by clear skies over the north shore at the time of this writing. I anticipate that these clouds will evaporate during the night, leading to another generally clear to partly cloudy morning Saturday.
Friday Evening Film: My film viewing buddy Jeff is back from Germany and the mainland, so we went down to see a new one. It was called Midnight Special, starring Michael Shannon, Adam Driver, Kirsten Dunst, Joel Edgerton, Sam Shepard, Jaeden Lieberher...among many others. The synopsis: Midnight Special’s intriguing mysteries may not resolve themselves to every viewer’s liking, but the journey is ambitious, entertaining, and terrifically acted. A drama about a father and his eight-year-old son, who go on the lam upon discovering that the boy possesses mysterious powers. The critics are being rather generous with this film, and for the most part…I could see why. I liked the way this film opened up, and this liking kept up until close to the end, when it slipped. This doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a special film, which both Jeff and I agreed upon. This was a very interesting science fiction piece of work, although my critical remarks generally center around how Hollywood had to show its face too many times along the way, and especially near the end. Jeff and I both came down just below a straight A grade…giving it an A- rating. If you have any interest, here’s the trailer for this very entertaining film.
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:
Tropical Cyclone 20P (Amos) remains active, heading towards Samoa and American Samoa, in the South Pacific Ocean…here’s the JTWC graphical track map, a satellite image, and what the computer forecast models are showing
>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea:
Tropical Cyclone 19S (Fantala) remains active near Madagascar 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: Mystery Solved: Traits Identified for Why Certain Chemicals Reach Toxic Levels in Food Webs Researchers have figured out what makes certain chemicals accumulate to toxic levels in aquatic food webs. And, scientists have developed a screening technique to determine which chemicals pose the greatest risk to the environment.
According to the study led by the U.S. Geological Survey, two traits were identified that indicate how chemicals can build up and reach toxic levels: how easily a chemical is broken down or metabolized by an organism and the chemical’s ability to dissolve in water.
These traits account for how most chemicals concentrate, or biomagnify, in ever-higher levels as one goes up the food chain from its base to its top predators, such as fish, people, or polar bears. Chemicals that have the ability to biomagnify, such as DDT, can have adverse effects on human and wildlife health and the environment.
“Chemical manufacturers and regulators can use this information to reduce the risks of harmful chemical exposures to ecosystems and the fish, wildlife and people who live in them,” said David Walters, a USGS research ecologist and lead author of the study. “By screening for these two characteristics, we can identify chemicals that pose the greatest risk of the thousands that are on the market and for new ones being developed.”
The study found that poorly metabolized compounds tend to remain in animal tissues and are passed up the food chain in higher, more toxic amounts as one animal is eaten by another and so on. Likewise, compounds that don’t dissolve well in water accumulate in animal fats, ultimately exponentially increasing in top predators.
Beyond these chemical properties, the researchers found that certain ecosystems and food webs are more vulnerable to biomagnification than others. For example, extremely high biomagnification occurred in ocean food webs that include birds and mammals. The authors noted this may be in part due to longer food chains in these ecosystems that is, many levels and kinds of predators – and because warm-blooded animals need to consume more food than do cold-blooded animals like fish.
Building upon these results, the researchers developed a model of biomagnification based upon how chemicals metabolize and dissolve in water. The likelihood that a chemical would biomagnify was highest – nearly 100 percent — for slowly metabolized compounds such as chlorinated flame retardants and PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, regardless of their solubility in water.
We need to learn from our previous mistakes and have more informed and responsible design and use of chemicals in the environment,” said Karen Kidd, a Canada Research Chair at University of New Brunswick Saint John and co-author of the study. “Our global review provides a straightforward approach for reducing the use of chemicals with the properties to concentrate through food webs. This is a critical step for decreasing risks for humans and wildlife from potentially harmful chemical exposures in foods.”
Since the emergence of DDT as a global problem for wildlife in the 1950s and 60s, science has kept a close watch on the behavior of persistent organic pollutants, especially chemicals that may concentrate through food webs to potentially toxic levels in wildlife and humans. Many are resistant to environmental degradation and remain in the environment for decades. While biomagnification can be measured in the laboratory, said Walters, it is best determined by measuring how much the chemical increases with each step in the food chain in wild animal populations.
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