Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday…along with the low temperatures Friday:
83 – 72 Lihue, Kauai
83 – 72 Honolulu, Oahu
82 – 65 Molokai AP
88 – 66 Kahului AP, Maui
86 – 74 Kailua Kona
84 – 69 Hilo AP, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Friday evening:
6.80 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
2.10 Mililani, Oahu
0.01 Molokai AP, Molokai
0.01 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.30 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.42 Piihonua, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Friday evening:
21 Moloaa Dairy, Kauai
20 Kahuku, Oahu
21 Molokai
13 Lanai
29 Kahoolawe
22 Kahului AP, Maui
27 South Point, Big Island
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
There’s low pressure systems far north of the state…
with trailing cold fronts
Scattered low clouds in the area of the islands…with
considerable thunderstorm activity far south
Clear to cloudy…high cirrus over the Big Island and Maui County
Showers over the islands locally…which may move mostly
offshore during the night – Looping radar image
2016 Central Pacific Hurricane Season Outlook:
4-7 Tropical Cyclones between June 1 and November 30
(average number of TC’s per year: 4-5)
2015 had 15 Tropical Cyclones…the old record was 11 in
1992 and 1994
Least active years, with 0 systems…1977, 1969, 1964 and 1960
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
We’ll find unusually light winds across the islands through the weekend…with returning trade winds later Monday into Tuesday. Here’s the latest weather map, showing moderately strong high pressure systems well to the north and northeast. At the same time, there’s the tail-end of a stationary cold front/trough to the north of the islands. This surface trough of low pressure will remain in our vicinity through the weekend. The winds are expected to arrive from the east to southeast…which may carry some volcanic haze to the smaller islands locally. By the way, winds from the southeast are typically blocked by the Big Island, putting the smaller islands in sort of wind shadow. This in turn sets up onshore sea breezes during the days, and downslope land breezes at night. In addition, this will keep rather warm and sultry conditions over the islands during the days as well. Look for the return of light to moderately strong trade winds around Tuesday of next week. It should be pointed out that the models are still suggesting that the trade winds may fade away again by next weekend…although I consider that doubtful at this time.
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
Our local atmosphere remains a bit unstable and shower prone…at least locally. As the winds remain light through the weekend, we’ll see most of our showers popping-up over the leeward slopes during the afternoon hours, after generally clear skies during the mornings…with maybe a couple of windward showers here and there at times. As the trade winds return around Tuesday or so, in the wake of a very late season frontal cloud band Monday, most showers will gravitate back towards the windward coasts and slopes then. If the models are correct, and the trade winds leave us again next Friday into the weekend, we could move right back into another convective weather pattern, similar to what we’ll find this weekend. This would find clear mornings, giving way to afternoon clouds over the interior sections…with a few showers. As noted above, I tending to give a low confidence vote on those lighter winds next weekend.
Marine environment details: Winds and combined seas will remain below small craft advisory criteria through the forecast period.
A moderate southwest swell from the Tasman sea is expected to peak today, then decline during the weekend. Since there are so many islands along the path of the swell, surf is likely to be inconsistent. A small northwest swell arriving Sunday will peak Monday well below the advisory threshold. Otherwise rather small surf is expected.
Great Beaches in Hawaii
Here on Maui – Early Friday morning is dawning mostly clear…with hardly a cloud in sight! Here at my place in upcountry Kula, it’s calm and clear…with an air temperature of 52.1F degrees at 535am. Meanwhile, at about the same time, the Kahului AP was reporting clear skies, with an air temperature of 67 degrees, 68 at Maalaea Bay, 72 degree out in Hana…and the summit of the Haleakala Crater was 43 degrees. It’s another beautiful morning! / Still a really nice day, now at 945am, although clouds are starting to form over the island, in what we can call partly cloudy conditions at the time of this writing. / Another good day.
– Mid-afternoon, with generally clear skies over the coasts and beaches, with gray cumulus clouds over and around the mountains. Here at my place in upcountry Kula, it’s cloudy, although rain doesn’t seem imminent by any means. There’s a breeze, which is coming up from the sea, what we call a sea breeze. This often prompts some showers during the afternoon hours, we’ll have to wait and see. / Late afternoon, we’re having off and on light showers, nothing much yet, although it is wetting my weather deck here in upcountry Kula.
– Early evening, quite a few clouds around, although the north shore seems to be the one exception. Here in Kula, it’s been off and on lightly showering, now at 520pm, we’re having one of our heaviest of the afternoon.
Friday Evening Film: There are two or three films that I’d like to see, although my film viewing friend Jeff and I had to whittle it down to one. We had a little difference in opinion, although ended up agreeing on the one called Nice Guys, starring Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley, and Yaya DaCosta...among many others. The synopsis: Shane Black (Iron Man 3) directs this police drama set in Los Angeles during the 1970s, and centering on a pair of detectives who stumble into a sprawling conspiracy while investigating the alleged suicide of a once-prominent female porn star. Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling top-line this Warner Bros release.
The critics were very generous to this film. It’s billed as a dramatic comedy, with violence, sexuality, language and brief drug use. It’s definitely a rough and tumble flick, although there was a tongue in cheek edge to it throughout. It was a hard core film from start to to finish. The action was constant, rarely skipping a beat, as these two good actors worked their way through tons of bad vibes coming down all around them. As one critic said, “Gosling and Crowe are great in a movie…that is only good.” Jeff and I both came down with a B+ grade, perhaps leaning to the soft side of this relatively high rating. I found myself laughing quite a bit, although most of the funniest parts were kind of sick. Here’s the trailer if you’re so inclined…it’s not gentle.
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
Tropical Depression 2L is moving northwest toward the southeast United States coast. It was located about 195 miles south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina. If it continues to strengthen, it may briefly take on the name tropical storm Bonnie later today. This will be a short-lived system, as it dissipates already this weekend or on Monday.
Here’s the NHC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this area…and with what the computer models are showing
HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND
WIND: Tropical storm conditions are expected to first reach the coast within the warning area by Saturday night or early Sunday.
RAINFALL: The depression is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 1 to 3 inches from eastern South Carolina through southeastern North Carolina.
STORM SURGE: Storm surge inundation of 1 to 2 feet above ground level is expected within the tropical storm warning area.
SURF: This system is expected to produce life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along portions of the southeastern United States coast through the weekend.
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: No active tropical cyclones
Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days.
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: No active tropical cyclones
Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)
Interesting: Antarctic fossils show creatures wiped out by asteroid – A study of more than 6,000 marine fossils from the Antarctic shows that the mass extinction event that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was sudden and just as deadly to life in the Polar Regions.
Previously, scientists had thought that creatures living in the southernmost regions of the planet would have been in a less perilous position during the mass extinction event than those elsewhere on Earth.
The research, in the journal Nature Communications, involved a six-year process of identifying more than 6,000 marine fossils ranging in age from 69- to 65-million-years-old that were excavated by scientists from the University of Leeds and British Antarctic Survey on Seymour Island in the Antarctic Peninsula.
This is one of the largest collections of marine fossils of this age anywhere in the world. It includes a wide range of species, from small snails and clams that lived on the sea floor, to large and unusual creatures that swam in the surface waters of the ocean. These include the ammonite Diplomoceras, a distant relative of modern squid and octopus, with a paperclip-shaped shell that could grow as large as 2 metres, and giant marine reptiles such as Mosasaurus, as featured in the film Jurassic World.
With the marine fossils grouped by age, the collection shows a dramatic 65-70% reduction in the number of species living in the Antarctic 66 million years ago – coinciding exactly with the time when the dinosaurs and many other groups of organisms worldwide became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period.
Lead author James Witts, a PhD student at Leeds University’s School of Earth and Environment, said:
“Our research essentially shows that one day everything was fine – the Antarctic had a thriving and diverse marine community – and the next, it wasn’t. Clearly, a very sudden and catastrophic event had occurred on Earth. This is the strongest evidence from fossils that the main driver of this extinction event was the after-effects of a huge asteroid impact, rather than a slower decline caused by natural changes to the climate or by severe volcanism stressing global environments.”
The study is the first to suggest that the mass extinction event was just as rapid and severe in the Polar Regions as elsewhere in the world.
Previously, scientists had thought that organisms living near the Poles were far enough away from the cause of the extinction to be badly affected – whether this was an asteroid impact in the Gulf of Mexico, where a giant buried impact crater is found today, or extreme volcanism in the Deccan volcanic province in India. Furthermore, it had been proposed that animals and plants at the Poles would have been more resilient to global climatic changes associated with an asteroid impact as a result of living in environments that were always strongly seasonal. For example, life near the Poles has to adapt to living in darkness for half of the year and to an irregular food supply.
Co-author Professor Jane Francis from British Antarctic Survey, said:
“These Antarctic rocks contain a truly exceptional assemblage of fossils that have yielded new and surprising information about the evolution of life 66 million years ago. Even the animals that lived at the ends of the Earth close to the South Pole were not safe from the devastating effects of the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period.”
While some previous studies have suggested that the demise of the dinosaurs and other groups was gradual, many scientists argue that the dinosaur fossil record in particular is patchy, and cannot compete with marine fossils in terms of quantity and biodiversity.
James Witts continues: “Most fossils are formed in marine environments, where it is easy for sediment to accumulate rapidly and bury parts of animals, such as bones, or bodies of creatures with a hard shell. For a dinosaur or other land animal to become fossilised, a series of favourable events are needed, such as for bones to fall into stagnant water and be buried rapidly to prevent decomposition, or be washed out to sea by rivers.
“This means that marine fossils are generally much more abundant. They can give us a much larger data set for studying how ecosystems and biodiversity change over time in the geological past, and enable us to draw robust conclusions about events during periods of rapid environmental change, like mass extinctions.”
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