Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Monday…along with the low temperatures Monday:
80 – 68 Lihue, Kauai
82 – 70 Honolulu, Oahu
82 – 69 Molokai AP
85 – 64 Kahului AP, Maui
85 – 72 Kailua Kona
86 – 67 Hilo AP, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Monday evening:
1.76 Kilohana, Kauai
0.89 Olomana, Oahu
0.24 Molokai AP, Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.07 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.35 Saddle Quarry, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Monday evening:
18 Makaha Ridge, Kauai
30 Kuaokala, Oahu
17 Molokai
18 Lanai
21 Kahoolawe
27 Kapalua, Maui
20 Upolu AP, 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 a very late season
cold front moving southeast
Partly cloudy, with the weak cold front moving down the island
chain, now over Maui County…heading towards the Big Island
Showers falling along a cold front…and in its wake
Looping radar image
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Honoring Memorial Day!
The trade winds will strengthen into Tuesday, reaching moderate speeds…then fade away to some degree again this coming weekend. Here’s the latest weather map, showing moderately strong high pressure systems north-northwest and far northeast of Hawaii. At the same time, there’s the tail-end of a weak cold front moving over the eastern islands. Look for the return of trade winds into Tuesday, which will become locally quite gusty. The models are suggesting that these trades may ease up again Friday into the weekend…which is certainly not typical for this time of year.
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
A weak cold front will push moisture over the islands through Wednesday. While clouds and showers will be most frequent over windward areas, a few showers will spread to leeward areas. Showers from this front have already passed across Kauai and Oahu. Maui County and the Big Island will get into the action…over the next day or so. We could see fairly numerous passing showers crossing the windward coasts and slopes for several days. In contrast the leeward sides will be drier, although a few showers may sneak over into those areas here and there on the smaller islands. As the winds ease up again by the weekend, we may slip into a convective weather pattern, with clear mornings giving way to afternoon clouds…and interior showers.
Marine environment details: A weak front over Oahu will continue to move down the island chain over the next few days. Moderate to fresh trades are expected to fill in over the state and the coastal waters as the front progresses. Moderate northeast winds are already being reported at Barking Sands and Lihue, on Kauai The current forecast does not have the winds reaching the small craft advisory threshold. However, some of the more typically windy areas will be monitored…as they may see winds nearing this level.
The current southwest swell continues to hold, with the Lanai buoy reporting just above 2 feet surf. This swell should gradually decline into Tuesday before another small southwest swell bumps surf up late Tuesday into Wednesday evening.
A small northwest swell is slowly arriving and a bit undersized by this afternoon. This small swell will then decline into Tuesday, with no other swells on the horizon.
Here on Maui – Early Monday morning is dawning mostly clear. Here at my place in upcountry Kula, it’s calm and clear…with an air temperature of 49.4F degrees at 540am. Meanwhile, at about the same time, the Kahului AP was reporting clear skies, with an air temperature of 65 degrees, 66 at Maalaea Bay and out in Hana…and the summit of the Haleakala Crater was 45 degrees.
– Monday afternoon, under partly cloudy skies…and generally quite nice in most areas. My friends Bob, Tia, and I drove up the summit of the Haleakala Crater this morning. We walked down Sliding Sands trail and good distance, before just sitting down and listening to the great silence. The weather got cloudy with a bit of drizzle for a time, although it was nice enough. We were lucky enough to see the Silver Swords blooming, which was wonderful. By the way, the trade winds are filling back into our area, which is a good thing. Satellite imagery shows this cold front not far away, and here in upcountry Kula, it’s getting breezy and looking more like showers aren’t that far away.
– Early evening on this Memorial Day, with lots of clouds around before sunset. This cold front, which is now over parts of Maui County, is bringing showers locally. It looks likely that this area of moisture will keep the windward sides off and on showery over the next couple of days.
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
Post-Tropical Cyclone Bonnie is producing heavy rainfall over eastern North Carolina. It was located about 80 miles east-southeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Here’s a satellite image of this Post-tropical cyclone
HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND
RAINFALL: POST-TROPICAL CYCLONE BONNIE IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE ADDITIONAL RAINFALL TOTALS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES WITH ISOLATED AMOUNTS OF 3 INCHES POSSIBLE ACROSS NORTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA…EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA…AND FAR SOUTHEAST VIRGINIA THROUGH THURSDAY. THESE RAINS WILL CONTINUE TO ENHANCE THE THREAT FOR FLASH FLOODING…PARTICULARLY IN REGIONS WHICH ARE ALREADY SATURATED FROM PREVIOUS HEAVY RAINFALL.
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
Showers and thunderstorms associated with an elongated area of low pressure located nearly 1000 miles south of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula have changed little in organization since yesterday. Environmental conditions are expected to be generally conducive for gradual development, and a tropical depression is still likely to form later this week as the disturbance moves west-northwestward.
Here’s a satellite image of this disturbance…along with what the computer models are showing
* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…10 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…high…80 percent
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: What Are Nile Crocodiles Doing in Florida? – At up to 20 feet long and weighing a ton and a half, with the strongest bite in the animal kingdom, Nile crocodiles can pretty much devour anything they want to — including humans.
As you can guess from their name, these carnivorous crocs are native to sub-Saharan Africa, where they subsist on small hippos, zebras and other animals they catch and, in some cases, swallow whole.
“In many parts of Africa, humans are commonly preyed upon by Nile crocodiles; therefore, fatal attacks and consumption by these large predators are well-documented,” notes the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Scary, right? And now Nile crocodiles are living in the wilds of Florida.
In a new study, using DNA analysis, University of Florida scientists discovered several Nile crocodiles in the wild between 2000 and 2014.
“The odds that the few of us who study Florida reptiles have found all of the Nile crocs out there is probably unlikely,” Kenneth L. Krysko, one of the study’s authors, said in a statement. “We know they can survive in the Florida wilderness for numerous years, we know they grow quickly here and we know their behavior in their native range, and there is no reason to suggest that would change here in Florida.”
How did Nile crocodiles end up in Florida, more than 7,800 miles away?
Some were imported legally and are on display in tourist attractions like Disney’s Animal Kingdom. But the ones found in the wild had likely been brought here as hatchlings by smugglers in the exotic pet trade. The DNA analysis found that three of the Nile crocodiles were related.
“This is a very big predator, and now we’ve introduced it into Florida,” Krysko told the New York Times. “This is not a good thing.”
Nile crocodiles have previously been found elsewhere in the United States. Five of them escaped from a Mississippi alligator farm when it was flooded during Hurricane George in 1989, according to the USGS. But the DNA of the Nile crocs in the Florida wilds did not match that of those in any U.S. zoos.
Because of the exotic pet trade and the state’s subtropical climate, Florida is home to the world’s largest number of invasive species, including the Burmese python and Cuban tree frog, which have wreaked havoc on the ecosystem.
To prevent the Nile crocodiles from causing similar destruction, the University of Florida researchers urged state and federal wildlife agencies to capture and transport protected species out of their native range in order to quickly remove the Nile crocodiles.
This seems like quite a challenging task. Another challenge is being able to distinguish Nile crocodiles from native species. Along with being larger and more aggressive than the American crocodiles in Florida, Nile crocodiles are dark green or black rather than a lighter olive green. The tops of their heads are smooth instead of having a ridge down the middle. But to the untrained eye, these differences may be difficult to spot.
“We recommend the USFWS require a clearly identifiable photograph of a nonnative crocodilian before authorization for lethal take is granted,” the study advised. Good idea.
If these predators aren’t removed, it could be disastrous for Florida’s ecosystem. Fortunately, there have been no signs that the Nile crocodiles are reproducing – yet.
“My hope as a biologist is that the introduction of Nile crocodiles in Florida opens everyone’s eyes to the problem of invasive species that we have here in our state,” Krysko stated. “Now here’s another one, but this time it isn’t just a tiny house gecko from Africa.”
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