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

82 – 70  Lihue, Kauai
83 – 71  Honolulu, Oahu

81 – 69  Molokai AP
86 – 71  Kahului AP, Maui
87 – 75  Kailua Kona
84 – 67 
Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

2.14  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
3.05  Manoa Lyon Arboretum,
Oahu
0.56  Makapulapai, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.73  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.32  Puho CS, Big Island

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

27  Port Allen, Kauai
27  Kuaokala,
Oahu
24  Molokai
27  Lanai

35  Kahoolawe
29  Kahului AP, Maui

32  Pali 2, Big Island

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
Low pressure system far north of Hawaii, with
its trailing cold front

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
A few thunderstorms far west and south of the islands

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Partly to mostly cloudy…clear areas locally

 

http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Showers locally…especially over the central islands
Looping radar image


Small Craft Advisory
…windiest coasts and channels
around Maui County and the Alenuihaha Channel


~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

Trade winds will continue through the week…into next week. Here’s the latest weather map, showing a moderately strong high pressure system north of Hawaii. There’s an area of low pressure well offshore to the northeast of the state, with the tail-end of its associated cold front offshore to our east. The latest forecast suggests we will see a minor easing of our trades during the weekend…then snapping back to the moderate or even stronger levels through next week.

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

We can look for fairly normal trade wind weather through Friday, then increasing showers during the weekend…into early next week. A band of clouds along our windward sides brought an increase in showers locally today, although Friday should be more favorable. As we get into the weekend, we’ll find a more substantial increase in showers, mostly over the windward sides…although not exclusively. The atmosphere will become shower prone and unstable, leading to more widespread showers, with localized downpours and then even the chance of a thunderstorm Sunday into early next week. These showers may become robust enough to cause localized flooding problems. You may be wondering, is this unusual for the middle of June, the driest month of the year…without a doubt.

Marine environment details: A small craft advisory (SCA) continues for the Alenuihaha and Pailolo Channels as well as Maalaea Bay through Friday afternoon, due to the persistent moderate to breezy trades. Looks like the winds may ease enough over the weekend for conditions to improve briefly, though the winds are expected to firm up again by early next week, with SCA level winds returning to the typically windier waters around Maui County and the Big Island.

A series of southerly swells will bring elevated surf along the south facing shores through rest of the week, with a long period south swell expecting to peak this weekend with above advisory level surf.

The moderate to breezy trades will also bring an increase in choppy surf along east facing shores next week, possibly reaching advisory levels.

 

 https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/98/cf/2d/98cf2d86393589e761d02a901826a2c4.jpg
A large southerly swell will translate to rising surf
along south
facing shores through Saturday,
peaking Saturday
night thru Sunday night…then
gradually trending down by
the middle portion of
next week


Here on Maui
– Early Thursday morning is dawning clear to partly cloudy. Looking out the windows of my weather tower before sunrise, there are more clouds around than the last couple of days. Most of these are along the windward sides…stretching over the West Maui Mountains and the Central Valley. The air temperature was 54.1F degrees at 542am. Meanwhile, at about the same time, the Kahului AP was reporting clear skies, with an air temperature of 71 degrees, while out in Hana it was 70, with 73 at Maalaea Bay…and finally the summit of the Haleakala Crater was reporting 41 degrees. / Now at 10am, clouds have increased over much of the island, with partly sunny conditions locally in a few places. / 1035am, light shower here at my place in upper Kula, it’s tough to tell whether other areas are having these showers too…although I know it’s raining on the upper west side at Kapalua. Although, I do see sunshine down in the Central Valley late this morning.

Early afternoon, the cloud band that brought showers this morning, seems to have slipped off to the south. The showers have stopped here in Kula, and looking around as far as I can see, elsewhere too. There are still quite a few clouds around, although conditions seem to be steadily improving at the time of this writing.

Early evening, our weather has turned quite pleasant, as the last part of the cloud band, which brought showers to the island earlier in the day…departs over the ocean southwest.

 

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

>>> Atlantic Ocean: No active tropical cyclones

Here’s the 5-day Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: No active tropical cyclones

>>> Gulf of Mexico: No active tropical cyclones

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
: No active tropical cyclones

No tropical cyclones expected through the next two days…

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:
Environmental and health impacts of US health-care system
– If the U.S. healthcare system were a country, it would rank 13th in the world for greenhouse gas emissions, according to new research. The study, published June 9 in PLOS ONE, quantified previously unreported environmental and public health impacts of the nation’s healthcare sector.

The U.S. healthcare system, the most expensive in the world, uses vast amounts of energy in the form of heating, electricity, and energy-intensive goods and services. It has been estimated that the healthcare sector contributes 8% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Yet emissions of other pollutants from the healthcare sector, and their impact on the public health, have not been reported.

To investigate the impacts, Yale’s Jodi Sherman, M.D. and first author Matthew Eckelman of Northeastern University first used an economic model based on federal data to calculate total emissions of different pollutants produced by the healthcare sector over a 10-year period, drawing on national health expenditure data. They analyzed direct emissions from hospitals and clinician’s offices, as well as indirect emissions generated by the sector’s suppliers of energy, goods, and services.

The researchers then linked the healthcare-related emissions to specific environmental and health outcomes, including global warming; ozone depletion; respiratory disease from air pollutants; cancer from chemical exposure; and the environmental effects of acid rain, among others.

Among their findings, the researchers estimated that greenhouse gas emissions from the healthcare sector grew 30% over the past decade, accounting for 9.8% of the national total in 2013. Were it a country, the sector would rank “ahead of the entire United Kingdom” in emissions, said Sherman.

The research team also reported significant national percentages of non-greenhouse gas effects attributable to the healthcare sector, including acidification (12%), smog formation (10%), and respiratory disease from particulate matter (9%).

“It’s a big contributor to our nation’s environmental impacts,” said Eckelman, “commensurate with its economic impacts.”

In addition, the researchers calculated the public health impact of healthcare emissions. For the year 2013, they estimated health damages from the pollutants at 470,000 “disability adjusted life years” (DALYs) — a measure of years lost due to ill health, disability, or early death.

That health burden, the researchers said, is comparable to lives lost each year to preventable medical errors first reported by the Institute of Medicine in 1999, sparking national attention on patient safety. “It’s on the same order of magnitude, and we ought to pay attention to it,” Sherman noted.

Also detailed in the study are recent efforts to “green” the healthcare system, such as the Healthier Hospitals Initiative. These initiatives, designed to make the healthcare sector more sustainable and reduce pollution, can also improve public health and patient safety, the researchers said.

“While some pollution is currently inevitable in our efforts to safely care for patients, there is a tremendous amount of waste in our healthcare system,” said Sherman. “People are trying to reduce waste from a cost perspective. But there is a public health perspective as well that is important. Protecting public health is also an issue of patient safety.”