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

82 – 70  Lihue, Kauai
84 – 76  Honolulu, Oahu
92 – 75  Molokai AP
93 – 75  Kahului AP, Maui – record 94…back in 1953
89 – 76  Kona AP
86 – 71  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

1.97  Kilohana, Kauai
1.31  Mililani, Oahu
0.00  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.01  Kahoolawe
1.23  Hana AP, Maui
3.26  Laupahoehoe, Big Island

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…Tuesday:

25  Mana, Kauai
25  Kuaokala, Oahu
23  Molokai
09  Lanai
22  Kahoolawe
23  Kahului AP, Maui
28  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

http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_ir_enh_west_loop-12.gif
Darby is spinning well to the east of Hawaii, with Estelle following in Darby’s wake…along with former Celia moving away northwest of Kauai


http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/EP05/refresh/EP0516W5_NL+gif/205128W5_NL_sm.gif
Darby spinning towards the Hawaiian Islands…with a possible turn towards the northwest before reaching us

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/floaters/05E/imagery/vis0-lalo.gif
Darby…moving into the central Pacific today

https://icons.wunderground.com/data/images/ep201605_model.gif
What the models show for Darby

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/EP06/refresh/EP0616W5_NL+gif/145931W5_NL_sm.gif
Estelle heading into higher latitudes…not a threat for Hawaii

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/floaters/06E/imagery/ir0-lalo.gif
Estelle peaking in strength…then remaining a tropical storm for several days

https://icons.wunderground.com/data/images/ep201606_model.gif
What the models are showing for Estelle

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/vis.jpg
We see former Celia moving away to our northwest…with Darby spinning more or less in the direction of Hawaii

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/floaters/04E/imagery/vis0-lalo.gif
Former Celia with its low cloud swirl moving away from the islands…along with associated thunderstorms

 

http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Showers will be falling at times…a few quite generous – Looping radar image


Small Craft Advisory…windiest coasts and channels around Maui County and the Big Island

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

Refreshing trades returning today…then lighter winds Friday into the weekend. Here’s the latest weather map, showing a very strong near 1040 millibar high pressure system in the area far north of Hawaii. At the same time, we see former tropical depression Celia moving away well to the northwest of our islands…steadily westward. Relatively cooler and more refreshing trade winds will return for a couple of days, before we see more muggy air arriving…as whatever is left of weakening tropical cyclone Darby likely moves by to the north of the state Friday into the weekend.

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’re back into a typical trade wind weather pattern…with just a few windward showers. As the trade winds return now, we’ll see our showers focusing on the windward sides. Meanwhile, as much weakened Darby gets closer to Hawaii towards Friday into the weekend, we could see this system bringing a weather change our way…stay tuned.

Marine environment details: As the remnant circulation of Celia moves away from the area, the pressure gradient will once again tighten in the island vicinity. A Small Craft Advisory has been issued for the typically windy waters around Maui County and The Big Island. Swells from Tropical Cyclone Darby will likely cause seas to exceed 10 feet over exposed waters by Friday. Also, depending on the eventual track of Darby winds may increase this weekend over the eastern waters.

Surf heights along east facing shorelines will continue to lower over the next couple of days. Swells from Tropical Cyclone Darby will begin to impact Maui County and the Big Island as early as Thursday, and move up the island chain into the weekend. Advisory level surf is expected with this swell. There will also be a series of small south swells throughout the forecast period.

 

 https://www.hawaii-aloha.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/palm-trees-swaying-wind.jpg
Returning trade winds

 

World-wide tropical cyclone activity –


>>> Atlantic Ocean: No active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: No active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days

>>> 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:

Darby continues to move westward…located about 1050 miles east of Hilo, Hawaii. Here’s the NHC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this area…and the computer models are showing.

Estelle remains active well offshore from Mexico…located about 825 west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. Here’s the NHC graphical track map, along with a satellite image of this area…and the computer models are showing.

1.) A broad area of low pressure located about 550 miles south-southeast of Acapulco, Mexico, is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Environmental conditions are expected to be conducive for gradual development of this system, and a tropical depression is likely to form during the next few days while it moves west-northwestward to northwestward at about 10 mph to the south of Mexico.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…30 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…high…80 percent

2.) A weak low pressure area is located almost 1000 miles south of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. Environmental conditions are forecast to be marginally conducive for some development of this system later this week or this weekend while it moves west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…20 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…medium…40 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: No active tropical cyclones

1.) A weak surface low, the remnant of ex-Tropical Cyclone Celia,
is centered about 440 miles northwest of Lihue, Kauai. It was
moving west northwest near 20 mph. Atmospheric conditions are not
conducive for tropical cyclone redevelopment.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent.

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: Rising Seas Push Too Much Salt Into The Florida Everglades – The Florida Everglades is a swampy wilderness the size of Delaware. In some places along the road in southern Florida, it looks like tall saw grass to the horizon, a prairie punctuated with a few twisted cypress trees. The sky is the palest blue.

But beneath the surface a different story is unfolding. Because of climate change and sea level rise, the ocean is starting to seep into the swampland. If the invasion grows worse, it could drastically change the Everglades, and a way of life for millions of residents in South Florida.

An experiment is going on here to help scientists understand more about what’s likely to happen as the ocean invades. “We’re making, basically, artificial seawater here,” a guy wearing a mosquito net over his face tells me, as he stirs water in a vat the size of a hot tub.

The guy in the mosquito net is Joe Stachelek — a collaborator with Tiffany Troxler, from Florida International University. They’re making salt water and pumping it out into the wetland — dosing the plants and soil with their briny mix as a preview of what the ocean could do.

“As sea level rises,” Troxler explains, “the saltwater wedge moves inland.” And it infiltrates the bedrock.

“Our underlying rock is limestone,” Troxler says. “That limestone is very porous; it’s almost like Swiss cheese in some areas.”

We walk out into the test site — through the saw grass and the underlying peat, which is a fancy name for muck. It’s rich stuff, full of nutrients and microorganisms that feed this river of grass. And, like the plants, the peat also is affected by salt water.

The team has laid out a metal boardwalk, so you can walk around the muck without sinking up to your waist. Out here the grass is patchier, and in some places the peat is slumping — collapsing.

Troxler says there’s lots of this slumping going on. “When we start to lose the structure of the plants,” she explains, “essentially this peat, which is otherwise held together by roots, becomes a soupy pond.”

In response to the salt, the plants actually pull up some of their roots — out of the peat. The roots look like teeth protruding from receding gums.

This could be the future of the Everglades, Troxler says. And here’s the thing: The Everglades acts like sponge, feeding off the Biscayne aquifer — a giant cell of freshwater that lies underneath the land.

“We get over 90 percent of our freshwater from the Biscayne aquifer,” Troxler says, “we” meaning millions of people in South Florida.

As seawater seeps up from underneath, through the limestone bedrock, it is contaminating the aquifer and the Everglades above it.

That’s starting to worry some people. Like Julie Hill-Gabriel, who directs Everglades policy for the National Audubon Society in Florida. She says she tells people in South Florida, “What we do in the Everglades is 100 percent going to affect you in your neighborhood — [and whether] when you turn on the tap water, you have enough fresh clean water.”

For millennia, fresh water flowed south to the Everglades, making it the largest flooded grassland in America. But over the past several decades, that water was diverted to irrigate agricultural fields, and to keep homes from flooding. Environmental groups like Audubon have been trying to restore the natural flow to the Everglades, mostly to preserve wildlife.

Now, Hill-Gabriel says, there’s a new reason for that restoration — to repel the invading sea. Putting more freshwater back into the sponge that is the Everglades could create a kind of “back pressure” to keep seawater out.

“It just really compounds the urgency to move that freshwater south,” says Hill-Gabriel.

At least that’s the theory.

When it comes to climate change in South Florida, much of the focus until now has been about protecting property with pumps and barriers. But James Cason, the Republican mayor of the city of Coral Gables, says he hopes his constituents can understand the importance of protecting the Everglades as well.

“It’s not just so they can see the alligators,” Cason says. “It’s because they’ll want to make sure the drinking water on which we all depend is not contaminated.”