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

85 – 70  Lihue, Kauai
86 – 72  Honolulu, Oahu
84 – 75  Molokai AP
8668  Kahului AP, Maui
87 – 75  Kailua Kona
84 – 68  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

0.01  Kilohana, Kauai
0.00 
Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Maui
0.20  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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

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

28  Kahoolawe
30  Kapalua, Maui

31  Kealakomo, Big Island

Hawaii’s MountainsHere’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of our tallest mountain Mauna Kea (nearly 13,800 feet high) on the Big Island of Hawaii. This webcam is available during the daylight hours here in the islands, and at night whenever there’s a big moon shining down. Also, at night you will be able to see the 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
A weak cold front is moving into our islands

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/vis.jpg
Thunderstorms southwest through southeast

 http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/vis.jpg
Scattered clouds locally, otherwise quite clear in most areas, with the main focus over the next couple of days, a frontal boundary to our north, dropping southward

http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Just a few showers –
Looping radar image


Small Craft Advisory
…Maalaea Bay, Pailolo and Alenuihaha Channels, Big Island leeward and southeast waters

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Trade winds will blow in the light to moderately strong range through Monday, then increase some from Tuesday onward. Here’s the latest weather map, showing moderately strong high pressure systems far to the northwest and northeast of Hawaii. The tail end of an early season cold front, to our north, will drop down over the state soon. Our active trade wind flow will remain in place through the next week, with no definite end in sight.

Here’s a wind profile of the offshore waters around the islands – and a closer look

Here’s the Hawaiian Islands Sulfate Aerosol animated graphic, showing vog forecast

Fair weather will give way to an increase in showers tonight into Tuesday. The forecast shows an area of moisture headed our way, associated with a weakening cold front. This will bring some showers Monday through Tuesday, first on Kauai early Monday morning. These showers will focus their efforts mainly along the windward coasts and slopes, although a few will ride over into the leeward sides. Thereafter, a typical trade wind weather pattern will prevail Wednesday through the rest of the new week ahead.

Marine environment details: Wind speeds are forecast to remain below the small craft advisory (SCA) criteria through early Monday, as a weakening frontal boundary approaches the islands from the north. Stronger trades will return to the islands by later Monday, as the frontal boundary dissipates in the vicinity of the islands, and high pressure builds north of the region. The trade winds will likely increase to the SCA criteria starting Monday night over the typically windy waters adjacent to the islands of Maui County and Big Island. These breezy conditions are forecast to continue for these waters through mid-week.

The current northwest swell is expected to produce surf heights near or above the high surf advisory thresholds along most north and west facing shores of the smaller islands. The northwest swell will gradually subside tonight, followed by a reinforcing northwest swell arriving Monday. This next swell is expected to peak on Tuesday, and remain just below the high surf advisory criteria, before declining on Wednesday. A new northwest swell is forecast to arrive Wednesday night, and continue through the end of the work week.

Small south swell energy will continue into mid-week, with a slight bump expected along south facing shores starting Wednesday, as a small south-southwest swell arrives. Elsewhere, the strengthening trade winds will cause choppy surf to increase slightly along east facing shores starting later Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

 https://northshorehawaii.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/north-shore-surf-on-a-beautiful-day.jpg?w=900

Surf lowering along the north and west facing beaches, although more coming


World-wide tropical cyclone activity..


https://icons.wxug.com/data/images/sst_basin/gl_sst_mm.gif


>>> Atlantic Ocean:

Tropical Storm 15L (Nicole) is located approximately 455 miles south of Bermuda. Here’s the NHC graphical track map, a satellite image, and what the computer models are showing

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean

>>> 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

Here’s a wide satellite image that covers the entire area between Mexico, out through the central Pacific…to the International Dateline.

1.) A complex area of low pressure located several hundred miles southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula continues to produce widespread cloudiness and showers. This area of disturbed weather is expected to slowly consolidate during the next few days, and a tropical depression is likely to form later this week while the system moves west-northwestward to northwestward.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…30 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…high…70 percent

2.) Disorganized cloudiness and shower activity located a few hundred miles south of the Gulf of Tehuantepec are associated with a weak low pressure system. Environmental conditions are expected to generally be conducive for development of this system, and a tropical depression is likely to form later this week while the low moves west-northwestward.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…20 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…high…80 percent

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>>
Central Pacific
: No active tropical cyclones

1.) An area of low pressure, located about 650 miles south-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, continues to produce disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Development, if any, will be slow to
occur as it moves westward near 10 mph over the next couple of days.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…20 percent

2.) Showers and thunderstorms associated with an area of low pressure located around 1000 miles east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii remain disorganized. Some slow development is possible over the next couple of days as it drifts toward the west.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…10 percent

Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean:

Tropical Depression 22W (Aere)
is dissipating, located approximately 198 NM east of Hong Kong. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, a satellite imageFinal Warning

Typhoon 23W (Songda)
remains active, located approximately 267 NM east-northeast of Iwo To, Japan. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map, a satellite image, and what the computers models are showing

>>>
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:
To Help Bees, Skip Herbicides and Pesticides, Keep Lawns Naturally Diverse Declining populations of pollinators is a major concern to ecologists because bees, butterflies and other insects play a critical role in supporting healthy ecosystems. Now a new study from urban ecologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst suggests that when urban and suburban lawns are left untreated with herbicides, they provide a diversity of “spontaneous” flowers such as dandelions and clover that offer nectar and pollen to bees and other pollinators.

Private lawns make up a significant part of urban lands in the United States, an estimated 50 percent of city and suburbs, say Susannah Lerman and co-author Joan Milam, an adjunct research fellow in environmental conservation. They write, “Practices that support nesting and foraging opportunities for bees could have important implications for bee conservation in suburban areas.”

Lerman, an adjunct UMass Amherst faculty member who is also with the U.S. Forest Service, says, “We are still surprised at how many bees we found on these untreated lawns.”

In this study of lawns in suburban Springfield, Mass., she and Milam found that “spontaneous lawn flowers could be viewed as supplemental floral resources and support pollinators, thereby enhancing the value of urban green spaces.” Details appear in the current issue of Annals of the Entomological Society of America.

For this study, supported by the National Science Foundation, the researchers enlisted owners of 17 lawns in suburban Springfield. Between May 2013 and September 2014, the homeowners did not apply chemical pesticides or herbicides to lawns.

“We documented 63 plant species in the lawns, the majority of which were not intentionally planted,” the authors report. Lerman and Milam visited each yard six times per year for two years, collecting a total of 5,331 individual bees representing 111 species, of which 97 percent were native to North America.

Of particular interest was the discovery of a large population of Lasioglossum illinoense, a widespread sweat bee species and common in its range, but known in Massachusetts only from a single specimen collected in the late 1920s. The population of L. illinoense in Springfield lawns documents the northeastern range limit for this species.

Conserving native bees for their vital pollination services is of national interest, Lerman and Milam point out, and this new information on native bee distribution and abundance is important for making informed conservation and management decisions regarding pollinator conservation.

Overall, one of their main findings, say Lerman and Milam, is that “when lawns are not intensively managed, lawn flowers can serve as wildlife habitat and contribute to networks of urban green spaces.”

Further, “developing outreach to homeowners and lawn care companies to encourage, rather than eliminate, lawn flowers such as dandelions and clover and thin grass cover or bare spots could be a key strategy for urban bee conservation programs targeting private yards.”