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

81 – 73  Lihue, Kauai
81 – 73  Honolulu, Oahu
81 – 74  Molokai AP
81 – 72  Kahului AP, Maui
85 – 71  Kailua Kona
81 – 69  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

1.15  Kilohana, Kauai
1.09  Nuuanu Upper, Oahu
 0.74  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
2.95  Puu Kukui, Maui
2.66  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

37  Port Allen, Kauai
46  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
42  Molokai
35  Lanai
48  Kahoolawe
44  Maalaea Bay, Maui
50  Kohala Ranch, Big Island

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’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

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High pressure to our north will continue to shield Hawaii from gales and storms, and their associated cold fronts

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The area of heavy duty clouds remains west of Hawaii, sending high cirrus clouds over the islands from time to time – providing briefly colorful sunrise and sunsets

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Those high cirrus clouds will dim and filter our sunshine during the days locally…with low clouds being carried ashore by the blustery trade winds from the east

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Showers falling mostly along the windward sections…and offshore – Looping radar image


Small Craft Advisory…all Hawaiian coasts and channels (25-33 knots)


High Surf Advisory…east facing shores of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui and the Big Island


Gale Warning…Maalaea Bay, Pailolo and Alenuihaha Channels, along with waters south of the Big Island – (34-47 knots)

Wind Advisory…locally over ridge lines, downwind of steep terrain on the islands of Maui, Kahoolawe and the Big Island (20-35 mph with gusts over 50)


~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

 

Trade winds remaining gusty through Saturday…with a short break Sunday and Monday. Here’s the latest weather map, showing a large near 1031 millibar high pressure system north of Hawaii. This high pressure cell will keep our trade winds active into the weekend. This unusually windy weather will bring 50+ mph wind gusts to some areas of the island chain. These conditions are keeping a Wind Advisory in play over some parts of the island chain, along with Gale Warnings locally over the windiest coastal and channel waters. These blustery winds should begin to ease up later this weekend into early next week. The models are suggesting that a cold front/trough will approach the islands, which would finally calm our winds down some, veering them to the southeast…perhaps bringing some volcanic haze (vog) our way then too. The trades are forecast to rebound over the islands Tuesday-Wednesday.

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

Windward showers will continue to fall locally, while the leeward sides will see fewer showers. A windy trade wind weather pattern can be expected for the time being. There will be localized showery low clouds, in additions to thin streaks of high cirrus clouds passing over at times too. Looking at the chances of precipitation early next week, it will depend upon exactly where an approaching cold front/trough decides to stall before arriving. As we move into the mid-week time frame, an area of moisture is forecast to move over the state for a few days. As the trade winds will be blowing then, the bulk of these showers will impact the windward sides. These showers may become quite heavy…thanks to the arrival of an upper level trough of low pressure at the same time. Looking even further out in time, and of course this is still rather sketchy, we may see a possible second round of potential heavy showers arriving late next week into next weekend.

Marine environment details: The Gale Warning over the typically windier channel waters and across the waters south of the Big Island will remain in place for the time being. The latest model guidance lines up well with this pattern, and suggests that these conditions will persist into the weekend and early next week. Although the winds are forecast to slightly ease and shift to the east-southeast or southeast later in the weekend and early next week, a combination of advisory level winds and seas will remain likely over portions of the marine area…especially the over the windward waters and channels.

East facing shores will continue to experience advisory level surf through at least Saturday, before easing slightly in response to the winds trending down early next week.

The bump in the northwest swell today will hold through tonight then steadily subside through the weekend. This swell will be reinforced by a similar source Sunday night through early in the new week. Surf along north and west facing shores will remain below advisory levels.

Southern shores will see a slight increase in surf through the day Monda,y as a new south-southwest swell fills in. The surf should remain below advisory levels through this time…before easing Tuesday through the mid-week period.

 

Friday Evening Film: The film my friends Jeff and Svetlana and I will be seeing tonight is one that looks very good, called Allied. This action, adventure drama stars Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Lizzy Caplan, Jared Harris, Matthew Goode…among many others. The synopsis: The story of intelligence officer Max Vatan (Brad Pitt), who in 1942 North Africa encounters French Resistance fighter Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard) on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Reunited in London, their relationship is threatened by the extreme pressures of the war.

The critics are being reasonably good to this film, although certainly not jumping out of their seats by any means. Nonetheless, I very much like the two main actors, and looking at the trailer (full screen viewing is best), it definitely caught my eye. There were so many shots of Pitt and Cotillard, although for my money, I never got tired of seeing them work together…a truly handsome couple! This film had me on the edge of my seat more than once, and I admit, I had to try really hard to keep the tears at bay a couple of times too. Well, as it turned out, Jeff and I gave this wonderful film A- grades, with Svetlana giving it a strong B. As you’ll see if you look at the trailer, it’s not exactly a light weight piece of work!

 

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 Don’t need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows!

 


World-wide tropical cyclone activity…


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>>> Atlantic Ocean: No active tropical cyclones

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean: 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:

Tropical Storm 16L (Otto) has moved out over the eastern Pacific, here’s the NHC graphical track map, with a satellite image, and what the computer models are showing

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

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

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean:


Tropical Storm 29W has moved out over the warm waters of the South China Sea, here’s the JTWC graphical track map, with a satellite image, and what the computer 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: Why Do So Many Big Earthquakes Strike Japan? – A magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck recently off the coast of Fukushima, Japan, likely along the same fault that ruptured in 2011, unleashing a massive 9.0-magnitude temblor that triggered deadly tsunamis and caused widespread destruction. Over the course of its history, Japan has seen its share of shaking, but what makes this part of the world so susceptible to big earthquakes?

The answer has to do with Japan’s location. The island nation lies along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an imaginary horseshoe-shaped zone that follows the rim of the Pacific Ocean, where many of the world’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. In fact, 81 percent of the world’s largest earthquakes happen in this active belt, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

“The Earth’s surface is broken up into about a dozen or so major chunks that are all moving around. Where they all interact at their edges, interesting things happen,” Douglas Given, a geophysicist with the USGS in Pasadena, California.

Within the Pacific Ring of Fire, several tectonic plates mash and collide. In what are known as subduction zones, one plate bends and slides underneath the other, causing the oceanic crust to sink into the Earth’s mantle.

“From Alaska down to Japan and the Philippines, all the way down around the western Pacific — and then the boundary of the west coast of South America and central America — are all big subduction zones,” said Robert Smith, an emeritus professor of geophysics at the University of Utah.

Japan itself sits atop a complex mosaic of tectonic plates that grind together and trigger deadly earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

This recent earthquake off the coast of Fukushima was centered about 80 miles southwest of the epicenter of the 9.0-magnitude Tohoku quake that struck in March 2011. This means the magnitude-6.9 temblor could be an aftershock of the more-powerful 2011 quake, according to seismologists.

“There’s been a whole sequence [of aftershocks] since the 2011 earthquake,” Smith said. “These enormously big earthquakes have aftershocks that can continue for tens to hundreds of years. It’s very common.”

The 2011 earthquake released hundreds of years of pent-up stress within the subduction zone, and triggered an enormous tsunami that inundated the coastal Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, eventually causing a level 7 nuclear meltdown. While the recent quake was not as powerful as the Tohoku temblor, the entire region is still at risk of big earthquakes.

The Tohoku quake “was one of the biggest earthquakes we’ve recorded historically, but the fact is, the seismic hazard of the whole subduction zone is extremely high, so large earthquakes are more common there than other places,” Smith said.

Earlier this year, in April, a magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck the Kumamoto region in southern Japan, two days after a 6.2-magnitude temblor shook the same area.