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

82 – 72  Lihue, Kauai
82 – 71  Honolulu, Oahu
83 – 71  Molokai AP
8565  Kahului AP, Maui
84 – 70  Kailua Kona
80 – 67  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

2.48  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.31  Nuuanu Upper,
Oahu
0.01  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.10  Mount Wailuaiki, Maui
1.72  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

22  Lihue, Kauai
35  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu

30 
Molokai
27  Lanai

37  Kahoolawe
24  Kaupo Gap, Maui

32  Kohala Ranch, 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

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High pressure to our north and northeast will continue to shield Hawaii from late autumn gale and storm low pressure systems, and their associated cold fronts

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The heavier rain clouds remain well northwest through south of Hawaii

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Scattered low clouds being carried towards us on the strong winds from the east to southeast…along with some high cirrus filtering in from the west

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Showers locally…mostly offshore –
Looping radar image


Small Craft Advisory
…all coasts and channels Tuesday (20-25 knots)

Gale Warning…Pailolo and Alenuihaha Channels Tuesday (34-47 knots)

Wind Advisory…windiest areas in Maui County and the Big Island (20-35 mph gusts to 50+)

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


~~~
Hawaii Weather Narrative
~~~

 

 

Winds lighter from the southeast, before increasing again Tuesday from the east. Here’s the latest weather map, showing a large area of high pressure northeast of Hawaii. The current windy weather is bringing 40+ mph wind gusts to some areas of the island chain. A cold front/trough is approaching the islands now, although won’t arrive, which has helped to calm our winds down a little, veering them to the southeast briefly…bringing volcanic haze (vog) to Hilo, and some of the smaller islands. The trades are forecast to rebound over the islands Tuesday through Thursday, with another chance of seeing wind advisories going up over the eastern islands…then weakening again Friday into the weekend.

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 fall locally, with an increase on the horizon. Rainfall amounts will remain near normal through Tuesday, with showers falling generally over windward sides. As we move into early Wednesday, an area of moisture is forecast to move over the state for several 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 about the same time. In addition, there’s the chance of a few thunderstorms, which could lead to a few localized flooding problems. Looking further ahead, we will likely find a second period of wet weather arriving later this week. The chance of locally heavy showers and even some more thunderstorms, along with vog…remains in our weather picture for the weekend.

Marine environment details: Due to locally strong trade winds and elevated seas, a Small Craft Advisory (SCA) is in effect for most coastal waters today. Trade winds are expected to increase a notch Tuesday and remain elevated for several days as high pressure builds far north of the area, and the SCA for the existing zones has been extended into Thursday. The remaining marine zones are slated to be added to the SCA Tuesday morning, with the exceptions being the Alenuihaha and Pailolo channels, where a Gale Watch may need to be upgraded to a Gale Warning. A significant decrease in wind speeds is anticipated by the weekend as a surface trough develops nearby.

The strong trade winds continue to drive elevated seas toward the islands from the east, resulting in high surf along exposed windward shores. The long-running High Surf Advisory for east facing shores has been extended through Thursday, as little significant change in surf heights is expected. A fast-moving hurricane-force low is racing rapidly eastward across the northwest Pacific today, and the associated fetch will send a northwest swell toward the islands, which will most likely lead to high surf along exposed north and west shores, with the swell building on Thursday and peaking on Friday.

A small south-southwest swell is producing a modest boost in surf heights along south facing shores today, and is expected to gradually diminish over the next couple of days.

 

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Windier again soon…inclement weather later this week

 


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: 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.

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: 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: 
102 Million Trees Have Died in California’s Drought
– California’s six years of drought has left 102 million dead trees across 7.7 million acres of forest in its wake, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) announced following an aerial survey. If that is not horrendous enough, 62 million trees died in the year 2016 alone—an increase of more than 100 percent compared to 2015.

“The scale of die-off in California is unprecedented in our modern history,” Randy Moore, a forester for the U.S. Forest Service, told the Los Angeles Times, adding that trees are dying “at a rate much quicker than we thought.”

“You look across the hillside on a side of the road, and you see a vast landscape of dead trees,” added Adrian Das, a U.S. Geological Survey ecologist whose office is located in Sequoia National Park. “It’s pretty startling.”

Most of the dead trees are located in 10 counties in the southern and central Sierra Nevada region.

“Five consecutive years of severe drought in California, a dramatic rise in bark beetle infestation and warmer temperatures are leading to these historic levels of tree die-off,” the USFS said.

Forest Service experts believe that more trees will die in the coming months and years due to root diseases, bark beetle activity or other stress agents. The agency warned that tree deaths are on the rise in northern regions, especially in Siskiyou, Modoc, Plumas and Lassen counties.

The lack of rain and unseasonably high temperatures has added stress to the trees. These factors have made trees increasingly vulnerable to bark beetles infestations and disease.

Some have raised concerns that the staggering number of dead trees can fuel even bigger and more destructive wildfires in the Golden State.

Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack lamented that not enough resources are being invested into forest health and restoration.

“These dead and dying trees continue to elevate the risk of wildfire, complicate our efforts to respond safely and effectively to fires when they do occur, and pose a host of threats to life and property across California,” Vilsack said in a statement.

Not only that, researchers from the University of Washington found that large forest die-offs—from drought, heat, beetle infestations or deforestation—can significantly impact global climate patterns and alter vegetation on the other side of the world. The study was published this month in PLOS ONE.

“When trees die in one place, it can be good or bad for plants elsewhere, because it causes changes in one place that can ricochet to shift climate in another place,” said lead author Elizabeth Garcia. “The atmosphere provides the connection.”

In October 2015, California Gov. Jerry Brown declared the state’s unprecedented tree die-off a state of emergency. He formed a Tree Mortality Task Force to help mobilize additional resources for the safe removal of dead and dying trees.

However, some experts have suggested leaving the dead trees in the forests. Douglas Bevington, the forest program director for Environment Now, wrote that dead trees are vital to forest ecosystems.

“Dead trees can remain standing for decades or more and a standing dead tree—known as a ‘snag’—provides great habitat for wildlife. Birds and mammals make their homes in openings carved within snags, while wood-boring insects that feed on snags provide the foundation of the food chain for a larger web of forest life, akin to plankton in the ocean,” he wrote.

“From the perspective of the timber industry, a snag in the forest is a waste, so timber companies and the Forest Service have spent decades cutting down snags as quickly as possible,” Bevington continued. “As a result, there is now a significant lack of snags in our forests and this shortage is harming woodpeckers, owls and other forest wildlife. For them, the recent pulse of snag creation is good news.”