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

76 – 66  Lihue, Kauai
81 – 62  Honolulu, Oahu 
80 – 64  Kahului AP, Maui
81 – 70  Kailua Kona AP
78 – 61  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

0.92  Wailua, Kauai
0.56  Tunnel RG, Oahu
 0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Maui
0.35  Honokaa, Big Island

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

22  Port Allen, Kauai
25  Kuaokala, Oahu
18  Molokai
13  Lanai
23  Kahoolawe
20  Maalaea Bay, Maui
27  Kealakomo, Big Island

Here’s a wind profile of the Pacific Ocean – Closer view of the islands

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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A low pressure system well northeast of the islands, with its associated cold front draping southwest

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Mostly clear to partly cloudy ahead of the cold front…which is slowly pushing further into the state tonight into Thursday

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The ragged leading edge of a cold front moving towards Maui County 

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Showers along a weak cold front near Kauai and Oahu…nearing Molokai and Maui – Looping radar image


High Wind Warning…summits of the Big Island – 45 to 65 with gusts to 75 mph


~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

The winds will become cooler and increase some…in the wake of the current cold front. Here’s the latest weather map, showing a low pressure center to the northeast of Hawaii, with its trailing cold front pushing slowly into the islands. Our winds will be light…as this weak cold front moves down through the state. Cooler north-northeasterly winds will follow in the wake of the cold front into Saturday and Sunday. As we get into the middle of next week, our winds will become lighter from the southeast to south ahead of the next cold front. This in turn could bring some volcanic haze (vog) from the Big Island vents, up along the smaller islands.

Relatively cool and mainly dry weather ahead of a cold front…with showers along the frontal boundary. This cold front will bring windward showers our way for a couple of days. The front has reached Kauai and Oahu today, moving on to Maui County tonight into Thursday, and perhaps reaching the northern half of Big Island later Thursday into Friday. We’ll see an increase in showers particularly for the windward areas…although a few showers may reach leeward areas here and there. Drier and cooler weather will arrive in the wake of this front through the weekend into early next week. It’s still up in the air whether the next cold front, approaching around the middle of next week, will have the staying power to move into the state.

Marine environment details: The recent High Surf Advisory along east facing shores has been cancelled, as the current north swell continues to subside. A new moderate north- northeast swell is expected to arrive Thursday evening and hold through the weekend. This swell also brings the chance for a new High Surf Advisory along the east facing shores, especially for those areas with exposure to the north. Another, slightly larger north-northeast swell is forecast to arrive early next week and peak Tuesday night.

High pressure far north of the state will keep light to moderate winds over the coastal waters, staying below the Small Craft Advisory (SCA) levels through the week. The combination of the lighter winds and moderate swells is not expected to produce SCA level combined seas through the week either.

A small pulse to the current south swell should keep some surf along the south facing shores through Thursday.

 

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Showers slipping down over Maui County and the Big Island into Thursday

 

World-wide tropical cyclone activity…with storms showing up when active


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>>> Atlantic Ocean: The 2016 hurricane season has ended

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean: The 2016 hurricane season has ended

>>> Gulf of Mexico: The 2016 hurricane season has ended

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: The 2016 hurricane season has ended

Here’s the NOAA 2016 Hurricane Season Summary for the Eastern Pacific Basin

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: The 2016 hurricane season has ended

Here’s the NOAA 2016 Hurricane Season Summary for the Central Pacific Basin

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 China Announces End to Ivory Trade in 2017 – In an announcement that could prove to be extremely good news for elephants in the wild, the Chinese government has promised to end its domestic ivory market by the end of this year.

Every year, thousands of elephants are killed for their tusks by poachers. Between 2011 and 2014, more than 100,000 elephants were slaughtered. The African elephant population dropped 30 percent from 2007 to 2014. More elephants are being killed than are being born.

A 1989 international ban on the ivory trade has done little to stop the poaching. Why not? Because it doesn’t apply to ivory taken from elephants before the ban was implemented. Poachers can easily lie by saying that the ivory is not new.

While other countries, including the United States and Hong Kong, have already taken stronger measures to end the ivory trade, China has been a holdout until now.

China’s announcement is especially significant because it is the largest market for ivory in the world. At least 50 to 70 percent of smuggled ivory ends up there, the New York Times reports.

“Almost all the ivory is for carving,” John Robinson, with the Wildlife Conservation Society, told NPR. “China has had a history of doing so. Whole tusks are carved into elaborately assembled pieces of one kind or another.”

In its Dec. 30 announcement, China’s Office of the State Council said the shutdown, “to combat illegal trade in ivory,” will occur in stages. It will start by phasing out legal ivory processing factories and sellers before March 31. The legal commercial ivory trade is to end completely by December 31.

Although China did officially ban the import of ivory last March, since the country still has a legal domestic market for it, ivory continues to be smuggled into the country, mainly by criminal syndicates.

‘Game Changer for Elephant Conservation’

Many wildlife conservation groups are encouraged by China’s announcement. It’s “a potential game changer for elephant conservation,” stated Carter Roberts, president and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund. He said the ivory trade is now facing its “twilight years” and the U.S. and China bans “will reverberate around the world.”

Elly Pepper, with the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), is also optimistic. She told the New York Times that China’s announcement “may be the biggest sign of hope for elephants since the current poaching crisis began.”

Save the Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton agreed, telling the Times that China “is moving from being the main problem to the main solution.” He called the announcement “the most astonishing and wonderful piece of news.”

For many years, these and other wildlife advocates have been urging China to end its ivory trade. More than 177,000 Care2 members have signed three petitions calling for a ban.

An end to China’s ivory trade was finally set in motion in September 2015, when President Xi Jinping and President Obama agreed that both of their countries would combat wildlife trafficking by taking “significant and timely steps to halt the domestic commercial trade of ivory.” The U.S., which was the second-largest market for ivory in the world, imposed a near-total ban on the import and export of these products last year.

Let’s hope China lives up to its promising announcement, and that a prediction by the NRDC’s Pepper comes true. She said China’s ending of its ivory trade could be “the pivotal turning point that brings elephants back from the brink of extinction.”