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

84 73  Lihue, Kauai
85 73  Honolulu, Oahu
83 73  Molokai
8569  Kahului AP, Maui
84 72  Kona Int’l AP
8365  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

2.73  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.44  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.28  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
1.52  West Wailuaiki, Maui
1.21  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

25  Port Allen, Kauai
37  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
35  Molokai
39  Lanai
33  Kahoolawe
38   Kahului AP, Maui
32  Pali 2, 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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An upper level low pressure system north-northwest

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/vis.jpg
Thunderstorms north-northwest of Kauai

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Clear to partly cloudy…rainy clouds offshore from Kauai

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Showers mostly windward and offshore
Looping radar image


Small Craft Advisory
…windiest coasts and channels around Maui County, including the Kaiwi Channel, and the Big Island

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

Happy Mother’s Day!

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Broad Brush Overview: A breezy and showery trade wind weather pattern is expected over the next few days, with reduced showers and lighter winds by the middle of the week, into next weekend. Clouds and showers will favor windward areas…although will occasionally spread leeward on the smaller islands.

Details: Windward showers will increase, and remain rather active, as the next area of enhanced moisture arrives, especially over the eastern islands. Otherwise, look for typical trade showers, with a few briefly heavier showers possible. Showers will remain focused over the windward sides, although will spill over into leeward areas here and there.

Looking Further Ahead: As we push into later Sunday and Monday, low pressure will dig down across the state from the northeast. This will prompt unstable conditions, with cooling temperatures aloft. Models show a couple more bands of enhanced moisture moving through on the trades during this time. With a strong high over the northeast Pacific, breezy and rather wet trades will continue. There’s some chance for heavier downpours, and perhaps even a thunderstorm during this time, although models continue to differ as to the exact degree of instability aloft.

Models are showing a gradual transition back to a drier and more stable pattern beginning Tuesday, as the trough aloft weakens, and high pressure ridging builds in from the west. At the moment, longer range models indicates fairly dry trade wind weather prevailing through the second half of next week, with the trades weakening somewhat…as a late season, and rather weak cold front passes by to our north.

Here’s a wind profile of the Pacific Ocean – Closer view of the islands / Here’s the vog forecast animation / Here’s the latest weather map

Marine environment details: A strong high pressure system remains far northeast of the islands, and is expected to remain nearly stationary into the first half of next week. This will maintain strong trade winds over the coastal waters. A Small Craft Advisory (SCA) remains posted for the channels east of Oahu, Maalaea Bay, the windward Maui County waters, and the waters south of the Big Island through Sunday. This SCA will likely be extended into the first part of next week, as the winds won’t change much…and may need to be extended for additional areas.

A south swell is expected, as additional energy is expected to arrive. This should maintain heights along south facing shores similar to what occurred yesterday. The incoming swell will likely wrap to some west facing shores. Additional impulses along the south shore are possible during the end of next week. The trade wind swell will continue to bring surf near advisory levels to the east facing shores into early next week.

Surf along the north facing shores will remain small through the start of the new week. A gale east of Japan is expected to track to the northeast, and then stall near the western Aleutian islands. This could generate a small northwest swell that would reach the islands during the second half of the new week.

 

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Well established trade wind weather pattern…with off and on showers



San Francisco Bay Weather Brief:
Unseasonably cool temperatures and breezy conditions can be expected into the new week. Isolated to scattered rain showers are expected late Monday into Tuesday as a disturbance approaches from the north. A warming and drying trend is then expected  as high pressure builds over the West Coast.

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Mostly clear…clouds offshore


World-wide tropical cyclone activity


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>>> Atlantic Ocean: The 2017 hurricane season begins June 1st

>>> Caribbean: The 2017 hurricane season begins June 1st

>>> Gulf of Mexico: The 2017 hurricane season begins June 1st

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 2017 hurricane season begins May 15th

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 2017 hurricane season begins June 1st

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:

Tropical Cyclone 19P (Ella)
remains active in the southwest Pacific, here’s the graphical track map, a satellite image…and what the computer models are showing

>>>
North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea:
No active tropical cyclones


Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)



Interesting:
Flexible, organic and biodegradable: Stanford researchers develop new wave of electronics
– As electronics become increasingly pervasive in our lives – from smart phones to wearable sensors – so too does the ever rising amount of electronic waste they create. A United Nations Environment Program report found that almost 50 million tons of electronic waste were thrown out in 2017—more than 20 percent higher than waste in 2015.

Troubled by this mounting waste, Stanford engineer Zhenan Bao and her team are rethinking electronics. “In my group, we have been trying to mimic the function of human skin to think about how to develop future electronic devices,” Bao said. She described how skin is stretchable, self-healable and also biodegradable – an attractive list of characteristics for electronics. “We have achieved the first two [flexible and self-healing], so the biodegradability was something we wanted to tackle.”

The team created a flexible electronic device that can easily degrade just by adding a weak acid like vinegar. The results were published May 1 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  

“This is the first example of a semiconductive polymer that can decompose,” said lead author Ting Lei, a postdoctoral fellow working with Bao.

In addition to the polymer – essentially a flexible, conductive plastic – the team developed a degradable electronic circuit and a new biodegradable substrate material for mounting the electrical components. This substrate supports the electrical components, flexing and molding to rough and smooth surfaces alike. When the electronic device is no longer needed, the whole thing can biodegrade into nontoxic components.

Biodegradable bits

Bao, a professor of chemical engineering and materials science and engineering, had previously created a stretchable electrode modeled on human skin. That material could bend and twist in a way that could allow it to interface with the skin or brain, but it couldn’t degrade. That limited its application for implantable devices and – important to Bao – contributed to waste.

Bao said that creating a robust material that is both a good electrical conductor and biodegradable was a challenge, considering traditional polymer chemistry. “We have been trying to think how we can achieve both great electronic property but also have the biodegradability,” Bao said.

Eventually, the team found that by tweaking the chemical structure of the flexible material it would break apart under mild stressors. “We came up with an idea of making these molecules using a special type of chemical linkage that can retain the ability for the electron to smoothly transport along the molecule,” Bao said. “But also this chemical bond is sensitive to weak acid – even weaker than pure vinegar.” The result was a material that could carry an electronic signal but break down without requiring extreme measures.

In addition to the biodegradable polymer, the team developed a new type of electrical component and a substrate material that attaches to the entire electronic component. Electronic components are usually made of gold. But for this device, the researchers crafted components from iron. Bao noted that iron is a very environmentally friendly product and is nontoxic to humans.

The researchers created the substrate, which carries the electronic circuit and the polymer, from cellulose. Cellulose is the same substance that makes up paper. But unlike paper, the team altered cellulose fibers so the “paper” is transparent and flexible, while still breaking down easily. The thin film substrate allows the electronics to be worn on the skin or even implanted inside the body.

From implants to plants

The combination of a biodegradable conductive polymer and substrate makes the electronic device useful in a plethora of settings – from wearable electronics to large-scale environmental surveys with sensor dusts.

“We envision these soft patches that are very thin and conformable to the skin that can measure blood pressure, glucose value, sweat content,” Bao said. A person could wear a specifically designed patch for a day or week, then download the data. According to Bao, this short-term use of disposable electronics seems a perfect fit for a degradable, flexible design.

And it’s not just for skin surveys: the biodegradable substrate, polymers and iron electrodes make the entire component compatible with insertion into the human body. The polymer breaks down to product concentrations much lower than the published acceptable levels found in drinking water. Although the polymer was found to be biocompatible, Bao said that more studies would need to be done before implants are a regular occurrence.

Biodegradable electronics have the potential to go far beyond collecting heart disease and glucose data. These components could be used in places where surveys cover large areas in remote locations. Lei described a research scenario where biodegradable electronics are dropped by airplane over a forest to survey the landscape. “It’s a very large area and very hard for people to spread the sensors,” he said. “Also, if you spread the sensors, it’s very hard to gather them back. You don’t want to contaminate the environment so we need something that can be decomposed.” Instead of plastic littering the forest floor, the sensors would biodegrade away.

As the number of electronics increase, biodegradability will become more important. Lei is excited by their advancements and wants to keep improving performance of biodegradable electronics. “We currently have computers and cell phones and we generate millions and billions of cell phones, and it’s hard to decompose,” he said. “We hope we can develop some materials that can be decomposed so there is less waste.”