Air Temperatures The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday:

84  Lihue, Kauai
85  Honolulu, Oahu
80  Molokai
88  Kahului, Maui
87  Kailua Kona
83  Hilo, Hawaii


Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops on Maui and the Big Island…as of 810pm Thursday evening:

 

Kailua Kona – 79
Hilo, Hawaii
– 74


Haleakala Summit –   48
(near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 43 (13,000+ feet on the Big Island)


Hawaii’s MountainsHere’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. This web cam is available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon shining down during the night at times. Plus, during the nights you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise and sunset too… depending upon weather conditions.

 


Aloha Paragraphs


http://www.hiloliving.com/HiloBlogPics/Hilo%20Vog.JPG
Volcanic haze (vog) over the islands now

L
ight breezes, continuing over the next couple of days…
making for muggy and hazy conditions


Localized showers will occur during the afternoon hours
over the interior sections, with a few showers falling here
and there elsewhere at times too




The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions…as of Thursday evening:


12  Mana, Kauai – SW
14  Honouliuli FWS, Oahu – SW
08  Molokai – NW
14  Lanai – SW
12  Kahoolawe – SW
16  Hana,
Maui – SE
22  South Point, Big Island – ENE


Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…as of Thursday evening (545pm totals):


0.11  Kalaheo, Kauai
0.98  Kahana, Oahu
0.04  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.16  Puu Kukui, Maui
1.43  Waikoloa, Big Island


We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean. Here’s the latest NOAA satellite picture – the latest looping satellite image… and finally the latest looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands.


~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



Generally light southeast to southwest breezes continuing through Friday, before giving way to north to northeasterly breezes this weekend…continuing on into next week. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…focused on the Hawaiian Islands. ~~~ We see a moderately strong, near 1027 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of our islands. It has a trailing ridge of high pressure located over Kauai. At the same time, we see a gale low pressure system to our northwest, with an associated cold front…approaching the state slowly. Our local winds will remain light from the southwest through southeast in response to this very late season cold front. The longer range outlook calls for the return of our normal trade winds later this weekend into next week.

Satellite imagery shows patchy lower level clouds in some parts of the state…with a thin veil of high cirrus clouds moving over the state at times from the southwest.
Looking at this larger satellite image, we see a counterclockwise rotating low pressure system to our northwest, with its active late season cold front very slowly coming our way. There are also stable looking, lower level clouds moving over us on the southwest to southeasterly breezes as well. Here’s a looping radar image, showing generally light showers falling locally, most of which are over the islands at the time of this writing. As the sun warms the islands on Friday, we’ll see the clear to partly cloudy morning…giving way to afternoon clouds and a few showers, mostly over the mountain slopes…like we’ve seen the last several days.

Another day or two of these light wind conditions, with muggy and hazy conditions…before clouds and showers increase this weekend. We continue to be in a lightly convective weather pattern, with clear to partly cloudy mornings, giving way to afternoon clouds over the slopes…with a few showers. Meanwhile, the latest model output continues to show a late season cold front approaching the islands this weekend. As this front moves into our area Saturday, it will bring an increase in showers first on Kauai, and then slowly travel down through the rest of the state…arriving over the Big Island by Monday. This late season cloud band will usher in slightly cooler northerly breezes at first, which will gradually turn to our more normal trade winds through the following week. These trades will also carry some windward showers our way for several days after the front dissipates early next week as well. The leeward beaches in contrast will find favorably inclined weather, with lots of warm sunshine beaming down next week. I’ll be back again early Friday with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Thursday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui, at the 3,100 foot elevation, at my upper Kula, Maui weather tower, the air temperature was 56.5 degrees at 6am on this Thursday morning. Skies were generally clear, along with some thin cirrus clouds around the edges too. The volcanic haze that’s been around all this week, is still in our air this morning too…which looks light to moderately thick at sunrise. Speaking of sunrise, those icy cirrus clouds lit up a nice faint pink color this morning as well.

We’re into the early afternoon hours now at 1220pm, under partly to mostly cloudy skies. The moderately heavy volcanic haze remains in place this afternoon, along with sunny to partly sunny skies along our coasts. The majority of the clouds today, as has been the case all week, and will continue to be tomorrow…are hanging around the mountain slopes. The air temperature here in Kula was a warm 76.1 degrees, with light breezes.

It’s now 555pm, under cloudy skies, with a few very light drops of moisture coming down every once in a while…with an air temperature of 70 degrees. The main thing now, as it has been most of the day, and to varying degrees all this week…is the rather thick volcanic haze in our air! The air is muggy too, and with the high temperatures in the 80’s down near the coasts (maximum temperature in Kahului was 88F degrees), it has been feeling very muggy. Back to the vog again for a second, looking, or should I say trying to look across the central valley towards the West Maui Mountains…I can’t see them. On another note, I’ll be really interested to see if this approaching cloud band will hold together enough, to bring showers to the state this weekend. It’s getting so late in the spring season for such an occurrence, although I’m hoping for the best. As we get deeper into spring, and then into our dry summer months…we can use every drop!



World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


Atlantic Ocean:
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th.
Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary


Here’s a
satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean


Caribbean Sea:


Gulf of Mexico:


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 Eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15th through November 30th. Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary


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


Central Pacific Ocean:
The Central Pacific hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th. Here’s the 2013 hurricane season summary


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


North Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones


South Pacific Ocean:
There are no active tropical cyclones

North and South Indian Oceans:
There are no active tropical cyclones

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


Interesting: Seafloor container ecology – Thousands of shipping containers are lost from cargo vessels each year. Many of these containers eventually sink to the deep seafloor. In 2004, scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) discovered a lost shipping container almost 1,300 meters (4,200 feet) below the surface of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. In the first-ever survey of its kind, researchers from MBARI and the sanctuary recently described how deep-sea animal communities on and around the container differed from those in surrounding areas.


In February 2004, the cargo vessel Med Taipei was traveling southward along the California coast when severe winds and seas dislodged 24 shipping containers, 15 of which were lost within the boundaries of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Four months later, during a routine research dive using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Ventana, MBARI scientists discovered one of these containers on the seafloor.


In March 2011, a research team led by Andrew DeVogelaere of the sanctuary and Jim Barry of MBARI completed another ROV dive at the container. During this dive, they collected extensive video footage, as well as samples of seafloor sediment at various distances from the container. They then compared the animals found on the container, on the nearby seafloor, and on the surrounding seafloor out to 500 meters (a third of a mile) away from the container. In early May, 2014 they published their findings in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin.


Josi Taylor, the lead author of the recent article, said that she was surprised to see how little the container had corroded in the seven years since it sank to the seafloor. Apparently, the near-freezing water and low oxygen concentrations in the deep sea slowed the processes that might degrade sunken containers in shallower water.


As expected, the hard surface of the container acted somewhat like a rocky reef, attracting animals such as tubeworms, scallops, snails, and tunicates. Such animals require hard surfaces on which to attach, and were not found on the muddy seafloor around the container. Surprisingly, several types of animals found on nearby rocky reefs, such as sponges, soft corals, and crinoids (a distant relative of sea stars), had not colonized the surface of the container.


The researchers speculate that some of these slow-growing animals might not have had enough time to colonize the container’s surface. Another possible explanation is that some types of animals may be sensitive to the potentially toxic effects of corrosion-resistant coatings used on shipping containers. The team conducted a follow-up ROV dive in December 2013 to study possible effects of the container’s coating. The samples from this dive are still being analyzed.