Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday:
87 Lihue, Kauai
89 Honolulu, Oahu
86 Molokai
90 Kahului, Maui – record high temperature for Thursday 93 degrees…in 1951, 1984
89 Kailua Kona
86 Hilo, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Thursday evening:
0.22 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.30 Nuuanu Upper, Oahu
0.04 Kamalo, Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.31 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.31 Kiholo RG, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Thursday evening:
17 Poipu, Kauai
31 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
27 Molokai
30 Lanai
36 Kahoolawe
32 Kahului, Maui
29 Kealakomo, Big Island
Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’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
We find clear to partly cloudy skies…along with a few windward
passing showers
The trade winds will become stronger into the weekend
These trades will bring just a few windward showers, with
heavier rains and possible thunderstorms arriving late
Sunday into Monday…then turning drier later Tuesday
High Surf Advisory…north and west shores of Kauai, Oahu,
Molokai, and north shores of Maui – through 6am Saturday
Small Craft Wind Advisory…for large seas and stronger
trade winds – through 6pm Saturday
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Strengthening trades…becoming stronger Friday into the weekend. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profiler of the central Pacific. We find a near 1021 millibar high pressure system to the east-northeast…with a ridge extending west-southwest from its center, to another weak high pressure cell to the west of the state. There’s a storm low pressure system far to the north, with a cold front stretching south and southwestward from its center. Our trade winds became well established today…strengthening Friday into the weekend.
Satellite imagery shows clear to partly cloudy skies…with some cloudy areas over the islands. Looking at this larger looping satellite image, it shows a large area of high clouds to the south and southwest of the state…along with thunderstorms over the ocean in the deeper tropics. Here’s the looping radar, showing light to moderately heavy showers falling in places, mostly over the ocean…although the trade winds are carrying them ashore locally. This trade wind weather pattern, with windward showers will stick around well into the future. The models are showing that these windward biased showers are likely to increase, and become heavy late this weekend into early next week…spreading to other parts of the islands locally. This will occur due to the arrival of both an upper level low pressure, with its cold air aloft, and an influx of tropical moisture…combining forces. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Thursday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
>>> Atlantic Ocean: Sub-tropical depression 07L is now active, located approximately 590 miles south of Bermuda…with sustained winds of near 35 mph…with higher gusts. Here’s a graphical track map…along with a satellite image
Shower and thunderstorm activity has increased and become more concentrated in association with a tropical wave located about 700 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. Environmental conditions appear to be conducive for gradual development of this system during the next several days while it moves moves westward or west- northwestward to west at about 10 mph.
* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...10 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days...low...20 percent
Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean
>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones
>>> Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones
Here’s a satellite image of the Caribbean Sea…and the Gulf of Mexico.
>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones
Disorganized cloudiness and showers continue in association with an elongated area of low pressure centered south of the coast of El Salvador. Slow development of this system is possible during the next several days while it drifts west-northwestward. Regardless of development, this system will produce isolated areas of heavy rainfall over portions of Central America during the next couple of days.
* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...10 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days...medium...50 percent
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: There are no active tropical cyclones
Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)
>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: Typhoon 19W (Vongfong) remains active, located approximately 220 NM south-southeast of Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan…with sustained winds of near 132 mph…with higher gusts. Here’s a graphical track map…along with a satellite image
>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
>>> North and South Indian Oceans: Tropical Cyclone 03B (Hudhud) remains active, located approximately 250 NM southeast of Visakhapatnam, India…with sustained winds of near 86 mph…with higher gusts. Here’s a graphical track map…along with a satellite image
Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)
Interesting: Sea Turtles in Hawaii are getting tumors…and we’re the cause – Hawai’i’s sea turtles are afflicted with chronic and often lethal tumors caused by consuming non-native algae, “superweeds,” along coastlines where nutrient pollution is unchecked. The disease that causes these tumors is considered the leading cause of death in endangered green sea turtles. The new research was just published in the scientific journal PeerJ.
Turtles that graze on blooms of invasive seaweeds end up with a diet that is rich in a particular amino acid, arginine, which promotes the virus that creates the tumors. Scientists at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa and their NOAA colleague estimate that adult turtles foraging at high-nutrient grazing sites increase their arginine intake 17—26 g daily, up to 14 times the background level.
“For years, local ocean lovers have known that our green turtles have had awful tumors on their heads, eyes and front flippers,” said UH Manoa Marine Biology Professor Celia Smith, who worked with Kyle S. Van Houton of NOAA’s Turtle Research Program on this study. “Many hypotheses were offered to explain the tumors, but we kept coming back to the observation that urban reefs – those near dense populations – are the sites with greater numbers of sick turtles. We had no mechanism for this disease.”
More than 60 percent of turtles in Kane’ohe Bay have been observed to bear tumors. Kihei, Maui, has been called a “ground zero” for fibropapillomatosis, the disease that is caused by a herpes virus and manifests as tumors in turtles. Humans appear unaffected by the disease.
Van Houtan and colleagues previously described an epidemiological link between tumors and coastal eutrophication, that is, the enrichment of coastal waters with nutrients from land-based sources of pollution such as wastewater or agricultural fertilizers. This new study analyzed the actual tissues from tumored green turtles and the amounts of arginine in the dominant algae forage species from across Hawai’i.
The analysis revealed remarkably high levels of arginine in tissues of invasive seaweeds harvested under nutrient-rich conditions, such as those affected by nitrogen from land-based pollution. These are the same conditions that promote algal blooms. The non-native algae “superweeds” grow so quickly when fertilized that some can double their weight in a period of two days.
les lee Says:
When the forecast says waves coming in at 180 degrees. where is it referring too. is there a map that desplays in degrees so I can locate the area being addressed. mahalo les~~~Hi Les, yes there are, please see the area towards the bottom of the surf page, there are shadow lines for all the islands there. Good question, Aloha…Glenn
Derek Ryder Says:
Ok, I’m confused. I understand the mechanism of orographic precipitation causing windward showers. What I don’t understand is why the last few days have featured strong leeward showers, and limited windward ones. Wednesday PM featured lots of rain from Kula and Ulupalakua down to the Ahihi reserve. The Thursday AM radar is showing rain on the leeward side of the island, all the way from Kaupo to La Perouse. What’s the mechanism for leeward showers?~~~Hi Derek, good question. Lets keep it very simple, orographic showers can occur from any direction, depending upon which direction the wind is blowing. Usually the trade winds bring showers to the windward slopes. However, in the lee of the mountains, the trade winds can swirl at times, and daytime heating can cause streams of air coming off the ocean…to ride up the mountain slopes. Whatever the wind direction, if there’s moisture, and sometimes there isn’t, that moisture cools as it rises, condensing out as clouds, which can lead to rainfall. The atmosphere has been unstable lately, although should trend less so over the next few days. This cooler air aloft (associated with an upper level low), can enhance the growth of these rain bearing cumulus or even cumulonimbus clouds, allowing them to grow taller…leading to heavier showers. Ulupalakua has been luck lately, watering those green pasture lands! I hope this helps, Aloha…Glenn