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




http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/tpac/ir4-animated.gif


http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg

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.