Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Monday…along with the minimum temperatures Monday:

77 – 63  Lihue, Kauai
78 – 60  Honolulu, Oahu
78 – 63  Molokai AP
81 – 63  Kahului, Maui
81 – 68  Kailua Kona
80 – 63  Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.02  Lihue, Kauai
0.00  Oahu
0.01  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Maui
0.01  Pali 2, Big Island


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


10  Mana, Kauai
12  Kii, Oahu
12  Molokai
07  Lanai
16  Kahoolawe
09  Hana, Maui
21  Nene Cabin, 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/cpac/ir4.jpg
Approaching cold front to the west and northwest of Hawaii

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Clouds will increase today…becoming showery


http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Showers will increase today…from west to east



Cool trade winds and very dry – winds turning south ahead of a cold front
tonight into Tuesday, this front will bring some showers and gusty winds
Tuesday, with dry weather Wednesday through Thursday… increasing
showers and gusty winds Friday into Saturday…as another stronger
cold front arrives then

Small Craft Advisory… for stronger winds and rough seas

High Wind Warning…Big Island summits / Wind Advisory…
Haleakala Crater, Maui

 


~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~




Somewhat cool breezes will continue…becoming gusty southerlies Tuesday. 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 high pressure system far northwest of the state…moving eastward into the central Pacific. At the same time, we have low pressure systems to the north and northeast…with associated cold fronts to the northwest and southeast of Hawaii. The trade winds will veer to the south tonight into Tuesday, becoming gusty…followed by northerly winds in the wake of a cold front Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll see more gusty winds Friday into the  weekend ahead of, and then in the wake of another stronger cold front Friday into Saturday. Winds over the summits on both the Big Island and Maui will become strong and gusty Tuesday through Thursday…and potentially very strong again Friday into Saturday.

Dry weather and then some showers…thanks to a cold front pushing down through the state Tuesday into the night. Here’s the looping radar image showing a distinct lack of showers, which will remain the case into Tuesday morning. The overlying very stable air mass, the one being carried over us by the southeast breezes, carrying volcanic haze (vog)…will prevail until a weak cold front arrives. This Tuesday-Wednesday morning front will lack heavy rainfall, although showers will arrive with the frontal passage. At the time of this writing, it appears that New Year’s Eve and New Years Day will have light northerly winds and generally dry and somewhat cool conditions. A more significant cold front is forecast for the Friday-Saturday time frame, which should bring a better chance of precipitation…some of which may become heavy with a chance of localized thunderstorms…stay tuned. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.


World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


>>> Atlantic Ocean: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


>>> Gulf of Mexico: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


Here’s a satellite image of the Caribbean Sea…and the Gulf of Mexico.

>>> Eastern Pacific: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 North Pacific hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


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 central north Pacific hurricane season has officially ended. Routine issuance of the tropical weather outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, special tropical weather outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.


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


>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: Tropical storm 23W (Jangmi) remains active…moving across the southern Philippine Islands. Here’s a JTWC graphical track map…along with a NOAA satellite image.


>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> North and South Indian Oceans: Tropical cyclone 04S (Kate) remains active…moving southwestward across the South Indian Ocean. Here’s a JTWC graphical track map…along with a NOAA satellite image.

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

 

Interesting:  The mystery of the disappearing plastic trash in the oceans solved! – Many of us have seen the photos of plastic refuse in the ocean, the large islands of bags and waste that collect at tidal crossroads. Yet when scientists took a survey of the ocean earlier this year, they found a suspicious amount had disappeared. Was it just our good luck that pollution was decreasing? Hardly. It had simply been sinking, breaking apart and embedding itself in the sediment.


Fibers of microplastic, which are similar in diameter to a human hair, have sunk into deep water reserves across the world. For every bag floating across the ocean’s surface, there’s much more of the stuff laying in the ocean floor underneath. How much plastic is there? Well, according to the research, it’s so widespread that they’ve estimated microplastic is on every kilometer of the sea floor across the globe.


The study doesn’t mince words on what the problem is:


“Plastics are extremely durable synthetic polymers, yet more than 30% are made into disposable items such as packaging, which are typically discarded within a year of manufacture. The associated throw-away culture has led to an escalating plastic waste management problem, and widespread accumulation of plastic debris in the natural environment. Debris is now present on shorelines and at the sea surface from pole to pole.”


Plastic, which we most commonly see on the surface of coastal waters and beaches, can hurt marine life. Seabirds, sea turtles, seals and fish all die from plastic ingestion as well as getting tangled in debris. However, what effect could these plastic strands have on deep sea ocean life? Well, as you can imagine, it is not good.


Although deep sea entanglement isn’t much of an issue due to the small size of the microplastics, ingestion poses a huge problem for marine animals. Because plastics can ‘get stuck’ in the stomachs of some marine creatures, the more plastic that is ingested, the more the stomach ‘shrinks.’ This means that animals can actually starve to death because their stomachs can no longer hold the amount of food necessary to sustain life. Even worse, bags can become a magnet for toxins and cancer-causing chemicals, meaning that if a fish ingests the plastic, and we ingest the fish, we also ingest the harmful substances.


The report notes that because of the harm this microplastic poses, it ought to be a “worldwide concern.”