Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 1-2, 2015

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

82 – 71  Lihue, Kauai
79 – 67  Honolulu, Oahu
78 – 68  Molokai AP
79 – 69  Kahului, Maui
82 – 72  Kona Intl AP, Hawaii
79 – 64  Hilo, Hawaii

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

1.26  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.96  Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
1.64  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
2.27  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.94  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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

32  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
36  Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
27  Molokai – NE
32  Lanai – NE
36  Kahoolawe – N
32  Maalaea Bay, Maui – N
35  Puu Mali, Big Island – ESE

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



Drier weather is on the horizon…to our east and northeast

Cirrus clouds south of the Big Island…along with a
shower band of clouds moving across the islands

Showers are falling over the islands locally…which will
be easing into the weekend

Here’s the looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands

Small Craft Advisory…locally strong trade winds
over the windiest coastal and channel waters
around Maui County and the Big Island

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

Strong and gusty trade winds continue…easing up some this 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 large and strong high pressure system located to the northeast of the state, with associated ridges extending to our north from its center. As a result of these high pressure features, and low pressure well to the south, our winds will come in from the trade wind direction. These trade winds will be strong and gusty in our exposed locations. The outlook shows no definite end to this long lasting trade wind episode, although they are expected to ease-up some this weekend…then continue in the moderately strong levels into the new week ahead.

Showers will continue along the windward sides…being carried leeward on the smaller islands locally. The windward sides will see the most notable shower activity. The leeward sides will find some showers falling locally at times, although will have fewer in general. As we push into the weekend, our weather will become more typically normal for this time of year, with slightly lighter trade winds and fewer passing showers. As we get into early next week, and the trade winds continue to be active, we’ll find off and on passing windward biased showers arriving through the week. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Friday Evening Film:  There are the usual available films down in Kahului, although none of them are looking all that interesting. Jeff had a look to see if any interested him, and he found nothing much. I gave a look, and came up with the same results. However, we both took a second glance, I mean it is Friday after all. We came up with one called Insurgent, starring Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Ray Stevenson, Suki Waterhouse, Zoe Kravitz, Daniel Dae Kim…among many others. The synopsis: Insurgent raises the stakes for Tris as she searches for allies and answers in the ruins of a futuristic Chicago. Tris (Woodley) and Four (James) are now fugitives on the run, hunted by Jeanine (Winslet), the leader of the power-hungry Erudite elite. Racing against time, they must find out what Tris’s family sacrificed their lives to protect, and why the Erudite leaders will do anything to stop them. Haunted by her past choices, but desperate to protect the ones she loves, Tris with Four at her side, faces one impossible challenge after another, as they unlock the truth about the past and ultimately the future of their world. / I’ve known about this film for quite some time, and even saw the first film…in this trilogy. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it well enough, and will let you know our take on it Saturday morning. Until then, here’s the trailer.

>>> 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:  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: What ecosystem is most at threat from human impact? – An international team of scientists has used the 23-million-year fossil record to calculate which marine animals and ecosystems are most at risk of extinction today.

In a paper published in the journal Science, the researchers found those animals and ecosystems most threatened are predominantly in the tropics.

“Marine species are under threat from human impact, but knowledge of their vulnerabilities is limited,” says study co-author, Professor John Pandolfi from the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at the University of Queensland.

The researchers found that the predictors of extinction vulnerability, geographic range size and the type of organism, have remained consistent over the past 23 million years.

As such, they were able to use fossil records to assess the baseline extinction risk for marine animals, including sharks, whales and dolphins, as well as small sedentary organisms such as snails, clams and corals.

They then mapped the regions where those species with a high intrinsic risk are most affected today by human impact and climate change.

“Our goal was to diagnose which species are vulnerable in the modern world, using the past as a guide” says study lead author, Assistant Professor Seth Finnegan from the University of California Berkeley.

“We used these estimates to map natural extinction risk in modern oceans, and compare it with recent human pressures on the ocean such as fishing, and climate change to identify the areas most at risk,” says Professor Pandolfi.

“These regions are disproportionately in the tropics, raising the possibility that these ecosystems may be particularly vulnerable to future extinctions.”

The scientists say that identifying the regions and species at greatest risk means conservation efforts can be better targeted.

“We believe the past can inform the way we plan our conservation efforts. However there is a lot more work that needs to be done to understand the causes underlying these patterns and their policy implications,” says Asst. Professor, Seth Finnegan.