Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 15-16, 2015

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

82 – 73  Lihue, Kauai
83 – 68  Honolulu, Oahu
82 – 68  Molokai AP
83 – 68  Kahului, Maui
84 – 70  Kailua Kona
83 – 64  Hilo, Hawaiiii

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

0.07  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.22  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.01  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.01  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.01  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.25  Piihonua, Big Island

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

20  Poipu, Kauai – NE
27  Waianae Valley, Oahu – NE
24  Molokai – NE
23  Lanai – NE
30  Kahoolawe – NE
22  Kahului AP, Maui – NE
29  Kealakomo, Big Island – NE

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



Weak cold front well to the north…with a cloud band
moving through the islands from the east

Clear to partly cloudy…showery clouds to our east and northeast –
reaching our windward sides – mostly over the windward sides –
here’s the looping version of the satellite photo above

 

Showers are falling over the nearby ocean…arriving
along the windward sides on the trade wind flow

Here’s the looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands

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

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

Trade winds will continue, generally in the moderately strong range…with fairly minor day to day variations into the new 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 profiler of the central Pacific. We find near 1025 millibar high pressure systems located to the north of the state. As a result of these high pressure features, and low pressure well to the south in the deeper tropics, our winds will continue to come in from the trade wind direction well into the future. The latest models are now showing the trade winds finally backing-off during the second half of next week…likely bringing sultry weather for a few days then.

A showery cloud band will push through the state tonight…into Saturday morning. The windward sides will see these showers arriving first on the Big Island, and then up the island chain…as an area of clouds gets carried through our area on the gusty trade winds. There will be a few showers carried over into the leeward sides on the smaller islands locally…in addition to upcountry afternoon showers again this weekend. These interior showers will be most prevalent on the Big Island…and the leeward slopes on Maui. As we move through the the weekend and through the first half of the new week, a fairly normal trade wind weather pattern will prevail. 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.

Here on Maui...early Friday morning before sunrise, skies are mostly clear, with just the usual clouds over the West Maui Mountains. The windward sides are uncharacteristically clear, although this probably won’t last all day. The air temperature here in Kula at 545am was 49.6 degrees, with a light down slope breeze from the summit of the Haleakala Crater…which was showing a 36 degree temperature. At the same time, it was a warmer 69 at the Kahului airport, with a 68 degree reading out in Hana.

– We’re into the middle of the afternoon, around 240pm, and a nice rain shower just ended. It hasn’t been nearly as rainy as it was Thursday afternoon, and I can see almost totally clear skies over along the windward sides at the same time.

– I just got back from seeing that film below, now at 1010pm, and it wasn’t showering in Kahului, or along the way home here in Kula either. The radar shows moderately heavy showers taking aim on our windward sides tonight.

Friday Evening Film – This is a film that many of you will roll your eyes over, and how could blame you? However, me being me, I’m drawn to these action films…almost like a bee to honey I’m afraid. I guess one could say that it’s a guy thing. At any rate, this one is called Furious 7, starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Tony Jaa, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Elsa Pataky…among many others. The synopsis: Continuing the global exploits in the unstoppable franchise built on speed, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson lead the returning cast of Fast & Furious 7. / The critics are actually being pretty generous to this film, and I will let you know what I thought in the morning. Until then, here’s the trailer for this definite high action film.

>>> 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:  There are no active tropical cyclones

TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL

For the eastern North Pacific…east of 140 degrees west longitude:

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days.

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: Super Typhoon 07W (Dolphin) remains active, and will continue to gradually strengthen…as it moves out over the open ocean, after passing by between Guam and Rota. Here’s the JTWC graphical track map…along with a satellite image – looping view – here’s what several computer model are showing

>>> 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: New Research Identifies First Warm-Blooded Fish – New research by NOAA Fisheries has revealed the opah, or moonfish, as the first fully warm-blooded fish that circulates heated blood throughout its body much like mammals and birds, giving it a competitive advantage in the cold ocean depths.

The silvery fish, roughly the size of a large automobile tire, is known from oceans around the world and dwells hundreds of feet beneath the surface in chilly, dimly lit waters. It swims by rapidly flapping its large, red pectoral fins like wings through the water.

Fish that typically inhabit such cold depths tend to be slow and sluggish, conserving energy by ambushing prey instead of chasing it. But the opah’s constant flapping of its fins heats its body, speeding its metabolism, movement and reaction times, scientists report today in the journal Science.

That warm-blooded advantage turns the opah into a high-performance predator that swims faster, reacts more quickly and sees more sharply, said fisheries biologist Nicholas Wegner of NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif., lead author of the new paper.

“Before this discovery I was under the impression this was a slow-moving fish, like most other fish in cold environments,” Wegner said. “But because it can warm its body, it turns out to be a very active predator that chases down agile prey like squid and can migrate long distances.”

Gills show unusual design

Wegner realized the opah was unusual when a coauthor of the study, biologist Owyn Snodgrass, collected a sample of its gill tissue. Wegner recognized an unusual design: Blood vessels that carry warm blood into the fish’s gills wind around those carrying cold blood back to the body core after absorbing oxygen from water.

The design is known in engineering as “counter-current heat exchange.” In opah it means that warm blood leaving the body core helps heat up cold blood returning from the respiratory surface of the gills where it absorbs oxygen. Resembling a car radiator, it’s a natural adaptation that conserves heat. The unique location of the heat exchange within the gills allows nearly the fish’s entire body to maintain an elevated temperature, known as endothermy, even in the chilly depths.

While mammals and birds typically maintain much warmer body temperatures, the opah is the first fish found to keep its whole body warmer than the environment.