Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / June 3-4, 2015

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

84 – 75  Lihue, Kauai
86 – 75  Honolulu, Oahu
80 – 70  Molokai AP
84 – 72  Kahului, Maui
87 – 77  Kailua Kona
79 – 70  Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.42  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.03  Tunnel RG, Oahu
0.60  Makapulapai, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.62  Hana AP, Maui
1.37  Piihonua, Big Island

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

17  Poipu, Kauai – NE
22  Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
25  Molokai – NE
25  Lanai – NE
30  Kahoolawe – NE
25  Maalaea Bay, Maui – NNE
23  Pali 2, 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

Tropical Storm 01E (Andres) and category 2 Hurricane 02E (Blanca) are
churning the waters of the eastern Pacific…there is no threat to
the Hawaiian Islands from either – more information below

Clear to partly cloudy, with cloudy areas…particularly over parts of
Maui County and Oahu, moving towards Kauai –
looping version of this image

Showers are falling over the nearby ocean…especially around
parts of Maui County and Oahu, which will shift to Kauai

Here’s the looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

The trade winds will gradually become lighter through the rest of this week…then pick up again early next 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 a large high pressure system well to the northeast of the state…with a ridge of high pressure running west-southwest to another high near the International Dateline. At the same time, there’s a low pressure system, with its associated trough in the deeper tropics…well to the south-southeast of the islands. As a result of these weather features, we’ll find light to moderately strong trade winds over the islands, although gradually diminishing through Thursday. A very late season cold front approaching the state in a few days, will further weaken our trade winds Friday into the weekend. This time of year, as we’re into the month of June, these lighter than normal trade wind episodes…are unusual! The weather models show the trade winds snapping back early next week.

More than the ordinary amount of showers…especially over Oahu and Kauai into Thursday morning. The windward sides will receive most of the showers that get carried our way on the light to moderate trade wind flow. Satellite imagery shows an area of showery clouds impacting Maui County and Oahu…heading towards Kauai. The leeward sides too, and upcountry areas will see showers locally as well at times. A very late season cold front will stall just northwest of the state before arriving in a couple of days. This front will help to turn the trade winds off, or at least weaken them considerably during the weekend. This in turn will prompt a convective weather pattern, with cloud buildups over and around the mountains during the afternoon hours, along with localized showers. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui...early Wednesday morning near sunrise, skies are clear across the island, with the exception of the windward sides and over the West Maui Mountains. There’s some smoke in the central valley from the earlier sugar cane burn. The air temperature here in Kula at 540am was 54.7 degrees, 73 down at the Kahului and Hana airports, 63 at the Kaupo Gap, and 45 degrees atop the Haleakala Crater. / Now at 1115am, it’s totally cloudy, and I mean heavy dark clouds, which are starting to drop some moderately heavy mist…I like it!

– We’re into the early afternoon now, and here in upcountry Kula, it’s been raining steadily for the past hour.

– It’s now 545pm, with heavy fog, and the latest light shower has ended. This had been a wet week here in upcountry Maui, with showers or rain or drizzle everyday lately. I have no complaints whatsoever! / It’s now 820pm, and its still raining steadily, very unusual for a near full day of rain during early June!

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

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:  

1.) The National Hurricane Center continues issuing advisories on 
Tropical Storm 01E (Andres), located about 955 miles west of
of the southern tip of Baja California. Here's the NHC graphical track map.

Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph with higher gusts...with

continued weakening going forward
 

Here's a looping satellite image of this system - and what the

hurricane models are showing for Tropical Storm Andres

2.) The National Hurricane Center continues issuing advisories on 
Hurricane 02E (Blanca), located about 795 miles south-southeast of
of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Here's the NHC graphical track map.

Maximum sustained winds are near 110 mph with higher gusts...with a 

gradual weakening going forward

Here's a looping satellite image of this system - and what the

hurricane models are showing for category 2 Hurricane Blanca

A.) A low pressure area could form over the weekend or early next week a
few hundred miles south of the coasts of El Salvador and Guatemala.
Environmental conditions are expected to be conducive for gradual
development of this system while it moves toward the northwest or
north.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...near 0 percent 

* Formation chance through 5 days...low...30 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

No tropical cyclones are expected through the next 48 hours

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:  Connecting Elevation and Evolution – Paleontologists have documented how dramatic shifts in climate have led to dramatic shifts in evolution. One such event, the Grande Coupure, was a wipeout of many European mammal species 33.9 million years ago when global temperatures and precipitation declined sharply. What has been puzzling is that during the same transition between the Eocene and Oligocene periods, North American mammals fared much better. A new study explains why: The rise of the Rocky Mountains, already underway for millions of years, had predisposed populations to adapt to a cold, dry world.

“Regional tectonically driven surface uplift resulted in large-scale reorganization of precipitation patterns, and our data show that the mammalian faunas adapted to these changes,” write the study authors, including Christine Janis, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Brown University, in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. “We suggest that the late Eocene mammalian faunas of North America were already ‘pre-adapted’ to the colder and drier global conditions that followed the EO climatic cooling.”

The data in the study led by Jussi Eronen of the Senckenberg Research Institutes in Germany and the University of Helsinki in Finland, come from the authors’ analysis of the fossil record of the two continents, combined with previous oxygen isotope data that reveal precipitation patterns, and tectonic models that show the growth of the Rocky Mountains. Specifically, the study shows that the rise of the range spread south in three phases from Canada starting more than 50 million years ago, down through Idaho, and finally into Nevada by 23 million years ago.

In the meantime, fossil mammal data show, precipitation in the interior regions dropped, and major shifts in mammal populations, such as an almost complete loss of primates, took place. Estimated rainfall based on plant fossils in Wyoming, for example, dropped from about 1,200 millimeters a year 56 million years ago to only 750 millimeters a year about 49 million years ago.

But across the region these correlated shifts occurred over tens of millions of years, leaving a well-adapted mix of mammals behind by the time of the Grand Coupure 34 million years ago.

In Europe, meanwhile, tectonic developments weren’t a major factor driving local climate. When the global climate change happened, that continent’s mammals were evolutionary sitting ducks. Other studies have already suggested that Europe’s mammals were largely overrun and outcompeted by Asian mammals that were already living in colder and drier conditions.

Eronen said the findings should elevate the importance of collaboration across disciplines, for instance by integrating geoscience with paleontology, in the analysis of broad evolutionary patterns.

“Our results highlight the importance of regional tectonic and surface uplift processes on the evolution of mammalian faunas,” they wrote.