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

81 – 71  Lihue, Kauai
81 – 74  Honolulu, Oahu
81 – 75  Molokai
83 – 72  Kahului AP, Maui
84 – 72  Kailua Kona AP
84 – 69  Hilo, Hawaii

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

1.30  Kilohana, Kauai
0.43  Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.20  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.05  Hana AP, Maui
0.95  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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

25  Port Allen, Kauai – NE
24  Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
29  Molokai – ENE
27  Lanai – NE
36  Kahoolawe – E
29  Maalaea Bay, Maui – N
36  Puhe CS, 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

http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_ir_enh_west_loop-12.gif
Cold fronts far northwest and northeast of Hawaii

Here’s a wind profile…of the offshore waters
around the islands – with a closer view

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/vis.jpg
Thunderstorms well offshore south of Hawaii

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/vis.jpg
Off and on increases in clouds windward sides…as the
tail-ends of a couple of cold fronts come close to Hawaii


http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Passing showers locally windward…especially
around Kauai and Oahu – looping radar image

Small Craft Advisory…coasts and channels statewide

High Surf Advisory north and west shores of Kauai, Oahu
and Molokai, and north shores of Maui and the Big Island

A High Surf Warning for our northwest shores is possible
this weekend


~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



Our winds will be locally strong and gusty trades…with little change expected. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. We find moderately strong high pressure systems to the north through northeast of the state. At the same time, we find low pressure systems far to our north-northeast and northwest…with the tail-end of a cold front just north of our islands. The trade winds will remain active through the rest of this week, blowing generally in the moderate to locally stronger realms statewide. The trade winds may down shift a gear or two early next week, and could veer to the southeast…bringing a bit of vog our way then. The models show the trade winds picking back up around the middle of next week, continuing on into the weekend.

Showers along our windward sides locally…leeward areas will remain generally dry. We’ll find generally dry weather continuing over the next several days, especially along our leeward sections…with occasional passing showers over the windward sides. Weather maps show the tail-end of a cold front migrating by offshore not far to our north and northeast. We may see another weak front approaching the state late this weekend or early next week, although it will probably give us a pass…as the last several have done. The long range models are suggesting that our drier than normal weather conditions may extend all the way through next week. These sorts of dry, late autumn into winter weather situations are typical of the strong El Nino conditions…that prevail now. If this dry reality continues into the new year ahead, we could be looking at a serious drought by the spring months into next summer.

Here on Maui…It’s mostly clear across the island early this Wednesday morning, although cloudy with some showers along the windward sides. Here in upcountry Kula, it’s calm and clear…with an air temperature of 51.8F degrees at my Kula weather tower. This temperature is in contrast to the warmer 74 degree reading down near sea level in Kahului at the same time. 

– As we’ve pushed into the afternoon hours, we find yet another day of mostly sunny weather, with very showers…even along our typically more showery windward slopes. There are a few clouds around, mostly gathering over and around the mountains, while the beaches remain quite lovely. The surf remains very small along our leeward beaches, with larger breakers along the north and east facing coasts…which is pretty typical for this time of year.

– Sunset is just about to happen here on Maui, with scattered clouds over and around the island…along with large blue areas of clear skies as well. There are no high cirrus clouds in our vicinity this evening, so the sunset will consist of just lower level cumulus clouds lighting up briefly as the sun goes down. The trade winds are our main weather element now, which continue to gust up past 30 mph locally. The surf is still up along our north, west, and east facing beaches, while the south shores are nearly flat.

I’ll be back with many more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you’re 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 if 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 if 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 if conditions warrant.

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

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> 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 if 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 if 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 / Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

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


Interesting:  Should we say goodbye to cacti? – It’s hard not to think of a cactus as a resilient plant. Living in hot, drought-stricken climates, if it can survive there, surely it can make it through anything. Sadly, this assumption is not reality for the cactus. As an international team of researchers discovered, nearly one-third of all cactus species face a looming threat of extinction.

The study, recently published in the scientific journal Nature Plants, examined populations of nearly 1,500 cactus species – 31 percent of which were deemed at risk of extinction. Collectively, the researchers found that “cacti are among the most threatened taxonomic groups assessed to date.” Here are three big reasons why cacti are in trouble:

1. Loss of Habitat

As the global human population grows, so does the demand for land — land for people to live on, land for growing crops and land for raising livestock. Though most environmentalists are well aware of how this phenomenon destroys Amazonian rainforests, fewer probably realize it’s also responsible for clearing arid climates as well. Consequentially, landowners chop down rare cactus species without much thought to how few remain throughout the world.

2. Illegal Sale

Thanks to their exotic beauty, cacti are popular purchases in regions where they don’t naturally grow, particularly Europe. Though trade of cacti is largely illegal, because of the hefty prices cacti can fetch up to $1,000 for a single cactus, people are willing to take the risk and snatch grown cacti from their natural habitats anyway.

In these new non-native environments, buyers often do not understand the conditions necessary to keep them alive, let alone how to help them reproduce, meaning they die out. Additionally, by having fewer cacti in natural habitats, there are far fewer seeds around for new cacti to grow.

3. Climate Change

Like most life forms on the planet, cacti are vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. So far, cacti can withstand the increased temperatures, but they ultimately lose when other desert creatures aren’t as adaptable. For example, some cactus species rely on butterflies for pollination, and with monarch butterflies dying off from climate change, those cacti are under threat.

Furthermore, although we think of cacti as living in isolated deserts, some species live near the coast. With the rising sea levels accompanying climate change, habitats for these cacti may be underwater in another century or so.