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

79 – 62  Lihue, Kauai
80 – 65  Honolulu, Oahu
80 – 60  Molokai AP
83 – 64  Kahului AP, Maui
83 – 71  Kailua Kona
84 – 67  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

0.01  Mohihi Crossing, Kauai
0.02  Poamoho RG 1
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.12  Kaupo Gap, Maui
0.77  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

20  Mana, Kauai – NW
16  Kuaokala, Oahu – NNE
17  Molokai – NE
17  Lanai – NW
15  Kahaloowe – WSW
16  Maalaea Bay, Maui – NNE
18  Upolu AP, 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
A cold front approaching the islands

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
Thunderstorms far to Hawaii’s southwest…the frontal
cloud band northwest will slow its approach

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Clear to partly cloudy…some cloudy areas – leading
edge of a weak cold front northwest, which will
be stalling offshore through the weekend

 

http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Showers…light around the eastern islands – looping radar image


High Surf Advisory…for north and west facing shores of Kauai,
Oahu, Molokai, and north shores of Maui

Small Craft Advisory…for coastal and channel waters across
most of the state

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



Light and variable breezes giving way to light trades Saturday…then southeast to southerly breezes Sunday into Monday. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. We find a high pressure system far east-northeast of the state. At the same time, there’s a ridge of high pressure over the central islands. In addition, there’s numerous low pressure systems to the northeast through northwest of Hawaii. We’ll find generally light winds tonight, with a modest return of trade winds during the first part of the weekend. Our winds will then veer to the southeast and south Sunday into early in the new week, which will usher in more volcanic haze. In the wake of the cold front, arriving Tuesday into Wednesday, we’ll see strong and gusty trade winds arriving for many days thereafter.

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

Here’s the Hawaiian Islands Sulfate Aerosol…animated graphic – showing vog forecast

A couple windward showers Saturday, with a few more Sunday locally…not much. The atmosphere over and around the islands remains quite dry and stable. This in turn will limit the intensity of any shower activity into the weekend…at least in most areas. Looking ahead, the models continue to suggest we could finally see a more robust cold front moving into our area early in the new week. This Tuesday-Wednesday front could bring a good increase in showers statewide. The models go on to point out the chance of a notable period of windy weather in the wake of that cold front…keeping some passing shower activity along our windward coasts and slopes. The leeward sides should be quite pleasant, although locally windy, with an occasional shower being carried into those areas on the gusty trades.

Marine environment details: A new northwest swell arriving on Saturday, will push surf to advisory levels across north and west facing shores of the smaller islands Saturday night through Sunday night. Across west facing shores of the Big Island, this same swell may result in surf reaching warning levels from late Saturday night through Sunday.

Winds will remain below small craft advisory levels through early in the new week. The next northwest swell, arriving Saturday will require an advisory for most Hawaiian waters starting late Saturday and continuing through Sunday night. An extended period of strong northeast winds and elevated seas requiring an advisory for most waters, is expected after the passage of a cold front, which is forecast to move down the island chain Tuesday and Wednesday. A gale warning may also be needed for the typically windier areas around Maui county and the Big Island.

 https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/85/a7/53/85a753348ae6477a1468e93c0ad1c109.jpg


Here in Maui County...It’s mostly clear early this Friday morning…and still very hazy with smoke and vog. Here in upcountry Kula we have an air temperature of 50.5F degrees before sunrise. The temperature at near the same time was 69 degrees down in Kahului under cloudy skies, 63 out in Hana under cloudy skies as well, 72 at Maalaea Bay, and 48 atop the Haleakala summit. Meanwhile, Kahoolawe was 66 degrees, 67 at Lanai City, with 64 at the Molokai airport.

– Mid-afternoon Friday, under variably cloudy skies, and still thick smoke and haze.

– Early evening, still partly cloudy with smoke and haze blanketing the area. / At 1040pm, the air temperature has dropped to a chilly 48.5 degrees

Friday Evening Film: There are lots of new films playing now, although for some reason, not that many are calling out to me personally. One however, called Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, looks good, and is getting reasonably good reviews.This film stars Tina Fei, Margot Robbie, Christopher Abbott, Billy Bob Thorton, Alfred Molina, and Martin Freeman, and Sheila Vand…among many others. The synopsis: Saturday Night Live alumni Tina Fey steps into the well worn shoes of journalist Kim Barker in Paramount Pictures’ adaptation of Barker’s memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which details her years as a reporter in Pakistan and Afghanistan beginning in 2002.

This was a good film, and as one critic put it, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is a funny and illuminating story of female empowerment…in the most male of environments.” This film switched between comedy and drama rather seamlessly, making for a well rounded look into a war zone. Speaking of the ranges in this film, there were some places that I almost laughed out loud, although not quite, and some pretty serious battle sequences too. Tina Fey, who played the starring role, really got down…especially during several big party moments…which was fun to watch. The language demaned an R rating, along with some minor sexual content, drug use, and violent war images too. I enjoyed the film, and as far as a rating goes, I’ll give it a strong B grade. In case you’re interested…here’s the trailer.


World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

>>> Atlantic Ocean: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2016. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant. Here’s the 2015 hurricane season summary

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2016. 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 2015 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2016. 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 2015 North Pacific hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2016. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant. Here’s the 2015 hurricane season summary

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, 2016. During the off-season, special tropical weather outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant. Here’s the 2015 hurricane season summary

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: Can you guess the world’s longest distance flyer? – A dragonfly barely an inch and a half long appears to be animal world’s most prolific long distance traveler – flying thousands of miles over oceans as it migrates from continent to continent – according to newly published research.

Biologists at Rutgers University-Newark (RU-N) who led the study – which appears in the journal PLOS ONE – say the evidence is in the genes. They found that populations of this dragonfly, called Pantala flavescens, in locations as far apart as Texas, eastern Canada, Japan, Korea, India, and South America, have genetic profiles so similar that there is only one likely explanation. Apparently – somehow – these insects are traveling distances that are extraordinarily long for their small size, breeding with each other, and creating a common worldwide gene pool that would be impossible if they did not intermingle.

“This is the first time anyone has looked at genes to see how far these insects have traveled,” says Jessica Ware, an assistant professor of biology on the faculty of RU-N’s College of Arts and Sciences and senior author of the study. “If North American Pantala only bred with North American Pantala, and Japanese Pantala only bred with Japanese Pantala,” Ware says, “we would expect to see that in genetic results that differed from each other. Because we don’t see that, it suggests the mixing of genes across vast geographic expanses.”

But how do insects from different continents manage to meet and hook up? These are not large birds or whales that one would expect to travel thousands of miles. Ware says it appears to be the way their bodies have evolved. “These dragonflies have adaptations such as increased surface areas on their wings that enable them to use the wind to carry them. They stroke, stroke, stroke and then glide for long periods, expending minimal amounts of energy as they do so.”

Dragonflies, in fact, have already been observed crossing the Indian Ocean from Asia to Africa. “They are following the weather,” says Daniel Troast, who analyzed the DNA samples in Ware’s lab while working toward his master’s degree in biology, which he earned at the university in 2015. “They’re going from India where it’s dry season to Africa where it’s moist season, and apparently they do it once a year.”

Moisture is a must for Pantala to reproduce, and that, says Ware, is why these insects would be driven to even attempt such a perilous trip, which she calls a “kind of suicide mission.” The species depends on it. While many will die en route, as long as enough make it, the species survives.

Flight patterns appear to vary. The hardiest of the dragonflies might make the trip nonstop, catching robust air currents or even hurricane winds and gliding all the way. Others may, literally, be puddle jumpers. Pantala need fresh water to mate and lay their eggs – and if while riding a weather current they spot a fresh water pool created by a rainstorm – even on an island in the middle of a vast ocean – Ware and Troast say it’s likely they dive earthward and use those pools to mate. After the eggs hatch and the babies are mature enough to fly – which takes just a few weeks – the new dragonflies join the swarm’s intercontinental and now multi-generational trek right where their parents left off.

For the moment, the details of this extraordinary insect itinerary are an educated best guess, as are specific routes these migrations might take. Much more work is needed to bring many loose ends together. But now that their work has established a worldwide population of intermingling dragonflies, Ware and Troast hope that scientists can work on plotting those routes in earnest. They would need to be innovative, because tracking devices that can be attached to larger animals are far too big to put on insects.

What the Rutgers scientists have discovered puts this dragonfly far ahead of any identified insect competitor. “Monarch butterflies migrating back and forth across North America were thought to be the longest migrating insects,” traveling about 2,500 miles each way, says Troast, “but Pantala completely destroys any migrating record they would have,” with its estimated range of 4,400 miles or more. It also exceeds Charles Lindbergh’s celebrated solo flight from New York to Paris by at least several hundred miles.

Pantala leaves many of its fellow dragonflies even farther behind. The mysteries of evolution are such that while Pantala and its cousin the Green Darner (Anax junius) have developed into world travelers, Ware says that by contrast, other members of the family “don’t ever leave the pond on which they’re born – traveling barely 36 feet away their entire lives.”