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

84 – 73  Lihue, Kauai
85 – 73  Honolulu, Oahu
82 – 71  Molokai AP
84 – 67  Kahului AP, Maui
84 – 72  Kailua Kona
82 – 69  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

4.05  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
2.61  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.46  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.44  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.43  West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.62  Glenwood, Big Island

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

25  Port Allen, Kauai – SE
27  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – SSW
27  Molokai – SE
25  Lanai – NE
35  Kahoolawe – ENE
27  Kahului AP, Maui – NNE
25  South Point, Big Island – NNE

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 low pressure system over the ocean far to the north…
along with its associated cold front northwest of Hawaii

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
Thunderstorms far south and southwest…leading
edge of a cold front northwest

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Clear to partly cloudy…with cloudy areas locally

 

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Showers falling locally – Looping radar image

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



Trades winds easing up Thursday and Friday, turning southeast…then returning trade winds by the weekend. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. We find a high pressure system well offshore to the northeast of the state. At the same time, we see a gale low pressure system northwest, along with its trailing cloud band draping southwest. Trade winds will gradually fade tonight, as this next cold front approaches the state Thursday. As this happens, we’ll see our winds become lighter, and veer to the southeast through Saturday morning. When these winds swing around to the southeast…we’ll see increased volcanic haze arriving over the smaller islands. The trade winds should return during the weekend, ventilating the vog away then. The models show the trade winds continuing right on into next week.

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

As the trade winds fade, and breezes veer to the southeast…very warm and muggy weather will stick around into Friday. The forecast now calls for another late season cold front approaching the islands Thursday-Friday. The models show this frontal boundary weakening into a surface trough…as it moves into the state. This weather feature will interrupt our trade wind flow, with daytime sea breezes occurring each day through Friday. As a result, we will see afternoon interior clouds forming over the islands, with localized upcountry showers developing…some of which may become locally heavy. Then, as the trade winds return over the weekend, frequent showers will gravitate back over to the windward sides into the middle of next week.

Marine environment details: The small craft advisory /SCA/ has been dropped for all zones, as winds are expected to weaken and veer out of the southeast tonight through Friday. The forecast models continue to show increasing northeasterly trade winds spreading from west to east over the area this weekend. These winds may briefly reach the SCA criteria near Kauai on Saturday.

A small west-northwest swell has arrived in the islands, and is expected to peak tonight, and persist through Friday. A reinforcing north-northwest swell will arrive Saturday and continue into early next week. Small south swells will maintain surf along south facing shores through Thursday. A south swell will arrive Friday and peak late Saturday above the seasonal south swell average, and then slowly subside into early next week. While surf will be elevated, surf heights are expected to remain just below the high surf advisory criteria along south facing shores this weekend. Along east facing shores, the breezy trade winds will continue to produce choppy surf, then taper off through the end of the week as the winds weaken and veer out of the southeast.

 

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Here on Maui – Before sunrise on this Wednesday morning, we find partly to mostly cloudy skies along the windward coasts and slopes…stretching up over the West Maui mountains. These clouds are dropping a few showers, as the trades carry moisture ashore. By the way, there was a sugar cane fire early this morning, which has put a lot of smoke in the air this morning! Elsewhere around the island, skies were mostly clear to partly cloudy. Here in upcountry Kula, it was calm and clear to partly cloudy conditions, with an air temperature at my weather tower of 52.7F degrees. At near the same time, the Kahului AP was reporting 72 degrees under clear skies, while it was 73 out in Hana…with a 45 degree reading atop the Haleakala Crater. / Now at 1045am, skies have gotten quite cloudy across the island, with an increase in windward biased showers.

– Early afternoon here at my place in Kula, and it’s cloudy with light rain falling. I can still see some muted sunshine down in the central valley however. Radar images makes it look like it’s raining lightly in Kapalua, and several other windward locations here on Maui.

– Early evening, under partly to mostly cloudy skies, along with localized showers. Here at my weather tower in upper Kula, it’s still very lightly sprinkling, even as the sun has come out suddenly. I’m seeing the first signs of volcanic haze before sunset…which looks light to moderately thick at the time of this writing. I’m expecting this vog to stick around into Saturday morning.

 

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: No active tropical cyclones

>>> South Pacific Ocean: No active tropical cyclones


>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: No active tropical cyclones

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


Interesting: Coastal birds rely on tides and moon phases – Coastal wading birds shape their lives around the tides, and new research in The Auk: Ornithological Advances shows that different species respond differently to shifting patterns of high and low water according to their size and daily schedules, even following prey cycles tied to the phases of the moon.

Many birds rely on the shallow water of the intertidal zone for foraging, but this habitat appears and disappears as the tide ebbs and flows, with patterns that go through monthly cycles of strong “spring” and weak “neap” tides. Leonardo Calle of Montana State University (formerly Florida Atlantic University) and his colleagues wanted to assess how wading birds respond to these changes, because different species face different constraints–longer-legged birds can forage in deeper water than those with shorter legs, and birds that are only active during the day have different needs than those that will forage day or night.

Changes in the daily schedules of tidal flooding affected smaller, daylight-dependent Little Blue Herons more than Great White Herons, which have longer legs and forage at night when necessary. The abundance of foraging wading birds was also tied to the phases of the moon, but this turned out not to be driven directly by changes in the availability of shallow-water habitat. Instead, the researchers speculate that the birds were responding to movements of their aquatic prey timed to the spring-neap tide cycle, a hypothesis that could be confirmed through a study jointly tracking predator and prey abundance.

“Wading birds are a cog in the wheel that is the intertidal ecosystem, and the intertidal ecosystem is driven by tidal forces–everything depends on tides,” says Calle. “The nuances of how water levels rise and fall over time and space are very important to understand in order to assess how birds feed. Ultimately, this will help us determine if birds have enough area or enough time to fulfill their energy demands and which areas require greater attention or protection.”

Calle and his colleagues conducted their seasonal surveys of foraging wading birds from 2010 to 2013, working from a boat at low tide in Florida’s Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge. “First the Great White Herons would arrive, followed by the other birds,” says Calle. “Sharks and rays would be on the edge of the flats. Once, not ten feet from the bow of my kayak, a green turtle popped its head above the water and drew a breath just as a grazing manatee drifted by.”

“The model developed by Calle et al. makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the factors that drive the abundance of herons and egrets in tidal areas,” according to John Brzorad of Lenoir-Rhyne University, an expert on egret ecology. “Although it has been long observed that abundance varies with tidal phase, these authors incorporate time of day, moon phase, and season and allow predictions to be made about bird abundance based on modeling hectares available for foraging birds. It will be exciting to apply this model to other tidal areas.”