Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday…along with the low temperatures Saturday:
86 – 77 Lihue, Kauai
89 – 77 Honolulu, Oahu
86 – 77 Molokai AP
89 – 75 Kahului AP, Maui
88 – 77 Kona AP
85 – 69 Hilo AP, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands…Saturday evening:
1.18 Kilohana, Kauai
0.96 Palisades, Oahu
0.36 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.08 Kahoolawe
0.76 West Wailuaiki, Maui
1.44 Kaloko-Honokohau, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…Saturday evening:
31 Port Allen, Kauai
35 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
30 Molokai
29 Lanai
33 Kahoolawe
42 Maalaea Bay, Maui
37 Puu Mali, Big Island
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
Disturbances in the deeper tropics to our southwest through southeast,
Tropical Storm Kay spinning off the Mexican coast…no threat to Hawaii
Thunderstorms well offshore southwest through southeast
Mostly clear to partly cloudy…cloudy areas across the state
Showers locally…some locally generous – Looping radar image
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Trade winds will prevail…then become lighter Monday for several days. Here’s the latest weather map, showing a near 1029 millibar high pressure system far north-northeast of Hawaii. Meanwhile, there’s several low pressure troughs in the deeper tropics to our south. The gradient between high pressure to our northeast, and low pressure to our south, will keep the trade winds blowing across our latitudes here in the central Pacific. These refreshing trades will give way to lighter winds Monday through Wednesday, ushering in sultry weather…along with possible voggy conditions. During the second half of the week, starting around Thursday, more normal trade winds will return, taking the edge off the muggy weather then.
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
Clouds and showers will favor windward areas…through Sunday. We’ll begin to see areas of deeper moisture moving across the state early Monday, first over the eastern islands, then spreading up across the rest of the state Tuesday. At the same time, a trough of low pressure will edge closer to the state then too, prompting some locally generous showers here and there. The long shot for the Monday through Wednesday time frame, will be a few thunderstorms. At the same time, the winds will become softer as well, and we’ll see increased afternoon cloud buildups…with localized showers in the upcountry areas. The long range outlook calls for a more normal typical summertime trade wind pattern later next week.
Marine environment details: A Small Craft Advisory remains posted for Maalaea Bay and the Pailolo and Alenuihaha Channels as high pressure remains firmly entrenched far northeast of the area. The high has been weakening and on this trend we expect the trade winds to drop off later tonight and Sunday. Winds are then expected to remain below advisory levels into the middle of next week.
Trade winds will continue to produce short period choppy surf along east facing shores. A series of small southerly swells can be expected through the weekend and on into the middle of next week. No other significant swells are expected.
~~~ Friday Evening Film – Let me start off by saying that I’m really looking forward to seeing the new Jason Bourne film. My friend Jeff had already seen it, and suggested that we see another new film called War Dogs. I decided to see this film, and will be hoping that Jason Bourne will still be around next Friday. At any rate, War Dogs is a comedy drama, starring Jonah Hill, Miles Teller, Ana de Armas, Bradley Cooper, Kevin Pollak, and Brenda Koo…among others. The synopsis: “War Dogs” follows two friends in their early 20s (Hill and Teller) living in Miami Beach during the Iraq War, who exploit a little-known government initiative that allows small businesses to bid on U.S. Military contracts. Starting small, they begin raking in big money and are living the high life. But the pair gets in over their heads when they land a 300 million dollar deal to arm the Afghan Military…a deal that puts them in business with some very shady people, not the least of which turns out to be the U.S. Government.
It was one of those films that I really shouldn’t have, although I gave it an A- grade anyway! I didn’t feel too badly in doing so however, as Jeff gave the same grade. As one critic wrote, “with a gripping true story and a handful of accomplished performances, War Dogs turns out to be the biggest, nicest surprise of the 2016 summer movie season.” It was one of those films that qualified as both funny and also smart…which is such a great combination in my book. This film was engaging from start to finish, and I kept thinking about how good the music track was too. In my estimation, Jonah Hill stood out as the main leading star of the film, although Miles Teller definitely held his own too. It was interesting that we saw this film on the opening night, and it played in the largest theater of the megaplex, and yet there was really just a sprinkling of seats filled. At any rate, if you’re interested…here’s the trailer.
Youtube music video…featuring Coldplay playing Yellow (full-screen viewing suggested)
World-wide tropical cyclone activity…
>>> Atlantic Ocean:
Tropical Storm 06L (Fiona) remains active in the central Atlantic Ocean, located about 680 miles northeast of the Leeward Islands…here’s the NHC graphical track map, with a satellite image…along with computer models
1.) Disorganized showers a few thunderstorms associated with a tropical wave are located about 1150 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. Environmental conditions are forecast to be marginally conducive for development during the next few days, and any development should be slow to occur. This system is expected to move westward and then west-northwestward at 15 to 20 mph across the tropical Atlantic Ocean, through the eastern Caribbean Sea, and then near the Greater Antilles.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…20 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…medium…50 percent
2.) Cloudiness and thunderstorms located over the far eastern Atlantic Ocean are associated with a low pressure area and tropical wave that has moved off the west coast of Africa. Environmental conditions are expected to be conducive for development, and a tropical depression is likely to form during the next couple of days while the system moves westward and then northwestward over the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…high…70 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…high…90 percent
Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean
>>> Caribbean Sea: No active tropical cyclones
>>> Gulf of Mexico: No active tropical cyclones
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:
Tropical Storm 12E (Kay) remains active, located about 325 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California…here’s the NHC graphical track map, with a satellite image…along with computer models
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: No active tropical cyclones
No Tropical Cyclones expected through at least the next 2-days
Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)
Tropical Storm 10W (Mindulle) remains active in the western Pacific, heading towards Tokyo, Japan…here’s the JTWC graphical track map, with a satellite image…and what the computer model
Tropical Storm 12W (Lionrock) remains active in the western Pacific, south of the Japanese Islands…here’s the JTWC graphical track map, with a satellite image…and what the computer models show
Tropical Storm 13W (Kompasu) remains active in the western Pacific, just offshore from Misawa, Japan…here’s the JTWC graphical track map, a satellite image…and what the computer models show
>>> 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: First Americans Took Coastal Route to Get to North America – The first Americans may have traveled to their new home along the coast, new research suggests.
The findings clash with long-held views that the first Americans traveled through the interior of the continent from Siberia into North America, as textbooks have taught for decades. The new study reveals that a huge chunk of the interior land route was either devoid of food or sunk beneath a forbidding lake for hundreds of years after people from the Clovis culture showed up in the Southwest.
“It would have been a real barrier to cross,” said study co-author Eske Willerslev, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Cambridge in England.
Land bridge to Asia
The conventional wisdom has been that ancient ancestors of today’s Native Americans were trapped in the region of the Bering Strait for millennia during the last glacial maximum, when two huge ice sheets blocked the passageway into the Americas. Then, around 15,000 years ago, the ice sheets began to recede, and some of this population threaded its way through the narrow strip of land that was free of ice, thus entering North America.
However, in recent years that story has been called into question. Ancient Americans reached a site in southern Chile known as Monte Verde by about 14,700 years ago, and the ice sheets had probably not receded enough by then to allow interior passage, according to the study. Still, it’s possible that the ancestors of the Clovis culture, who appeared roughly 13,400 years ago in North America, migrated through the continent’s interior, Willerslev said.
To see whether the Clovis culture may have used this interior route, Willerslev and his colleagues drilled samples of sediments from the bottom of the Spring and Charlie lakes in far northern British Columbia, Canada. During the Ice Age, this region was smack in the middle of the proposed ice-free corridor and was the site of a large glacial lake known as Lake Peace.
No food, no route
The team analyzed DNA from pollen, plants and animals in the cores and found that, around 13,000 years ago, the ice-free corridor was either submerged under water or, even if it was above water, had no vegetation to burn for warmth and no bison. Given that, it’s unlikely ancient people could have made the long trek into the heart of North America to found the Clovis culture, the researchers reported today (Aug. 10) in the journal Nature.
The first Americans were clearly curious explorers, but they were also realists, Willerslev said.
“We are talking 932 miles you have to pass with ice caps on each side. It’s not like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m just taking a three-day hike,'” Willerslev told Live Science. “Humans won’t take the trip unless you have resources to sustain yourself along the way.”
Instead, it’s likely that the first people in America spread from what is now Siberia by hugging the coasts, Willerslev said.
Reasonable but not surprising
Though that finding may be a surprise for those who are wedded to their high-school history textbooks, experts have been leaning in this direction for years, said John Hoffecker, a paleoanthropologist at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research in Boulder, Colorado.
“It’s not a big surprise,” Hoffecker, who was not involved in the current study, told Live Science. The new paper “provides some hard evidence as opposed to mere speculation.”
The ancient Americans probably both walked and used rafts or canoes to cover the distances they did in such a short period of time, said Justin Tackney, an anthropologist at the University of Kansas, who has analyzed the ancient Upward Sun River skeletons found in Alaska.
“Bouncing along the coast would move people much faster,” Tackney, who was not involved in the current research, told Live Science.
Unfortunately, any archaeological evidence of these early migrations is likely submerged off the continental shelf in the ocean, Hoffecker said.
Email Glenn James: 
