Air Temperatures – The following high temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday…along with the low temperatures Wednesday:
88 – 79 Lihue, Kauai
89 – 76 Honolulu, Oahu
87 – 75 Molokai
89 – 73 Kahului AP, Maui
87 – 75 Kailua Kona
84 – 70 Hilo AP, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Wednesday evening:
0.23 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.22 Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.14 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.22 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.36 Waiakea Uka, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph) as of Wednesday evening:
28 Port Allen, Kauai
25 Kuaokala, Oahu
27 Molokai
30 Lanai
31 Kahoolawe
37 Maalaea Bay, Maui
27 PTA Keamuku, Big Island
Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of our tallest mountain Mauna Kea (nearly 13,800 feet high) on the Big Island of Hawaii. This webcam is available during the daylight hours here in the islands, and at night whenever there’s a big moon shining down. Also, at night you will be able to see the stars — and the sunrise and sunset too — depending upon weather conditions.
Aloha Paragraphs
Low pressure far north of the islands…thunderstorms well south
Higher clouds approaching from the west, which should give us a nice sunset…low clouds arriving on the trades from the east
Showers locally…mostly offshore and windward areas
Looping radar image
Small Craft Advisory…windiest coasts and channels around Maui County and the Big Island
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Broad Brush Overview: A typical trade wind weather pattern will continue through the week into early next week. Clouds and passing showers will favor windward and mountain areas, although will be limited for the most part. The trade winds will remain somewhat lighter than normal today, before picking up Thursday into the weekend…carrying off and on windward biased showers our way at times.
Details: A weak cold front to the north of the islands will remain nearly stationary, while slowly dissipating through tonight. This will keep a light to moderate trade wind flow in place across the island chain. The trades will pick up Thursday through the weekend, as high pressure strengthens north of the state. These trades are expected to be strongest Friday through Saturday, then gradually becoming a little lighter Sunday into early next week.
High pressure ridging aloft begins to lift northward tonight through the weekend, allowing inversion heights to rise slightly…and available moisture to increase a bit as well. As a result, we should see a slight increase in trade wind showers tonight through the weekend. By early next week, several of the reliable models show an upper level trough moving into the area from the east. This will likely elevate inversion heights further, and increase moisture across the island chain.
As far as tropical cyclone activity goes here in the Central Pacific: There isn’t expected to be any change, from the quiet reality we now have.
Here’s a wind profile of the Pacific Ocean – Closer view of the islands / Here’s the vog forecast animation / Here’s the latest weather map
Marine environment details: Light to moderate trade winds will continue across Hawaiian waters today. The trades are expected to increase tonight and then remain locally stronger through the weekend, as high pressure strengthens north of the state. A Small Craft Advisory (SCA) has been posted beginning this evening and extending through Saturday for the typically windy areas around Maui County and the Big Island.
The strengthening of the trades will increase the locally generated surf along the windward shores beginning Thursday, and continuing through the weekend.
A south swell was generated from a gale low passing south of Samoa a few days ago. Wave model guidance is indicating a small swell arriving Saturday afternoon. This swell should peak Saturday night and continue through Sunday…before lowering Monday .
Fine mid-summer weather conditions
World-wide tropical cyclone activity
>>> Atlantic Ocean: No active tropical cyclones
1.) Showers and thunderstorms associated with a trough of low pressure located about a couple of hundred miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands have changed little overnight. Some slow development of this system is possible during the weekend while the system moves northwestward over the western Atlantic.
This disturbance is being referred to as Invest 99L, here’s a satellite image…along with what the computer models are showing.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…20 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…medium…40 percent
2.) A trough of low pressure over the Bahamas is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Although development is not anticipated, this system could bring locally heavy rains to portions of the Bahamas and Florida during the next day or two.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…10 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…10 percent
>>> Caribbean Sea: No active tropical cyclones
>>> Gulf of Mexico:
07L (Franklin) is dissipating, here’s a graphical track map, a satellite image – Last Advisory
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: No active tropical cyclones
No tropical cyclones are expected during the next 5-days
1.) An area of low pressure is expected to form just off the west-central coast of Mexico late this week in association with the remnants of Atlantic Hurricane Franklin, after it moves across southern Mexico. Some development of this system may occur before it moves west-northwestward into a less conducive environment Sunday, or early next week.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…20 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…medium…40 percent
2.) Another area of low pressure is forecast to form well south of the coast of southern Mexico this weekend, or early next week. Environmental conditions are expected to be conducive for some slow development of this system as it moves west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…medium…40 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:
No tropical cyclones are expected during the next 5-days
Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)
>>> Northwest 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: July Was Record Hot for Parts of Alaska and the West — The northernmost city in the United States just had its hottest July on record, as other spots in Alaska had their hottest month overall. Heat records also fell in a few western cities, as well as the fearsomely hot Death Valley, where July was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth.
Those hot spots stood out in what was the 10th hottest July on record for the Lower 48 states, topping off the second hottest year-to-date for the country by a hair, according to data released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Three states are having their hottest year on record more than halfway through the year, while several more are running in second or third place.
While weather patterns have a big impact on monthly temperatures — as the cooler weather of early August shows — the overall warming of the planet is tipping the odds in favor of record heat. In fact, July had four times as many daily record highs as record lows, according to meteorologist Guy Walton, who keeps track of such streaks using NOAA’s data.
The record heat in Alaska fell along the North Slope, which lies above the Arctic Circle, and the central interior of the state.
For the North Slope, “a fair chunk” of the heat could be attributed “to the very early loss of sea ice” that normally clings to the coast until August and keeps temperatures lower, Rick Thoman, climate science and services manager for the National Weather Service’s Alaska region, said. “There’s basically now no sea ice left within 200 miles of Alaska.”
That early loss of sea ice was followed by storms that pulled up warmer air from the South, pushing the average July temperature in Utqia?vik (Barrow) to 46 degrees Fahrenheit. While that may not sound like summer weather to the rest of the country, it is 5 degrees Fahrenheit above the long-term average for a city perched at the same latitude as the middle of the Greenland ice sheet.
In the interior of the state, there weren’t any significant heat waves during the month, but there also weren’t any cool days because of a lack of of cloudy, rainy weather, Thoman said. Instead, the month saw “this grinding, day-after-day” warmth.
Bettles, Tanana and McGrath all had not only their warmest July, but also their warmest month on record. The first two towns had average temperatures about 5 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, while McGrath’s was 3.7 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. Fairbanks had its fourth warmest July on record. The state overall had its third warmest July.
The North Slope will continue to be warm for the next few months as the sea ice will be gone until it begins to refreeze in the fall, Thoman said.
In the Lower 48, Bakersfield, Calif., Reno and Salt Lake City also had their hottest July on record thanks to high-pressure ridges that helped temperatures soar and break several daily heat records across the region. The hot, dry weather also helped fuel wildfires that erupted and spread rapidly across the region.
Miami was also record hot for not just July but for any month, fueled both by the number of days above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (every day of the month but the last was that hot or hotter) and the fact that temperatures stayed extremely warm overnight.
Death Valley, already known for its ferocious heat, took it to another level in July, with an average for the month of 107.4 degrees Fahrenheit, the Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang reported. Overnight lows were again a major factor, as they didn’t fall below 89 degrees Fahrenheit on any night during the month there.
Three nights actually had a low temperature between 102 degrees Fahrenheit and 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist at the International Arctic Research Center in Fairbanks, found this was the hottest month recorded at any station in Global Historical Climatology Network database kept by NOAA.
The heat out West pushed the temperature for the month for the contiguous U.S. to 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average of 73.6 degrees Fahrenheit. That temperature kept 2017 just barely in second place for the year to date, with a temperature 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit above the average of 51.3 degrees Fahrenheit for that period.
The cool start to August east of the Rockies, and the suggestion that that pattern will continue for much of the month, could knock 2017 down to third place, Jake Crouch, a climatologist with the National Centers for Environmental Information, said.
At the state level, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida are all having their warmest year to date. In April, a swath of 14 states from the mid-Atlantic to Texas was on record pace, but cooler temperatures in May knocked several out of the running, though they are still having their second or third warmest year on record so far.
While weather patterns played a clear role in boosting temperatures in many parts of the country, the overall rise in average temperatures caused by greenhouse gas emissions has made record heat more and more likely and record cold increasingly rare.
Every month since December 2014 has had more record highs than lows, according to Walton.
Email Glenn James: 
Chris Birchard Says:
A friend of mine caught a great white off of Yakutat Alaska some where around 1990. That is over a thousand miles north of Vancouver. He was commercial salmon trolling at the time and it got tangled in the trolling wires. The jaws were hung in the Shee Atika hotel in Sitka for years and may still be there.
~~~ Hi Chris, thanks for chiming in here with the shark thing! Wow, 27 years ago, I suppose it could have been an El Nino year, and warm water moving into the Alaskan waters.
I’ve never been to the Shee Atika Hotel in Sitka, nor even Sitka, although I’d like to belly up to the bar for a cold one some day.
Aloha, Glenn