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

8172  Lihue, Kauai
85
75  Honolulu, Oahu
80 – 72  Molokai
8269  Kahului AP, Maui
85 – 71  Kailua Kona
77 – 68  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

2.78  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.12  Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
2.29  Molokai
0.06  Lanai
0.11  Kahoolawe

4.68  Puu Kukui, Maui
1.54  Hilo AP, Big Island

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

33  Port Allen, Kauai
46  Kuaokala, Oahu
31  Molokai
35  Lanai

31  Kahoolawe
29  Kapalua, Maui

47  Waikoloa, Big Island

Hawaii’s MountainsHere’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

http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_ir_enh_west_loop-12.gif
High pressure north…cold fronts west, north and northeast

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
Thunderstorms are active well offshore…to the west

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
High clouds south…low clouds mostly windward

https://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Showers rather active…especially windward areas locally
Looping image



Small Craft Advisory
…strong trades and high seas across all coastal and channel waters


High Surf Advisory
…east facing shores of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui and the Big Island

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Broad Brush Overview: A moderately strong high pressure system dominates the area north of Hawaii, producing locally robust trades at the moment. A weak cold front pushing down across the islands, will continue to bring wet weather to parts of the state today. Most of this rainfall will have a windward bias, although a few showers may spread to leeward sections at times. Less showery conditions are expected Thursday through Friday, with brief showers falling over windward and mountain area. The trades will weaken later this week…as a surface low develops far north of the state.

Details: The presence of a trough aloft, and the weak frontal boundary has caused the low level inversion to be elevated…or non-existent. This instability combined with moisture along and ahead of the boundary, will maintain off and on wet conditions across most of the state today, especially over windward and mountain sections. In the wake of this remnant front, the atmosphere is expected to drier, with fewer showers expected for the smaller islands later tonight into Thursday. In addition, the strong trades and drier air will make it feel rather cool by Hawaiian standards.

Looking Further Ahead: The models continue to have different solutions for the weather over the Central Pacific this weekend into early next week. The ECMWF model has been consistent in developing a low far north of the state Thursday. The latest output indicates this low will move rapidly toward the south, then stall north of islands late Saturday. Assuming this happens, a cold front may move down across the islands during the weekend. Wetter weather conditions might also develop…with rainfall amounts possibly becoming locally heavy over some areas.

In contrast, the GFS model keeps the surface low much farther northeast away from the islands. This would likely cause north to northeast low level flow to develop over the islands starting some time this weekend. At the moment, the forecast beyond Friday essentially follows a blend of climatology and multi-model output. Expect adjustments for the forecast this weekend into early next week…as the overall pattern becomes more clear with time.

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: Strong trades associated with a moderately strong high pressure system building southward over the central Pacific, following a dissipating frontal boundary that has moved into the area, will continue the rough boating conditions across the Hawaiian waters through Thursday. The local winds and seas should trend down temporarily Friday into the weekend.

Guidance supports the current active trend over the northeast Pacific continuing. This pattern will feature storm tracks setting up over the Gulf of Alaska from northwest to southeast, that will drive overlapping north-northeast swells toward the islands through the weekend into next week.

The current north-northeast swell will peak today, then slowly lower through the second half of the week. This source combined with the locally strong trade winds will support rough beach conditions along east facing shores. The high surf advisory remains in effect for these beaches through early Thursday morning. A reinforcing north-northeast swell is expected Friday through the weekend, that will continue to generate advisory level surf along east facing beaches.

Surf along north facing shores exposed to north-northeast swells will remain up through the weekend, although should remain below advisory levels through Saturday. Although confidence remains low at this time, more significant northerly swells will be possible Sunday into Monday and again by mid-week.

Surf along south and west facing shores will remain small with mainly south-southwest swells expected.

 

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/58/e0/51/58e0515c0141521a433136b882a8e0e3.jpg
Rough surf east shores…and locally wind statewide



World-wide Tropical Cyclone activity

>>> Here’s the latest PDC Weather Wall Presentation, covering a tropical disturbance being referred to as Invest 90W near the Philippines…and another disturbance being referred to as Invest 90B near the coast of India

>>> Here’s the latest PDC Weather Wall Presentation, covering the Atlantic Ocean


https://icons.wxug.com/data/images/sst_basin/gl_sst_mm.gif


>>> Atlantic Ocean: No active tropical cyclones

>>> 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: No active tropical cyclones

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

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:
Disease-resistant apples perform better than old favorites
– You may not find them in the produce aisle yet, but it’s only a matter of time before new disease-resistant apple cultivars overtake favorites like Honeycrisp in popularity, according to a University of Illinois apple expert.

“I know everyone wants Honeycrisp, but they’re notoriously hard to grow. There are so many issues in producing the fruit: the tree might produce a lot one year, but none the next; the fruit doesn’t keep well and is susceptible to disease,” says Mosbah Kushad, an associate professor of horticulture in the Department of Crop Sciences and horticulture Extension specialist at U of I.

Apples are attacked by all sorts of pests, but apple scab, a fungus, is particularly nasty. It can cause yield losses up to 80 percent. For traditional apple cultivars and many newer ones, including Honeycrisp, combating apple scab and other diseases means applying multiple pesticides several times throughout the growing season.

Fortunately, after the gene for scab resistance was discovered by a U of I scientist in 1944, a number of resistant cultivars have been developed. Kushad says the early cultivars weren’t particularly good, but more recent ones show a lot of promise.

“WineCrisp, for example, is a very attractive and flavorful apple,” he says. “It’s not very large, but who wants to buy an apple that weighs a pound?”

A new wave of scab-resistant apples has been developed and tested as part of a cooperative breeding program through U of I, Rutgers University, and Purdue University. So far, several cultivars have proven to be as nutritious or even better for you than older types, but until now, it wasn’t clear whether their quality held up over time.

In a new article published in the Journal of Food Quality, Kushad and several collaborators looked at whether scab-resistant GoldRush, WineCrisp, CrimsonCrisp, and Pixie Crunch retained their quality under standard post-harvest storage practices, and compared their performance to scab-susceptible Golden Delicious.

The researchers exposed the apples to 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), a gas now commonly used in the industry to inhibit ethylene production and slow ripening of stored fruit. “1-MCP could be the best invention for the fruit industry since apples were discovered,” Kushad says. Aspects of nutritional quality and commercial viability were tested in the fruits after 70 and 140 days of storage.

In general, the eating quality – flesh firmness, sugar content, and acidity – of the scab-resistant cultivars was as good or better than Golden Delicious, before and after storage. And two of the scab-resistant cultivars, GoldRush and CrimsonCrisp, had significantly more antioxidant capacity, even after 140 days. The cultivars varied in their responsiveness to 1-MCP, with CrimsonCrisp showing the most promise for long-term storage using the product.

“What the article is saying is that the quality of the scab-resistant cultivars is very comparable to standard varieties. In terms of nutrition, health benefit, aesthetic, and taste, these apples are competing very well. As an alternative to scab-susceptible types, they will be very attractive, especially for organic growers,” Kushad says.

And although you may not see WineCrisp on the grocery store shelves yet, Kushad points out that it and the other cultivars can be found in some local farmer’s markets and orchards. “You’ll see them in the smaller places first, but as volume builds in the top apple-growing states, they’ll start showing up in the big grocery stores. I have no doubt.”