Air Temperatures – The following high temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday…along with the low temperatures Thursday:
80 – 72 Lihue, Kauai
84 – 74 Honolulu, Oahu
79 – 70 Molokai
83 – 70 Kahului AP, Maui
90 – 71 Kailua Kona
73 – 66 Hilo AP, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Thursday evening:
0.84 Kilohana, Kauai
0.47 Mililani, Oahu
0.48 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
3.14 Puu Kukui, Maui
2.32 Saddle Quarry, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph) as of Thursday evening:
29 Port Allen, Kauai
36 Kuaokala, Oahu
28 Molokai
33 Lanai
30 Kahoolawe
29 Maalaea Bay, Maui
40 Waikoloa, 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
High pressure north…cold fronts west, north and northeast
Thunderstorms are active well offshore…to the west
High clouds south…low clouds mostly windward
Showers…especially windward areas and offshore
Looping image
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Broad Brush Overview: A high pressure system well north-northwest of the islands will support gusty trade winds, which will diminish Friday and Saturday…as a low develops north of the state. The trades will carry showery low clouds to the windward sides, although some showers will spread to leeward sections of the smaller islands. As the wind diminishes, it will become northerly, spreading cooler air over the islands during the weekend through the middle of next week…while clouds and showers will focus over north facing slopes and coasts.
Details: Models show a weak low far north of Hawaii, dropping southward and closer to the islands Saturday. This will lead to a steady relaxing of the trades across the island chain, as the high well northwest of the state loses its influence on our area. The winds will continue to trend down tonight into the weekend, with light to moderate trade winds expected by Friday and light northerly winds developing Friday night. Light to moderate north-northwest winds are expected Saturday through Tuesday, with moderate trade winds then expected to return by the middle of next week.
Looking Further Ahead: Cooler weather will be the more noticeable change across the islands over the weekend, through the middle of next week. This will be due to the arriving airmass having origins in the far north Pacific…brought in on northerly winds. This will be most pronounced by late Saturday and Saturday night, in the wake of a weak cold front moving through from northwest to southeast. This will result in quite comfortable weather across the island chain Sunday through the middle of next week. A more typical windward shower pattern is expected to resume by the middle of next week as the trades return.
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: Seas continue to run above predicted levels across the waters exposed to trades and northerly swells. This trend will likely persist today, before temporarily trending down Friday through Saturday. Two large northerly swells will likely bring the seas back to and above advisory levels once again Sunday and again by mid-week.
Surf along east facing beaches will remain rough today due to a combination of strong trades and a north-northeast swell. As a result, the high surf advisory will hold through the day for east facing shores. Surf should trend down Friday through Saturday as the winds relax.
Surf along north facing shores will remain up due to overlapping north-northeast swells moving through the local waters. Surf will likely reach advisory levels (and near warning levels) Sunday into Monday, as a large northerly swell arrives. This source will become reinforced with an even larger northerly component filling in Tuesday through mid-week. This swell could result in warning level surf along north facing shores by Wednesday…if the latest model guidance verifies.
Surf along south and west facing shores will remain small with mainly south-southwest swells expected. A slight increase in surf will be possible over the weekend from recent activity across the southern Pacific.
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 a tropical disturbance in the Caribbean Sea
>>> 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
>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: No active tropical cyclones
Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)
Interesting: University of Oregon led research, maps major shifts in Colorado River history – Geologists have long debated how and when the Colorado River made its first connection to the ocean. In a new study, a team led by the UO’s Becky Dorsey has helped pull the river’s story together.
The river did not, as many thought, simply roar down out of the Colorado Plateau and pour into the Gulf of California.
In a paper published in the journal Sedimentary Geology, Dorsey’s team proposes that lower stretches of river were influenced by shifts in underlying bedrock and changing sea levels. The river experienced a series of stops and starts between roughly 6.3 and 4.8 million years ago.
The clues emerged from examining layers of sediment exposed in rocks along the river, along with detective work to identify fossils found in the layering. Integrating that data opened a window on “the different processes that controlled the birth and early evolution of this iconic river system,” Dorsey said.
“The birth of the Colorado River was more punctuated and filled with more uneven behavior than we expected,” said Dorsey, a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences. “We’ve been trying to figure this out for years.”
The team studied the southern Bouse Formation from near present-day Blythe, California, to the western Salton Trough. That area is north of where the river now trickles into the Gulf of California. The Bouse Formation and deposits in the Salton Trough have similar ages and span both sides of the San Andreas Fault, providing important clues to the river’s origins.
Last year, in the journal Geology, a project led by graduate student Brennan O’Connell, a co-author on the new study, concluded that tidal currents had left sediments along the river near Blythe. The Gulf of California, it was argued, extended into that region, but the age of the deposits and tectonic and sea level changes at work during that time were not well understood.
Analyses by Kristin McDougall of U.S. Geological Survey, also a co-author on the new paper, found that those deposits were laid about 6 million years ago when tiny marine organisms could have lived together in the water. About 5.4 million years ago, however, conditions changed.
Global sea level fell, but the bay’s water level, instead of declining, increased as tectonic activity lowered the bay’s bed. Materials left by marine organisms were covered by clay and sand brought downstream by the river.
About 5.1 million years ago, a tug-of-war lasting 200,000 to 300,000 years began when the river stopped delivering sediments from upstream, probably the result of earthquake activity. The delta retreated. Seawater and marine sediments returned. At about 4.8 million years ago, river-delivered sediments again returned and rebuilt the delta.
Today’s delta, however, reflects human-made modern disturbances.
To meet agricultural and drinking-water demands, Hoover Dam was constructed to form Lake Mead during the 1930s. Glen Canyon Dam, completed in 1966, formed Lake Powell.
“If we could go back to 1900 before the dams that trap the sediment and water, we would see that the delta area was full of channels, islands, sandbars and moving sediment. It was a very diverse, dynamic and rich delta system. But man made dams are trapping sediment today, eerily similar to what happened roughly 5 million years ago,” Dorsey said.
The research, Dorsey said, provides insights that help scientists understand how such systems change through time.
Mindy B. Homan, a former UO doctoral student and now a geologist with Devon Energy in Wyoming, was a co-author on the study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation, Society for Sedimentary Geology and Geological Society of America.
Email Glenn James: 
Linda Decker Says:
Fabulous photo this morning!
~~~ Thank you Linda, I’m here in Long Beach visiting my Mom…and she made the same comment.
Aloha, Glenn