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

77 – 60  Lihue, Kauai
80 – 63  Honolulu, Oahu
77 – 62  Molokai AP
78 – 64  Kahului AP, Maui
80 – 66  Kailua Kona
80 – 62  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

2.82  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
3.27  Ahuimanu Loop, Oahu
0.64  Molokai
 0.74  Lanai
 0.41  Kahoolawe
3.64  West Wailuaiki, Maui
5.88  Honokaa, Big Island

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph) Monday evening:

15  Poipu, Kauai
13  Wheeler AAF, Oahu
09  Molokai
13  Lanai
12  Kahoolawe
18  Maalaea Bay, Maui 
18  Kealakomo, 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. Here’s the webcam for the Haleakala Crater on Maui. These webcams are 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
Low pressure not far northeast…with high pressure northeast and north

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
Deep clouds northeast…with thunderstorms

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Clear to partly cloudy in most areas

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Very few showers…for the most part – Looping image

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~


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

High Wind Warning…Big Island summits / 50-60 mph with gusts to 65-75

 

Broad Brush Overview: The potential for flash flooding and strong thunderstorms has eased, as an upper disturbance and surface trough are offshore now. The threat will further diminish through Tuesday, as the upper disturbance lifts north and away from the state, and drier air arrives from the west. Light east to southeast winds, likely giving way to daytime sea breezes and overnight land breezes, and isolated to scattered showers will remain possible through mid-week. A return of unsettled weather will become a possibility once again Thursday through the upcoming weekend…as yet another upper low drops south into the area.

Details  The upper level low impacting the local weather is lifting northeast and away from the state, allowing the atmosphere to become more stable. Light east to southeast winds are expected, as a surface high pressure system will be centered well to the northeast of the state, and the trough of low pressure lingers to the northwest of the islands. Daytime sea breezes and overnight land breezes will result each day. The best chance for clouds and showers will occur through the afternoon and early evening periods over the upcountry areas going forward.

Looking Ahead: The models remain in decent agreement, and suggest a return of unsettled weather setting up over the state, as yet another upper low drops south into the area later this week. Moisture could begin pooling northward over the state beginning late Thursday through Friday. Provided the ground is already being saturated from all the unusual rainfall, flash flooding will become a concern through this extended period. The combination of factors could bring a resumption of a deep southerly flow, supplying the islands with more abundant moisture…which could lead to another round of heavy showers and thunderstorms.

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: Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms will continue over the Hawaiian coastal waters. Reduced visibilities, gusty and shifting winds, frequent lightning, and possibly small hail and waterspouts can be expected in any stronger thunderstorms. Thunderstorm activity should shift northeast of the area tonight and Tuesday, with drier weather and just scattered lighter showers then expected through Wednesday.

Small to moderate northwest swells will continue through early Tuesday, with surf remaining below advisory level along north and west facing shores. However, a northwest swell is expected to spread down the island chain beginning Tuesday night and peaking Wednesday. This may cause surf to approach advisory level along some north and west facing shores, especially Kauai and Niihau…during the peak of the event. This swell will gradually subside Thursday, although another west-northwest swell is expected Thursday night into Friday, then lowering into the weekend.

A long fetch due to the flow around a surface high over the northeastern Pacific will send an east swell into the local waters over the next several days. This swell is forecast to increase tonight and Tuesday, with resulting surf likely reaching the advisory threshold along most east facing shores Tuesday. This east swell is forecast to increase further on Thursday and remain elevated into the weekend…with high surf likely continuing along east facing shores.

Combined seas may increase over most windward waters starting late Wednesday, due to the combination of west-northwest and easterly swells, and local wind waves. A Small Craft Advisory may be needed from that time through the end of the work week.


https://wa4.jetcdn.com/photos/fairmont-orchid-hawaii/dY0vToBj/beach-coast-jetsetter-guides-lake.jpeg?w=992&h=600&dpr=1
Drier weather on tap…for a change!



World-wide Tropical Cyclone activity

Here’s the latest PDC Weather Wall Presentation, covering Tropical Cyclone 09P (Gita)…in addition to a tropical disturbance being referred to as Invest 92P west of Bora Bora


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>>> Atlantic Ocean:

>>> Caribbean Sea:

>>> Gulf of Mexico:

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:

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:

Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: No active tropical cyclones

>>> South Pacific Ocean:


Tropical Cyclone 09P (Gita) – Final Warning

JTWC textual forecast warning
JTWC graphical track map
NOAA satellite image

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

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


Interesting: This Martian Crater Has a Weirdly Earth-Like Secret – NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity was exploring an uncharted Martian valley last month when it encountered a shockingly familiar sight: Streams of rocks and gravel stretched down the hillside of Perseverance Valley — a roughly 600-foot drop down the inner slope of a crater — in seemingly organized rows.

The patterns closely resemble so-called “rock stripes” seen on certain mountains on Earth, NASA said in a statement. These formations usually result when wet soil freezes and thaws repeatedly over many years, NASA said. Perseverance Valley is thought to have been carved hundreds of thousands of years ago by a combination of water, ice and wind — already making the spot unusual by Martian standards, NASA wrote. The presence of these newly discovered stripes further adds to the region’s mystery, researchers said.

“Perseverance Valley is a special place,” Opportunity Deputy Principal Investigator Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis said in the statement. “We already knew it was unlike any place any Mars rover has seen before, even if we don’t yet know how it formed, and now we’re seeing surfaces that look like stone stripes. It’s mysterious. It’s exciting. I think the set of observations we’ll get will enable us to understand it.”

In particular, the rock stripes of Perseverance Valley closely resemble stripes seen inside the cone of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano, according to NASA. There, stripes form when fine-grain soil freezes overnight and expands, pushing up larger chunks of rock on either side. After the soil thaws in the morning, wind and gravity gradually move these larger stones downslope from the moist, fine-grain segments of soil.

When repeated hundreds of thousands of times, these alternating regions of fine and heavy rocks create a distinct striped pattern.

Researchers don’t yet know how these patterns came to appear in a Martian crater, but the scientists have a few hypotheses. One leading explanation involves the planet’s obliquity — or the tilt of Mars’ equator relative to its orbit — which is thought to alter significantly over hundreds of thousands of years. If the planet’s obliquity were to change enough, water currently frozen at the poles could vaporize into the atmosphere and turn to snow or frost closer to the equator, NASA said.

“One possible explanation of these stripes is that they are relics from a time of greater obliquity, when snow packs on the rim [of the valley] seasonally melted enough to moisten the soil, and then freeze-thaw cycles organized the small rocks into stripes,” Arvidson said.

Further study of the region will be required — and, for now, the Opportunity rover seems up to the task. The golf-cart-size rover landed on Mars in January 2004 to begin what was supposed to be a 90-day mission hunting for clues about Martian water….the rover’s 4,958th day in action as of January 2018!