Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / April 13-14, 2018

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

81 – 74  Lihue, Kauai
86 – 74  Honolulu, Oahu
83 – 70  Molokai AP
87 – 64  Kahului AP, Maui
84 – 72  Kailua Kona
81 – 70  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

1.97  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.26  Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.05  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.50  West Wailuaiki, Maui
3.44  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

29  Port Allen, Kauai
24  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
23  Molokai
25  Lanai
38  Kahoolawe
38  Kapalua, Maui
28  South Point, 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

High pressure northeast and northwest of the state…providing our trades

A few towering cumulus are developing…especially southwest

Partly cloudy…many cloudy areas

Showers locally and offshore…some are heavy
Looping image

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Small Craft Advisory…all coastal and channel waters

High Surf Warning…north and west shores of Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, and north shore of Maui

High Surf Advisory…north shore of the Big Island

Flash Flood Warning…northern areas of Kauai

Flash Flood Watch…all islands

Flood Advisory…Kauai

 

Broad Brush Overview: High pressure passing by north of the islands this weekend will increase the trades back to windy levels. An upper level low developing to the west of the islands, and an increase in moisture spreading up the chain from the southeast, will keep the trades quite wet through the weekend, along with the possibility for a few thundershowers. The upper level low will move away early next week, although lingering moisture over the islands will keep the trades somewhat wetter than normal. Wind speeds will moderate somewhat after the weekend…with a weaker high passing by to the north around Tuesday.

Details: The leading edge of a band of low clouds and showers, associated with a cold front, is evident north-northwest of Hawaii. This advancing front has been responsible for the temporary relaxation of the pressure gradient, with somewhat lighter trade winds.

An area of enhanced moisture located east-southeast of Hilo, continues to move toward the Big Island. Satellite imagery shows an upper level trough northwest of Kauai, which is rapidly moving toward the southeast…destabilizing the air mass over the state.

The bulk of the rainfall will likely fall over windward and mountain areas as usual with the trade winds in place, although some enhanced showers may develop over southeast facing upcountry slopes on the smaller islands. In addition, thunderstorms are possible over the leeward slopes of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea during the afternoons, due to daytime heating and local sea breeze circulations…carrying moisture into the interior upcountry areas.

As the cold front northwest of the islands slides eastward, it will usher in strengthening trades. This will produce locally breezy trades, and then locally windy trades this weekend. The models show the area of enhanced moisture upstream of the Big Island, eventually spreading over the islands this weekend. Atmospheric instability combined with the enhanced moisture, will likely produce a wet trade wind weather pattern this weekend.

Therefore, expect off and on showers over favored windward areas, continuing in some areas through early Sunday…potentially leading to localized flooding problems. Elsewhere, the strong trades will carry some showers over to leeward sections of the smaller islands, especially at night and during the early morning hours.

Looking Ahead: The upper level lows are expected to move westward away from the state later this weekend and early next week. Weak ridging aloft will become established over the area next week, which will lead to relatively stable atmospheric conditions.

Breezy trade winds will likely continue well into next week, with yet another surface high passing by well north of the islands Tuesday. Since some moisture will linger across the area, trade showers will persist at times over windward sections of the state.

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: A strong high far northwest of the area is moving east. Trade winds will strengthen as the high moves into position north of the islands. The winds will strengthen further over the weekend, with near gale force winds in the Alenuihaha Channel….and possibly in some of the other windy areas. The northwest swell building now will add to wave heights.

A new northwest swell building today is expected to peak Saturday morning, then gradually fade early next week. This swell is expected to produce surf well above the High Surf Advisory threshold along north and west facing shores tonight through Saturday. The swell will gradually subside through Monday. A couple of small northwest swell are expected through mid-week with a moderate northwest swell building Thursday night. As trade winds strengthen this weekend, surf along east facing shores will likely reach HSA levels. The elevated surf is expected to persist into the first half of next week. Surf remains small along south facing shores. New swells from the southern hemisphere will produce a modest increase starting as early as Sunday.

 

Iao Valley, Maui

World-wide Tropical Cyclone activity

Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation…covering a tropical disturbance being referred to as Invest 90W in the Western Pacific

>>> 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

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

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


Interesting: German Scientists Harvest Their 1st Antarctic Salad, and It Looks Amazing – Antarctica is not the most likely place to find fresh ingredients for a salad.

But German scientists have just collected — and eaten — their first batch of lettuce, cucumbers and radishes from a new greenhouse on the frozen continent.

“It tasted as if we had harvested it fresh from the garden,” Bernhard Gropp, the manager of the Neumayer Station III, a German research facility in Antarctica, said in a statement.

The shipping container-size greenhouse, called EDEN ISS, was installed in February about a quarter-mile from the research station, which is located on the Ekström Ice Shelf. The food-growing lab is providing welcome fresh veggies for Gropp and his other isolated colleagues during long missions in Antarctica. But EDEN ISS has a loftier mission; the facility is an experiment led by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) designed to test the best methods for cultivating crops for astronauts.

Space-grown plants could help sustain crews on long missions inside the International Space Station (ISS), or at farther destinations like the moon or Mars, where deliveries of fresh food would be less practical.

With such a hostile environment outside, the Antarctic greenhouse indeed has conditions like those of a spacecraft: It has no soil and no natural sunlight, and it has to operate as a totally closed system, with its water distribution, purplish artificial lighting and carbon dioxide levels tightly controlled.

Many of the systems can be managed remotely from Europe. But DLR scientist Paul Zabel is in Antarctica with the greenhouse, spending about 3 to 4 hours each day taking care of the plants. Zabel has so far collected 8 lbs. of lettuce, 70 radishes and 18 cucumbers in the first harvest, according to the DLR’s announcement April 5.

The researchers are also growing herbs like basil, parsley, chives and cilantro. They’ve posted photos of tiny tomatoes growing on the vine. The scientists said they are still waiting, however, for a successful sowing of strawberries, the most sensitive of the plants being tested inside EDEN ISS. The team said it hopes the greenhouse will be fully operational by May, producing up to 11 lbs. of fresh veggies each week.

“We have learned a lot about self-sufficient plant breeding in the last few weeks,” project manager Daniel Schubert said in the statement. “It has become clear that Antarctica is an ideal test field for our research.”

The EDEN ISS greenhouse is just the latest in a long tradition of plant-growing attempts in Antarctica. During Capt. Robert Falcon Scott’s Discovery expedition to Antarctica from 1901 to 1904, a botanist was able to grow plants like cress and mustard in soil boxes placed under the ice-trapped ship’s skylight during the summer; he even tried growing plants on flannel. Since then, at least 46 different plant-production facilities have sprouted in Antarctica, according to a 2015 study.

Plant-production experiments are already flying in space, too. Astronauts aboard the ISS recently harvested small batches of lettuce from growth chambers.