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

79 – 69  Lihue, Kauai
84 – 73  Honolulu, Oahu
80 – 69  Molokai AP
82 – 68  Kahului AP, Maui
84
– 73  Kailua Kona
81 – 72  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

1.14  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.04  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.46  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
3.70  West Wailuaiki, Maui
6.66  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

27  Port Allen, Kauai
44  Kuaokala, Oahu
29  Molokai
31  Lanai
25  Kahoolawe
29  Maalaea Bay, Maui
27  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. 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


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High pressure north-northwest of the state…providing our trades


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Still a few deep clouds southwest of the state

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Partly to mostly cloudy…although with some leeward clearing locally

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Showers locally and offshoreLooping image

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~


Small Craft Advisory…all coasts and channels except leeward Maui County

 

Broad Brush Overview: A trade wind producing high pressure system, which is passing by to the north of the islands, will keep the trade winds blowing through mid-week. These moderately strong winds will lose some strength Thursday and Friday, as a cold front passes by to the north of the state. As the front moves on, we’ll find the trades picking up again during the weekend…into early next week. As usual with such a trade wind weather pattern, our local clouds and showers will favor windward and mountain areas, with a few spilling over into leeward areas from time to time on the smaller islands.

Details: During this first half of this new week, high pressure northwest of the state will move eastward. This will keep a moderate to strong trade wind flow in place across the island chain. The deepest moisture will remain over Maui and the Big Island, keeping off and on wet conditions in place over the eastern end of the state. In addition, instability associated with the upper trough just south of the Big Island, combined with daytime heating, may trigger a few thunderstorms over interior and leeward sections of the Big Island. This threat of downpours will be negligible on the other smaller islands.

Across most of the rest of state, the airmass will remain a bit drier, although precipitable water values are expected to recover some tonight, then hold through Wednesday night. As a result, look for fairly dry conditions for the time being, with light showers limited to mainly windward and mountain areas. As the atmosphere becomes a touch more moist, we should see a more typical trade wind shower pattern arriving over the western islands tonight through Wednesday night, with a few showers spilling over into leeward areas…due to the strength of the trades.

Looking Ahead: The next cold front will pass by well to the north of the islands towards the end of this week, and this should result in a slight easing of the trade winds into the moderate range. The front will stall well north of the islands Friday night, with a strong high pressure system building north of the state over the weekend. This should bring stronger trades back to the islands Friday night, with windy conditions expected across the entire state over the weekend through early next week. These gusty trades will prompt advisory level conditions across our coastal and channel waters statewide.

In sum, the persistent trade winds blowing across our area of the central Pacific this week, along with relatively moist atmospherics, should keep a slightly wetter than normal trade wind pattern in place. Bands of enhanced clouds and showers are expected to push through the islands from time to time. As a result, the forecast embraces a slightly wetter than normal trade wind shower regime through the period. However, without the presence of low pressure in our area, like we’ve had during the past week or more, we should recognize more pleasant springtime conditions for a change…at least along the leeward beaches.

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: Trades have returned, which should persist through much of the week as strong high pressure builds north of the state. A combination of winds and seas will continue to support small craft advisory conditions for most waters. As the current northwest swell begins to lower, the advisory will be scaled back to the typically windier channels around Maui County, Maalaea Bay and south of the Big Island through mid-week.

A new swell is possible out of the northwest by Thursday, which will become reinforced by a larger swell out of the same direction Friday into the weekend…due to the active pattern across the northwest Pacific. Surf should remain below advisory levels Thursday with the initial swell, then potentially reach warning levels Friday night into Saturday as the reinforcement arrives. Surf should trend down below advisory levels along north and west facing shores through the second half of the weekend into early next week.

Surf along east facing shores will steadily rise through mid-week as strong trades persist locally and upstream of the state.

Small south swells will continue to generate small surf along south facing shores through the week. A slightly larger south swell from recent activity over the southern Pacific could arrive late Sunday through early next week.

 

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World-wide Tropical Cyclone activity

Here’s the Tuesday Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering Tropical Cyclone 19P (Keni)…and the remnants of former TC 17P offshore from the Queensland coast of Australia

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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 19P (Keni)

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: Prehistoric Sea Monster Was Nearly the Size of a Blue Whale
– About 205 million years ago, a ginormous sea monster — so large it was nearly the size of a modern blue whale — swam through the ocean, fueling its colossal body by preying on prehistoric squid and fish, a new study finds.

The recent discovery of this creature’s immense jawbone has helped researchers identify a previously unknown species and to solve a nearly 170-year-old mystery. In 1850, beachgoers in southern England found Late Triassic fossils by the shore that were so massive, they were thought to be the limb bones of giant dinosaurs, such as the long-necked sauropods.

But now, thanks to the newfound jawbone finding, researchers think those bones likely belonged to the largest-known ichthyosaur (ik-thee-o-saur) ever found. These creatures, marine reptiles resembling modern-day dolphins, went extinct at the end of the dinosaur age, around 66 million years ago.

In May 2016, while walking on a beach in Lilstock, England, study co-researcher and fossil collector Paul de la Salle found pieces of a jawbone that, when pieced together, measured an astounding 3.1 feet long.

After connecting with ichthyosaur researchers, including Dean Lomax, a paleontologist at The University of Manchester in England, and Judy Massare, professor emerita of geology at SUNY College at Brockport in New York, de la Salle determined that the specimen belonged to a giant ichthyosaur known as a shastasaurid from the Triassic, which lasted from 251 million to 199 million years ago. The researchers have yet to name the new species and are calling it the Lilstock specimen for now.

Based on the jawbone’s length, the researchers estimated that the Lilstock ichthyosaur measured more than 85 feet long, making it the largest ichthyosaur on record — up to 25 percent larger than the previous shastasaurid record holder, Shonisaurus sikanniensis, a 69-foot-long beast found in British Columbia, the researchers said.

“The Shonisaurus specimen is much more complete, including the back half of the skull, most of the backbone and ribs, some of the shoulder bones and part of the tail,” Massare, the study’s co-researcher. “A comparison with the back of the Shonisaurusjawindicates that our specimen is larger, but we know much less about it because it is just one bone.”

The world was a very different place when the Lilstock ichthyosaur was alive. During the Late Triassic, the giant supercontinent, called Pangaea, was beginning to split up, said Lomax, the study’s lead researcher. “What is now the United Kingdom would have been surrounded by a warm, tropical sea,” he noted. “On land, it was very hot and dry, with desert-like conditions.”

The jawbone discovery reveals more about the animals that lived in England’s ancient tropical seas. And it’s also solved the mystery of the so-called dinosaur bones.

“Due to Paul’s discovery, we have managed to unlock the mystery of these giant ‘dinosaur limb bones’ — they are bones from the mandible of giant ichthyosaurs,” Lomax said.

The study was published online April 9 in the journal PLOS ONE.