Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 26-27, 2018

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

81 – 70  Lihue, Kauai
84 – 74  Honolulu, Oahu
85 – 72  Molokai AP
m  –  m  Kahului AP, Maui
84 – 74  Kailua Kona
79 – 70  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

1.58  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.32  Nuuanu Upper, Oahu
0.19  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.07  Kahoolawe
1.26  West Wailuaiki, Maui
1.46  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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

29  Port Allen, Kauai
32  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
27  Molokai
30  Lanai
37  Kahoolawe
27  Kahului AP, Maui
32  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. 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…keeping the trade winds blowing

Lots of deep and higher level clouds…over and around the state

Partly to mostly cloudy…with a few clear areas

Showers locally over the islands…and offshore
Looping image

 

Here’s the latest Vog Forecast Animation

Here’s the Vog Information website

Periods of ashfall likely from Kilauea Volcano…Low level trade winds will push ash toward the southwest, and ash fallout will likely occur over the Kau district and Highway 11 southwest of the town of Volcano, including the communities of Pahala, Wood Valley and Naalehu and Ocean View

Small Craft Advisory…Pailolo and Alenuihaha Channels, Maalaea Bay, Big Island leeward and southeast waters

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Broad Brush Overview: Our ongoing trade wind weather pattern will continue this weekend, with lighter winds expected as we push into the new week ahead. Low clouds being carried along in this trade wind flow, will keep our windward sides off and on wet for the time being. Look for fewer showers Sunday, although a developing upper level low pressure system may bring more showers our way Monday and Tuesday. Higher level clouds will continue to dim and filter our sunshine for the next several days.

Details: The trade winds are being spun-out by a high pressure system far to the northeast of the state. A mid-level ridge over the islands continues to support a generally stable atmosphere. Although, despite this stability, showery weather will remain fairly active along our windward sides, as moisture from an old front gets caught in the trade flow. Thick high clouds are streaming over the area within the southwesterly flow aloft…associated with a trough well northwest of the islands.

The upper ridge is expected to break down and drop south this weekend. At the same time, a low aloft will be passing northwest of the islands, with the greatest instability over the west end of the island chain Monday and Tuesday. Meanwhile, a moisture increase may bring the potential for some heavier rainfall and deeper convection then.  High clouds are expected to stream over the islands for the next several days…potentially bringing more nice colorful sunrise and sunsets.

Looking Ahead: The surface trough near the islands is expected to cause a slight veering of the low level wind flow, to the east-southeast early in the new week. However, if the winds were to swing all the around to the southeast or even south, it could spread emissions from the volcano to additional areas on the Big Island…and to other areas in the state. The forecast for Wednesday and beyond features high pressure building in well north of the area, with more typical trade winds returning.

Here’s a near real-time Wind Profile of the Pacific Ocean – along with a Closer View of the islands / Here’s the latest Weather Map

Marine Environmental Conditions: A surface high far northeast of the area is producing locally strong trade winds. A Small Craft Advisory (SCA) remains in effect through early Sunday morning, for strong trade winds across the typically windy waters adjacent to the islands of Maui County and the Big Island. The trades will gradually weaken from Sunday through Memorial Day, as an upper level trough approaches from the northwest, and induces a weak surface trough in the vicinity of the islands. The trade winds are expected to strengthen again some time after Memorial Day, as the trough moves west…while a new surface high builds far north of the area.

Surf is forecast to remain below the High Surf Advisory criteria along all shores across the state into the middle of next week. A series of swells from the Tasman Sea, in the southern hemisphere, will maintain surf near the summertime average along south facing shores through Memorial Day. Surf is expected to build to above average heights along south facing shores starting around the middle of next week. Rough surf along east facing shores will subside early next week as the trade winds weaken, then increase again by mid week onward. The current small northwest swell will maintain tiny surf along most north and west facing shores of the smaller islands into the early part of the new week.

 

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering the western Pacific, Indian Ocean…and Arabian Sea

Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering Subtropical Storm Alberto…active in the Caribbean Sea

 

>>> Atlantic Ocean: No active tropical cyclones

>>> Caribbean Sea:

>>> Gulf of Mexico: 

Subtropical Cyclone Alberto

NHC textual advisory
NHC graphical track map
NOAA satellite image

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

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days.

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: Seattle Mussels Test Positive for Opioids – These mussels, however, were never intended to end up on the dinner table. Instead, they were used specifically to measure levels of pollution in the waters of Puget Sound, according to a May 9 statement from the Puget Sound Institute (PSI) at the University of Washington, Tacoma.

Mussels are filter feeders; to eat, the shellfish constantly sift the water around them in their hunt for bacteria or microscopic algae. But as they filter food from the water, mussels may also absorb any chemicals and pollutants floating around them.

Because of this, mussels make good barometers for pollution levels.

So, every two years, scientists at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) transplant uncontaminated mussels, raised in pristine waters, to various locations in Puget Sound, according to the statement. Then, two to three months later, the scientists analyze the mussel tissues for pollutants.

This time around, the researchers detected traces of the opioid oxycodone in mussels from three of the 18 locations tested, according to CBS News. This is the first time that opioids have been detected in Puget Sound mussels, the PSI statement said.

The opioids likely come from wastewater treatment plants, according to the statement; even filtered wastewater can contain traces of pollutants. When humans ingest opioids, traces of the drug end up in the toilet, CBS News said. Therefore, traces of opioids in the water suggest that a lot of people in the area are using the drugs, Jennifer Lanksbury, a biologist at the WDFW, told CBS Seattle affiliate KIRO 7.

Andy James, a research scientist at the PSI, noted in the statement that the levels of opioids detected in the mussels were thousands of times lower than a therapeutic dose in humans and would not be expected to affect the mussels, which don’t break down the drug.

It’s possible, however, that the opioids could affect fish, which are known to respond to the drugs, James added.

The mussels tested came from highly urbanized areas, far from commercial shellfish beds where mussels are raised for food,  according to the PSI. “You wouldn’t want to collect (and eat) mussels from these urban bays,” James said.