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

81 – 76  Lihue, Kauai
90 – 78  Honolulu, Oahu
85 – 76  Molokai AP
m  – m   Kahului AP, Maui
89 – 79  Kailua Kona
86 – 73  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

1.42  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
9.34  Punaluu Stream, Oahu
1.30  Molokai
1.58  Lanai
 0.22  Kahoolawe
2.14  West Wailuaiki, Maui
3.32  Kulani NWR, Big Island

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

33  Port Allen, Kauai
35  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
28  Molokai
27  Lanai
35  Kahoolawe
27  Kahului AP, Maui
21  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 10,000+ feet high 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://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/tpac/avn-animated.gif
 Tropical Cyclone 10E (Hector) is moving away to the west-southwest of the islands (click images to enlarge)

         http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/tc_graphics/2018/graphics/EP102018_5day_cone_with_line_and_wind_40A.png

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
Hurricane Hector moving northwest…away from the state

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Variable clouds…category 4 hurricane Hector

 

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/satellite/State_VIS_loop.gif

 

https://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Showers locally and offshore…some are heavy
 Looping image

 

Small Craft Advisory…windiest coasts and channel waters around Maui County and the Big Island

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Broad Brush Overview: Hurricane Hector is passing by to the southwest of the islands, keeping trade wind weather in place across the state. Deep moisture lagging behind Hector will overspread the islands, resulting in showery trade wind weather through tonight. A drier airmass will overspread the state Friday, with a more typical trade wind pattern featuring, mainly windward and mountain showers Friday night…through the middle of next week.

We dodged a bullet…with Hector moving by so close!

Details: Hurricane Hector remains a major category 3 hurricane, and continues to track due west at around 17 mph. Meanwhile, a high pressure system is located far north-northwest of Hawaii. The resulting pressure gradient is producing breezy trade winds across the island chain. Satellite shows mostly cloudy conditions in place across the state, with radar imagery showing fairly persistent light rain and drizzle moving into windward areas, particularly from Oahu eastward to the Big Island, with some drizzle reaching leeward areas as well.

Hurricane Hector will continue to track westward through Friday before making a turn toward the west-northwest, and eventually northwest over the weekend. Meanwhile, high pressure north of the state will slide eastward through the rest of the work week, then set up in a more typical position well northeast of the islands over the weekend…through early next week. Breezy trade winds are expected to continue, before easing to moderate levels tonight. Moderate trades will then persist through the middle of next week.

Meanwhile, a plume of deep tropical moisture is lagging behind Hurricane Hector. This deeper moisturewill continue to spread westward into Kauai. In addition to the deep moisture, the airmass will become more unstable through tonight. As a result, we should see showery and wet trade wind weather statewide continuing through tonight, with some locally heavy rainfall possible. A drier airmass will arrive across the island chain Friday, decreasing shower coverage state wide. By Friday night, we should be back to a more typical trade wind shower regime.

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 / Here’s the latest Vog Forecast Animation / Here’s the Vog Information website

Marine Environmental Conditions: Hurricane Hector is moving west around 15 knots. The strong pressure gradient, between high pressure to the north and Hector passing south of the western end of the state, will continue to support rough boating conditions across the Hawaiian waters through tonight. A return of a more typical trade wind pattern is anticipated Friday through the upcoming weekend…as Hector tracks away from the state.

As Hector continues westward, surf along south facing shores of all islands will build, especially through tonight. Provided the fast westward motion of Hector and the compact wind field, heights should remain below the south shore advisory-level, although will need to be monitored.

Surf along east facing shores of the Big Island will continue to trend down toward average into Friday.



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World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

 

Here’s the Friday Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering a tropical disturbance in the Atlantic Ocean

Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering the Pacific and Indian Oceans, including retiring Tropical Cyclone 17W (Shanshan), Tropical Cyclone 18W (Yagi)..and Tropical Cyclone 10E (Hector), Tropical Cyclone 12E (John) and Tropical Cyclone 13E (Kristy)


>>> Atlantic Ocean: No active tropical cyclones

>>> Caribbean Sea: No active tropical cyclones

>>> Gulf of Mexico: No active tropical cyclones

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

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:

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/epac/ir4-l.jpg

Tropical Cyclone 12E (John) remains active…as a tropical storm

> Here’s a looping satellite image of the northeast Pacific

> Here’s what the models are showing for this TS

According to the NHC…John is moving toward the northwest near 10 mph, and this motion is expected to continue over the next couple of days with a gradual decrease in forward speed. A turn to the north is expected late this weekend.

Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 45 mph with higher gusts. Additional weakening is forecast, and John will likely become a depression later today and become a remnant low this weekend.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles from the center.

HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND –

SURF: Swells generated by John are affecting portions of the coasts of southwestern Mexico and the Baja California peninsula. The swells are beginning to reach the coast of southern California and are expected to continue through Saturday. These swells could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

NHC textual advisory

 

Tropical Cyclone 13E (Kristy) remains active…as a tropical storm

> Here’s a looping satellite image of the northeast Pacific

> Here’s what the models are showing for this TS

According to the NHC…Kristy is moving toward the north-northeast near 9 mph. A turn toward the north-northeast is expected later today, followed by a turn back to the north with a decrease in forward speed on Saturday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 70 mph with higher gusts. While little change in strength is expected today, there is still a chance that Kristy could become briefly become a hurricane this morning. Gradual weakening is expected to begin by tonight and continue through the weekend.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles from the center.

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Central Pacific:

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg

Tropical Cyclone 10E (Hector) remains active…and is a Category 4 hurricane

> Here’s a looping satellite image of the central Pacific

> Here’s what the models are showing for this Hurricane

> Here’s a near real time wind profile for 10E

According to the CPHC…Hector is moving just north of due west near 16 mph. A gradual turn toward the west-northwest is expected later this morning, followed by a northwestward motion from tonight through Saturday. On the latest forecast track, the center of Hector is expected to pass more than 100 miles north of Johnston Island later today.

Maximum sustained winds are near 130 mph with higher gusts. Some additional strengthening is possible this morning, followed by gradual weakening from later today through Saturday night.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 110 miles.

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

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean:


Tropical Cyclone 18W (Yagi)


>>> South 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: This Meteor ‘Exploded’ Over Greenland, But Nobody Saw It. Here’s Why It Matters – A fireball that streaked across the sky above the Thule Air Base in Greenland on July 25 was notable for not only the 2.1 kilotons of energy it released — the second-most-energetic “explosion” of its kind recorded this year — but also the stir it caused on social media and the frenzied calls it prompted to the U.S. Air Force.

And the blazing rock — which was traveling at about 54,000 mph, about 74 times the speed of sound, according to The Aviationist — may have sent meteorites to the ground for passersby (the few people who happened to be this far north of the Arctic Circle) to discover.

The first reports of the meteor above Greenland came from two tweets from scientists. On July 31, Ron Baalke, of the Solar System Dynamics group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (or “Rocket Ron” on Twitter), wrote, “A fireball was detected over Greenland on July 25, 2018 by US Government sensors at an altitude of 43.3 km. The energy from the explosion is estimated to be 2.1 kilotons.” His tweet was followed by a similar one on Aug. 1 by Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists: “Meteor explodes with 2.1 kilotons force 43 km above missile early warning radar at Thule Air Base.”

Apparently, the news reports that stemmed from those tweets led to a flurry of calls from reporters to both the air base and NASA asking about potential harm to the Thule Air Base, according to the Military Times.

So, what’s up with the fireball? Though meteors like this one are large enough to create a blaze when entering the atmosphere, they are not big enough to be seen before they plow through Earth’s atmosphere.

“These objects are only a few meters across and smaller, which is too small to be detected before they strike the Earth,” Robert Lunsford, a longtime meteor observer with the American Meteor Society. “Therefore, we have no idea when and where such events will occur.”

When this Greenland meteor ripped through the atmosphere last month, some 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle, some sensors in the global network run by the base’s 21st Space Wing detected it.

“As the meteor[s] enter the atmosphere, they ablate until they either completely disintegrate or remnants fall to the ground,” Lunsford said. “The shock wave generated by the collision with the atmosphere is the source of the ‘explosion’ and resulting estimate of impact energy.”

These objects are too small to cause much damage, unless someone gets hit by a fragment of the rock or if someone is near the sound blast, he said. That did indeed occur in 2013, when a 55-foot meteor struck Chelyabinsk, Russia. The shock wave from the impact smashed windows and damaged buildings, and more than 1,000 people were injured.

For comparison, that fireball packed 300 kilotons of energy, or 20 to 25 times more energy than the atomic bombs dropped during World War II. Even so, the Chelyabinsk impact was much less powerful than the Tunguska meteor explosion in Siberia that released 10 to 15 megatons of energy in 1908.

Though the Greenland fireball explosion was significant, nobody saw it.

“Being that it was such a remote location, there are no pictures of this fireball,” Lunsford said. “In fact, we have not received any visual reports, either. If not for the U.S. government sensors, we would not even know about this object.”