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

84 – 77  Lihue, Kauai
87 – 76  Honolulu, Oahu
87 – 69  Molokai AP
88 – 66  Kahului AP, Maui
86 – 73  Kailua Kona
87 – 70  Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.03  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.20  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.01  Lanai
 0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Maui
0.09  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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

29  Port Allen, Kauai
27  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
22  Molokai
29  Lanai
25  Kahoolawe
23  Maalaea Bay, Maui
25  Kaupulehu, 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
Hurricane Walaka is active northwest of the state…and Hurricane Sergio continues moving west although won’t be a problem for Hawaii/ click images to enlarge

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/tc_graphics/2018/graphics/CP012018_5day_cone_with_line_and_wind_20.png

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
Hurricane Walaka (Category 2) is moving north…to the northwest of Hawaii


http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Variable clouds

 

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

 

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A few showers locally and offshore
 Looping image

 

High Surf Advisory

Small Craft Advisory

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Broad Brush Overview: Light east to southeast breezes will continue into the weekend, with localized daytime sea breezes and nighttime land breezes. Look for warm conditions with scattered shower activity for the next couple of days. The high pressure ridge will build in north of the islands late Saturday into Sunday, bringing the trade winds back through much of next week…with clouds and showers favoring windward and mountain areas.

Details: A weak high pressure ridge lingers from the Hawaiian Islands northward. A warm stable dry layer aloft will cap vertical cloud development…limiting shower activity. The islands remain along the edge of the ridge, allowing light east to southeasterly winds to blow through Saturday. Sea breezes will develop along portions of southwest and west facing slopes of all islands through the end of the week.

Hurricane Walaka continues moving northward well west of Kauai…keeping it away from the islands. Thursday through Saturday, moisture bands begin to drift into the state from east to west, with scattered showers reaching the eastern slopes of Maui and the Big Island Thursday. We’ll likely find scattered showers slowly spreading eastward across the rest of the island chain Friday into Saturday.

Looking Ahead: Trade winds will return to the Big Island Saturday night, and then spread to the rest of the state on Sunday. A trade wind weather pattern continues through at least the first half of next week. Long range model projections continue to show periods of showers moving through on the trade wind flow. These clouds and developing showers will favor windward and mountain areas…with more isolated showers over leeward sections.

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: Surface high pressure northeast of the state will maintain light to moderate easterly winds. Hurricane Walaka is expected to continue to track north and pass well west of the coastal waters into Thursday. As it passes the islands Thursday, winds will shift to the south for the far western waters and southeast across the eastern waters. Swells generated by Walaka may cause seas to approach the Small Craft Advisory criteria over some exposed western waters by Thursday.

Current northwest swell will continue to gradually decrease through Thursday. A new south-southwest swell will peak with moderate heights along most south facing shores. In addition, southwest and west swells generated by Walaka and Trami will provide an increase in surf heights along some exposed south and west facing shores…and may reach High Surf Advisory (HSA) criteria across the western half of the island chain.



World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

 

Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico…including Hurricane Leslie

Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) WeatherWall Presentation covering the Pacific and Indian Oceans, including Hurricane 21E (Sergio) in the eastern Pacific, Hurricane Walaka in the central Pacific…and Tropical Storm 30W (Kong-rey) in the western Pacific


>>> Atlantic Ocean:

Hurricane Leslie

NHC textual advisory
NHC graphical track map

According to the NHC Advisory 33…Leslie is moving toward the north near 9 mph, and this motion with an increase in forward speed is expected through tonight. A reduction in speed is forecast on Friday and Friday night, with Leslie turning toward the east or east-southeast over the weekend. Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 75 mph with higher gusts. Continued gradual weakening is expected during the next several days, and Leslie may weaken to a tropical storm on Friday. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 40 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 195 miles.

>>> Caribbean Sea:

>>> Gulf of Mexico: No active tropical cyclones

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:

Hurricane 21E (Sergio)

NHC textual advisory
NHC graphical track map

According to the NHC Advisory 21…Sergio is moving toward the northwest near 9 mph and this motion is expected to continue today. A turn toward the west-northwest and west at a slightly slower forward speed is expected Friday and Saturday. Maximum sustained winds are near 140 mph with higher gusts. Sergio is a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Little change in strength is expected during the next day or so, but gradual weakening is forecast to begin on Friday. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 150 miles.

>>> Central Pacific:

Hurricane Walaka

CPHC textual advisory
CPHC graphical track map

Here’s what the computer models are showing

According to the CPHC Advisory 20…Walaka is moving toward the north near 20 mph. It is expected to slow its forward speed and turn toward the north-northwest later today and tonight. From Friday through early Saturday morning, Walaka is forecast to move toward the north-northeast at a faster forward speed. Maximum sustained winds are near 110 mph with higher gusts. Gradual weakening is expected to continue during the next couple of days, but Walaka is forecast to remain a hurricane through early Friday morning. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 230 miles.

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean:

Tropical Storm 30W (Kong-rey)

JTWC textual advisory
JTWC graphical track map

>>> 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: Rare Quintuple Rainbow Captured by Photographer in New Jersey – While shooting a sunset in New Jersey recently, photographer John Entwistle got another gorgeous sight: a sky painted with what looked like a set of five rainbows.

“I could be wrong but that sure looks like a quintuple rainbow at sunset tonight over the Jersey Shore, NJ,” Entwistle wrote on Instagram on September 18th.

Supernumerary rainbows like this one consist of a primary rainbow — the brightest and most vivid of the bunch — as well as at least two other, less brilliant, rainbows. In the case of the rainbow captured by Entwistle, five supernumerary rainbows were visible.

“In general, supernumeraries are quite common. There are many pictures of 2 or 3 supernumeraries,” Gunther Können, a retired climate scientist with the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. “But the appearance in nature of 5 supernumeraries is exceptional.”

Raymond Lee, a research professor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, agreed: “Supernumerary rainbows are actually fairly common and, despite their superfluous-sounding name, are an intrinsic part of any rainbow.” Even so, seeing these rainbows is challenging because they are not as bright as their primary parent bow and they tend to get obscured by the primary rainbow’s vivid colors, he added.

The two types of rainbows form in just about the same way, except for one difference: The main rainbow forms when sunlight enters a water droplet — which is denser than the surrounding air — that light bends or refracts. Once inside the water droplet, the light also reflects off the back of the drop; and then as it exits, it is refracted again. Since different wavelengths of light get bent by different amounts, with this process happening in lots of tiny droplets, you get a rainbow.

The supernumerary bows happen due to interference between light waves that follow slightly different paths inside a raindrop, according to Lee. And these supernumeraries are much more likely to be visible when the raindrops are relatively uniform in size; that’s because pairs of light rays that pass through the droplet are more likely to be in phase and create colored light. With different-size droplets, the light waves are more likely to cancel each other out, meaning no light and no supernumeraries.

“Supernumeraries that appear under these conditions are conical, in the sense that their mutual spacing is smaller near the horizon than near the top of the rainbow. This is clearly the case in this picture,” Können said.

If you haven’t seen one in real life, check out the photo so you know what you’re looking for. “Like owning a new car, however, once you’re aware of supernumeraries’ existence, you start to see them routinely in many different rainbows,” Lee noted.