Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 82
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 83
Kaneohe, Oahu – 77
Molokai airport – 81
Kahului airport, Maui – 88 (Record high for Wednesday / 92 – 1953)
Kona airport – 84
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 83
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Wednesday evening:
Kahului, Maui – 83
Barking Sands, Kauai – 79
Haleakala Crater – M (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea – 43 (near 13,800 feet on the Big Island)
Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. This web cam is available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon shining down during the night at times. Plus, during the nights you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise and sunset too…depending upon weather conditions. Here's the Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui…although this webcam is not always working correctly.
Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information (once the season begins June 1) for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. Here's a tropical cyclone tracking map for the eastern and central Pacific.
Aloha Paragraphs
Winds gentle to moderate through Friday,
then strengthening this weekend into
next week…with passing windward
showers at times, and localized
showers interior and upcountry leeward
sections during the afternoon hours locally
As this weather map shows, we have a large near 1031 millibar high pressure system far to the northeast of the islands. At the same time, a ridge of high pressure extending southwest of this high pressure cell is located to the north and northwest of Kauai. Our local winds will blow from the southeast…remaining generally light into Friday.
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Wednesday evening:
09 Princeville, Kauai – ESE
18 Kaneohe, Oahu – SE
04 Molokai – SE
33 Kahoolawe – SE
23 Lipoa, Maui – ENE
15 Lanai – NE
23 South Point, Big Island – NE
We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean. Here's the latest NOAA satellite picture – the latest looping satellite image…and finally the latest looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands.
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Wednesday evening:
1.04 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.00 Makaha Stream, Oahu
0.15 Molokai
0.27 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.70 Haiku, Maui
0.39 Kahua Ranch, Big Island
Sunset Commentary: Our local winds will vary between east and southeast…remaining lighter than normal as we move through Friday. We'll find passing showers along the windward sides at times, while the leeward upcountry slopes and the interior sections will find showers falling during the afternoon hours locally too. The trade winds are expected to strengthen this weekend, bringing back a more normal trade wind weather pattern into next week. Small craft wind advisories will remain down until Saturday or Sunday, when they will be issued around those windiest parts of Maui County and the Big Island…into next week.
Here in Kula, Maui at 540pm, it was mostly cloudy and raining, with calm winds…and an air temperature of 67.3F degrees. Looking down in the central valley, there seems to be a bit of volcanic haze in the air too. As this satellite image shows, we can see fairly minor clouds banked up against the windward sides of the islands in places…as well as some clouds over and around the mountains. There was a small patch of high cirrus clouds well to the south of the state at the time of this writing too. As lighter winds prevail for a while longer, and as the daytime heating increases during the days, we'll see onshore sea breezes developing along the leeward coasts and slopes. These will carry moisture over the interior sections, increasing clouds during the day…leading to localized afternoon and early evening showers. These afternoon showers will likely break out again Thursday afternoon, along those leeward slopes…although they won't be as generous as what we saw today, especially on Maui. As we move into the weekend, the trade winds will return, and increase in strength into next week. The trade winds will prompt our showers back over to the windward sides then. ~~~ I'll be back early Thursday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Wednesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
[World-wide tropical cyclone activity:]
Central Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 48 hours.
Eastern Pacific Ocean: Tropical depression 3E has formed in the far eastern Pacific, located approximately 515 miles south-southeast of Puerto Angel, Mexico. Sustained winds were 35 mph, with further strengthening expected. 03E is expected to become a tropical storm named Carlotta soon, and then on to a hurricane…as it heads towards the Mexican coastline by Friday night.
A BROAD TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE PERSISTS SEVERAL HUNDRED MILES SOUTHWEST OF ACAPULCO MEXICO. THE ASSOCIATED SHOWER ACTIVITY REMAINS DISORGANIZED…AND DEVELOPMENT…IF ANY…OF THIS DISTURBANCE IS EXPECTED TO BE SLOW TO OCCUR AS IT MOVES LITTLE. THIS SYSTEM HAS A LOW CHANCE…10 PERCENT…OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.
Here's a satellite image showing these two tropical systems
Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones expected through the next 48 hours.
Western Pacific Ocean: Tropical storm Guchol (05W) is located approximately 215 NM north of Palau. Sustained winds were 63 mph, with gusts to near 81 mph. This TS will move west-northwest and then turn northwest…attaining typhoon status in about 24 hours. Guchol is forecast to remain offshore to the east of the Philippine Islands, and Taiwan too…as it moves over the open ocean. Here is a JTWC graphical track map for this storm.
South Indian Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
Interesting: How far can the effects of a fire be felt? There are some noteworthy fires in New Mexico right now for example. However, the ones that are lesser known are equally interesting. Fires burning in Siberia recently sent smoke across the Pacific Ocean and into the U.S. and Canada.
Images of data taken by the nation’s newest Earth-observing satellite tracked aerosols from the fires taking six days to reach America's shores. Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite’s Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite tracks aerosols, like this smoke, that are transported by winds across the globe.
The Voice of Russia reported that 11,000 hectares (about 42.4 square miles) of forests in Siberia were on fire in May and that the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations says roughly 80 percent of these fires are intentionally set to clear land for farming.
The one in New Mexico covers about 14,000 hectares. "This smoke event is one example that shows that what happens over one area of the earth can easily affect another area thousands of miles away, whether it’s from Asia to North America or North America to Europe, and so on.
Not only smoke and dust can get carried long distance. Pollutants, and even disease-carrying spores can be carried by the prevailing winds. For this event, I found out that the smoke plumes were lofted up to at least 12 kilometers (or about 7.5 miles) from the intense heat of the fires.
At that point the smoke got picked up by higher level winds," Seftor, an atmospheric physicist working for Science Systems and Applications, Inc. at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, says. The thickest area of smoke appears over Mongolia.
This high concentration was then transported across the Pacific Ocean and crosses into Alaska. Seftor says that unlike photographs, satellite data shows researchers the difference between reflections of smoke and dust from those from snow, ice or the tops of clouds.
The UV (ultra-violet) aerosol index is helpful because it makes "seeing" dust and smoke easier even when that background is bright. The aerosol index allows him to separate the aerosol signal from the background.
"One of the biggest uncertainties we’ve had in terms of understanding our climate has to do with aerosols and what exactly aerosols do to the climate," Seftor says, adding that the OMPS instrument adds to and expands on decades of scientific research.
The Ozone Monitoring Instrument was the precursor to OMPS. "Climate changes often occur over long periods, and it takes decades of data and measurements to detect and understand them."
A new scientific study in Ecosphere has found that North America and Europe must prepare for even more fires as global temperatures continue to rise from climate change. Looking at 16 climate models and satellite data, the researchers found that fires will likely increase across much of North America and Europe.
Evidence was especially strong across the various models that fires will increase both in the near term (2010-2039) and long term (2070-2099) in the western U.S.
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