Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday…along with the minimums Friday:
83 – 73 Lihue, Kauai
86 – 73 Honolulu, Oahu
82 – 66 Molokai
84 – 60 Kahului AP, Maui
85 – 69 Kailua Kona AP
85 – 69 Hilo, Hawaii
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands, as of Friday evening:
0.16 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.05 Tunnel RG, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.05 Haiku, Maui
0.22 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Friday evening:
17 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
18 Kuaokala, Oahu – ESE
18 Molokai – ENE
22 Lanai – NE
28 Kahoolawe – E
21 Maalaea Bay, Maui – NNE
25 Pali 2, Big Island – NE
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.
Aloha Paragraphs
The Pacific storm track remains well north of our islands…
with just the tail-ends of cold fronts getting close to Hawaii
Here’s a wind profile…of the offshore waters
around the islands – with a closer view
There’s a large area of thunderstorms well offshore southwest of
Hawaii…we’ll need to keep an eye out in this area through the
next week, as we could see an out of season tropical cyclone
spin-up somewhere in the area southwest to southeast of Hawaii
Off and on increases in clouds…mixed with clear skies
Just a few showers locally windward…otherwise mostly dry
looping radar image
High Surf Warning…surf rising during the day along
the north and west shores, gradually lowering
after this weekend
A large northwest swell will produce harbor surges and
large breaking waves at harbor entrances…including
Haleiwa and Waianae boat harbors – mariners use
extreme caution when entering or leaving port
Small Craft Advisory…windiest coasts and channels
around the state
~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~
Our trade winds will continue…remaining moderately strong in general. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. We find moderately strong high pressure systems to the northeast and northwest of the state, moving eastward. At the same time, we find numerous storm and gale low pressure systems far to our north and northwest. The trade winds will remain active through the weekend, blowing generally in the moderately strong realms statewide. The trade winds will ease up in strength and veer to the southeast Monday and Tuesday, at least over the western islands…bringing volcanic haze our way locally. The models show the trade winds picking up again around the middle of next week onward.
A few showers will fall along our windward sides locally…leeward areas will remain generally dry. We’ll find generally dry weather continuing, especially along our leeward sections…with occasional passing showers over the windward sides. This drier than normal weather pattern is being augmented by a ridge of high pressure aloft over the state…in addition to very limited low level moisture across our tropical latitudes of the central Pacific. We may see another weak front or even two approaching the state with time, although they will very likely pass by to our north, or stall before arriving…as the last several have done. The long range models are suggesting that our drier than normal weather conditions may extend all the way through next week.
Here on Maui…It’s mostly clear across the island early this Friday morning, with just a few clouds and a couple of random showers along the windward sides. Here in upcountry Kula, it’s calm and clear…with an air temperature of 50.3F degrees at my place here in upcountry Kula. This temperature is in contrast to the 65 degree reading down near sea level in Kahului…while it was 63 at Maalaea Bay, and 75 in Hana at the same time.
– We’re into the early afternoon now, as we continue on into this extended period of dry weather. Skies are clear to partly cloudy, with cloudy conditions over and around the mountains. The air temperature here in Kula is 66 degrees, while at the same time down in Kahului it was a warmer 82 degrees, and 81 in both Kapalua and Hana…with 84 at Maalaea Bay.
– We’re pushing towards the sunset now, with rapidly clearing skies…which are already almost totally cloud free. The air temperature here in Kula was 63.3 at 525pm, while it was a warmer 79 in Kahului, 77 at both Kapalua and Hana, and 55 up at the summit of the Haleakala Crater…at the same time.
I’ll be back with many more updates on all of the above and below, I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn
World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
>>> Atlantic Ocean: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant.
Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean
>>> Caribbean Sea: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant.
>>> Gulf of Mexico: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant.
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: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 North Pacific hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant.
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: The central north Pacific hurricane season has officially ended. Routine issuance of the tropical weather outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, special tropical weather outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant.
Here’s a link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)
>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones
Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)
Interesting: 18,000 fires rage in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest – It’s not just Indonesia’s forests and peatlands that are burning – the Amazon is suffering almost as badly, with over 18,000 fires last month in Brazil alone, write Jos Barlow & Erika Berenguer. The future is looking hot and fiery.
As world leaders meet in Paris to tackle carbon emissions, here in the Amazon we are watching forests burning unchecked, releasing carbon into the atmosphere, destroying sensitive ecosystems and making breathing difficult.
There are forests fires in the Amazon every year, but 2015 is exceptional. We’ve been investigating the issue in the rainforest around Santarém, a city on the south bank of the Amazon, 800km from the sea.
For the past five weeks we have woken up under a thick veil of smoke. For days we are barely able to see the sun. On many days last week visibility was less than 50 metres and the sun, once yellow, would rise red – if at all.
Even our clothes and our hair smell constantly of smoke. We have been living in the middle of a 24-hour barbecue in the middle of the world’s largest tropical forest.
The El Niño phenomenon is contributing to this year’s increased temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns, which means a more intense dry season across large swathes of the usually-humid tropics.
Widespread fires in south-east Asian peatland forests have released huge amounts of smoke and made the air so polluted that Indonesia set up evacuation ships for affected people. These fires are estimated to have emitted more carbon in just a few weeks than the entire German economy over a whole year.
Rainforests aren’t used to fire
Although fires in the Amazon region have attracted much less attention than in Indonesia the situation is still alarming. In November alone, the Brazilian Amazon experienced 18,716 fires according to satellite data.
They are mainly started by farmers to clear areas of fallow or to get rid of weeds in pastures. However, planned fires often escape the targeted area, invade surrounding forests and burn the vegetation.
These escaped fires may appear small and harmless but rainforests, unlike savannahs or temperate forests, have not co-evolved with periodic fires. This makes them particularly vulnerable. As a result, human-induced fires can kill up to 50% of the larger trees and most of the small-stemmed ones.
We still don’t know how long it takes for a tropical rainforest to recover from fires, both in terms of biomass and biodiversity – they might never be able to regain their former glory. This is exactly one of the aims of the joint UK-Brazil research project that has brought us to the Amazon.
What we do know is that all those dead trees open gaps in the forest canopy, which allow more light and wind to reach the forest floor. The forest then becomes hotter and drier and more prone to burn once again.
Almost all fires are left to burn themselves out
The smoke and fires have made life very uncomfortable. Yet for local people there is no escape. The smoke cloud that daily covers the region has serious consequences for human health, which led 12 Amazonian cities to declare a state of emergency back in October.
Task forces have been assigned to combat fires, but resources are thin and the region is too vast. Almost all fires are left to burn themselves out.
This year’s El Niño has shown how vulnerable the world’s largest tropical forest can be to extreme droughts. And recent forecasts have shown that such events are likely to triple by 2100. If 2015 can be used as an example, we are to expect more forest fires and much greater carbon emissions from tropical forest countries.
If world leaders at the UN climate conference are serious about limiting global warming to 2C, they must learn from this hazy present, acting immediately to protect the remaining forested areas in the humid tropics. Otherwise, we can expect a fiery future.
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