Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday:

84  Lihue, Kauai
88  Honolulu, Oahu
84  Molokai
89  Kahului, Maui
87  Kailua Kona
84  Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.51  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.12  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.07  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.04  Hana airport, Maui
0.79  Island Dairy, 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.



Aloha Paragraphs


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Our trade winds will continue blowing,
moderately strong…increasing some by
Monday onwards for a few days

An area of moisture will bring an increase in
showers to our windward sides this weekend,
with a few elsewhere…then another area of
showers will pass to the south of our area
during the middle of next week, which may
affect the Big Island and perhaps Maui then





~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



Our trade winds will remain active…blowing in the moderately strong range through Sunday. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…focused on the Hawaiian Islands. We have moderately strong high pressure systems located to the north and northeast of the state. The forecast calls for the trade winds to remain active, increasing a notch early in the new work week ahead.

Satellite imagery shows generally low level clouds over the area…especially along our windward sides. Looking at this larger looping satellite image, it shows lots of thunderstorm activity over the ocean to the southeast of the state…along with some cirrus streaks passing over some parts of the island chain now. There’s also quite a bit of cloudiness to the east, being carried our way on the trade wind flow. Here’s the looping radar, showing just a few showers falling along the windward sides at the time of this writing. However, and as noted above, our shower activity will increase some along the windward sides over the next few days.

We’re into a fairly normal trade wind weather pattern at the moment. There will be windward biased showers, falling mostly during the night and early morning hours. The leeward areas should have fine weather prevailing, with a few showers here and there. The models continue showing an increase in windward showers this weekend, and then another slug of showers approaching the state towards the middle of next week. The latest model output carries this next week’s moisture further to the south however, so the chances of rainfall then are reduced…stay tuned. I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above and below. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Friday Evening Film:  Once again, there are several good looking films playing here in Kahului, and also a fair amount of films that I have no interest in. This time around, I’ll see one that’s getting very high ratings, 90+ in fact, and that I’ve been looking forward to seeing for several months. It’s called Dawn of The Planet of The Apes, starring Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kirk Acevedo, Judy Greer, Andy Serkis, Karin Konoval...among many others. The synopsis: a growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.

I liked this film, it was engaging, full of action, and even had a heart. I wasn’t completely taken however, although was happy to have seen it. I hadn’t seen the original version of this film, or if I had, have forgotten it. This film was definitely entertaining, especially the special effects that seriously impressed me many times. It got to the point where it was the Apes against most men, and I found myself siding with the Apes throughout. It was centered around the San Francisco Bay area, and in particular just to the north of there in Marin County. This is an area that I often frequent, so there was that appeal for me as well. In sum, I really enjoyed it, and as for a grade feel comfortable giving it a strong B…or light B+rating. Here’s the trailer, so you can check it out yourself.


World-wide tropical cyclone activity:


Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclone


A tropical wave located south of the Cape Verde Islands could
develop into an area of low pressure by early next week over
the central tropical Atlantic. Environmental conditions are
expected to be marginally conducive for gradual development of
this system through midweek as it moves westward.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…20 percent


Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Gulf of Mexico: There are 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)

North Eastern Pacific: Tropical Storm Genevieve is active, here’s the NHC graphical track map…along with a satellite image. Here’s what the hurricane models are showing – meanwhile, there are tropical disturbances…described below:

1.)  A low pressure area located about 1200 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula has changed little in organization during the past few hours. Although upper-level winds are currently marginally conducive for development, a tropical depression could still form during the next day or so while the low moves westward at about 10 mph.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…high…60 percent.
* Formation chance through 5 days…high…60 percent.

2.)   Another low pressure area located about 450 miles south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico continues to show signs of organization. Conditions appear conducive for additional development until Monday, when the system is expected to reach colder water. A tropical depression is likely to form during the next day or so while the low moves west-northwestward or northwestward at 10 to 15 mph.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…high…70 percent.
* Formation chance through 5 days…high…80 percent.


3.) An area of low pressure is forecast to form well south of southern
Mexico late this weekend.  Some gradual development of this system
is possible after that time.


 
* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...near 0 percent. 
* Formation chance through 5 days...low...near 20 percent.



Here’s a wide satellite image that covers the entire area between Mexico, out through the central Pacific…to the International Dateline.





Central Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

1.)   Disorganized showers and thunderstorms associated with an area of low pressure located about 720 miles south southeast of South Point on the Big Island of Hawaii have changed little during the past several hours. Environmental conditions appear to be somewhat conducive for slow development of this system as it continues to move westward at 10 to 15 mph this weekend





* Formation chance through 48 hours, medium…30 percent.



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



Northwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones



South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones


North and South Indian Oceans: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s a link to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)


Interesting:  Why Seals Might Love Having More Wind Farms – New research reveals that off-shore wind farms are particularly useful for seals as they appear to act like artificial reefs, drawing in large groups of fish.



The study, carried out by researchers at St Andrews University in Scotland and published this month in the journal Current Biology, saw scientists track a group of seals in the North Sea using GPS devices. The purpose of the study was to look at whether man-made changes to the structural ocean environment are affecting marine predator behavior.



To explain that, the scientists highlight that whenever we make changes to the landscape for the purposes of building or reshaping a particular location, those changes can affect local wildlife. For instance, and for a not particularly green example, by creating a landfill, we may attract a variety of animals that can utilize the rubbish we have thrown out. Quite often, the concentrations of these foraging animals can affect change in predator animals, too. They will be drawn to these areas in order to hunt for those animals further down the food chain who are using the area for their own food and habitat needs.



This kind of change as a result of our reshaping the environment is well documented on-land, but until now the effect has not been tracked in marine environments.



Looking at the tracking data from two groups of harbor and grey seals, which are good candidates for this kind of research because they are apex predators, which have no known predators above them affecting their behavior, the scientists found that a number of seals from each group regularly visited off-shore wind farms, the Alpha Ventus farm off the German coast, and the Sheringham Shoal farm close to southeast England.



When looking at the tracking data, the researchers noticed that rather than just swimming through the wind farms, the seals appeared to be hunting. They could tell this by the fact that a number of the seals adopted grid-like movements around particular turbines, methodically searching for fish in patterns that have previously been observed as classic hunting behavior. This wasn’t a one-off either, with a number of seals repeatedly returning to the wind farms and displaying the same behavior. The seals were also shown to do the same around sub-sea pipelines, with the seals following along the line of the area up to ten times a day.