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

79 – 75  Lihue, Kauai
87 – 74  Honolulu, Oahu – High temperature tied the record…set back in 1988
83 – 65  Molokai AP
88 – 71  Kahului AP, Maui – High temperature tied the record…set back in 1954
85 – 73  Kailua Kona
80 – 68  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

0.82  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.20  Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.27  Puu Alii, Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.86  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.69  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

23  Port Allen, Kauai – ESE
35  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – SSW
25  Molokai – SE
28  Lanai – NE
37  Kahoolawe – ENE
23   Kahului AP, Maui – NNE
29  Kealakomo, 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

http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_ir_enh_west_loop-12.gif
A low pressure system over the ocean far to the north…along
with its trailing cold front – large area of thunderstorms and
high cirrus clouds far offshore to the east-southeast

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
Thunderstorms far south-southwest of Hawaii…
higher clouds north and northwest

 

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Clear to partly cloudy…cloudy areas mostly windward

 

http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/RadarImg/hawaii.gif
Showers falling locally – Looping radar image

Small Craft Advisory…for the windiest coasts and
channels around Maui County and the Big Island

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~



Trades winds continuing…well into the future. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. We find high pressure systems well offshore to the northeast…with an associated ridge extending west-southwestward to the north of the state. At the same time, we see gale low pressure systems far north and northwest, along with trailing cold fronts well offshore to the northwest of the islands. Moderate to locally strong trade winds will continue for the time being, although may ease up a notch Friday and Saturday. I see no distinct end to our ongoing trade wind regime, which is typical for the spring months here in Hawaii. There will be those common daily fluctuations in strength and direction…moving forward into next week.

Here’s a wind profile…of the offshore waters around the islands – with a closer view

Here’s the Hawaiian Islands Sulfate Aerosol animated graphic – showing vog forecast

The trade winds will keep most showers focused along the windward sides…arriving generally during the night and early morning hours. The leeward sides will remain less showery, with a few exceptions here and there at times on the smaller islands. There may be possible afternoon and early evening showers along the leeward slopes, above Kona coast as well. Otherwise, there are no unusual circumstances expected in our weather for the time being…and likely through the rest of this week. A trade wind weather pattern is well established, with no plans to lose its influence on our area well into the future. There’s a chance for some modest increase in windward showers around next Tuesday into Wednesday.

Marine environment details: The morning satellite pass clipped the western half of the state, and missed the area where the small craft advisory is currently in effect. The current advisory runs through tonight, with the idea that the weakening gradient will cause winds to drop below 25 knots. The decrease in winds is less pronounced than expected, and there will be borderline conditions for small craft through the weekend.  

The Mokapu and Hilo buoys show seas of 8-9 feet, due mainly to trade swell. This swell should gradually decrease over the next couple days, as the high to the northeast weakens, then pick back up early next week…as the next high builds north of the area. Small swells from the northwest and south are also in store this week. Surf along south facing shores may rise early next week as a swell from east of New Zealand reaches the leeward sides of the islands.

 

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Here on Maui – Before sunrise on this Thursday morning, we find partly cloudy skies along the windward coasts and slopes…stretching up over the West Maui Mountains as usual. These clouds are dropping a few showers, although not many. Elsewhere around the island, skies were mostly clear to partly cloudy. Here in upcountry Kula, it was calm and clear, with an air temperature at my weather tower of 49.8F degrees. At near the same time, the Kahului AP was registering 73 degrees under partly cloudy skies, while it was 72 out in Hana, and 46 atop the Haleakala Crater.

– Mid-afternoon, with clear to partly cloudy skies in most areas, other than some cloudiness over and around the nearby mountains.

– Early evening under continued clear to partly cloudy conditions…which made for yet another really nice spring day!

A good video of Humpback Whales and Dolphins in Hawaiian waters…full screen view is best

 

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

>>> Atlantic Ocean: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2016. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant. Here’s the 2015 hurricane season summary

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2016. 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 2015 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2016. 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 2015 North Pacific hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2016. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant. Here’s the 2015 hurricane season summary

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, 2016. During the off-season, special tropical weather outlooks will be issued if conditions warrant. Here’s the 2015 hurricane season summary

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

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: No active tropical cyclones

>>> 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: Carbon dioxide fertilization is greening the Earth – From a quarter to half of Earth’s vegetated lands has shown significant greening over the last 35 years largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Youtube video: The Earth Is Getting Greener

An international team of 32 authors from 24 institutions in eight countries led the effort, which involved using satellite data from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer instruments to help determine the leaf area index, or amount of leaf cover, over the planet’s vegetated regions. The greening represents an increase in leaves on plants and trees equivalent in area to two times the continental United States.

Green leaves use energy from sunlight through photosynthesis to chemically combine carbon dioxide drawn in from the air with water and nutrients tapped from the ground to produce sugars, which are the main source of food, fiber and fuel for life on Earth. Studies have shown that increased concentrations of carbon dioxide increase photosynthesis, spurring plant growth.

However, carbon dioxide fertilization isn’t the only cause of increased plant growth—nitrogen, land cover change and climate change by way of global temperature, precipitation and sunlight changes all contribute to the greening effect. To determine the extent of carbon dioxide’s contribution, researchers ran the data for carbon dioxide and each of the other variables in isolation through several computer models that mimic the plant growth observed in the satellite data.

Results showed that carbon dioxide fertilization explains 70 percent of the greening effect, said co-author Ranga Myneni, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University. “The second most important driver is nitrogen, at 9 percent. So we see what an out-sized role CO2 plays in this process.”

About 85 percent of Earth’s ice-free lands is covered by vegetation. The area covered by all the green leaves on Earth is equal to, on average, 32 percent of Earth’s total surface area – oceans, lands and permanent ice sheets combined. The extent of the greening over the past 35 years “has the ability to fundamentally change the cycling of water and carbon in the climate system,” said lead author Zaichun Zhu, a researcher from Peking University, China, who did the first half of this study with Myneni as a visiting scholar at Boston University.

Every year, about half of the 10 billion tons of carbon emitted into the atmosphere from human activities remains temporarily stored, in about equal parts, in the oceans and plants. “While our study did not address the connection between greening and carbon storage in plants, other studies have reported an increasing carbon sink on land since the 1980s, which is entirely consistent with the idea of a greening Earth,” said co-author Shilong Piao of the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences at Peking University.

While rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the air can be beneficial for plants, it is also the chief culprit of climate change. The gas, which traps heat in Earth’s atmosphere, has been increasing since the industrial age due to the burning of oil, gas, coal and wood for energy and is continuing to reach concentrations not seen in at least 500,000 years. The impacts of climate change include global warming, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and sea ice as well as more severe weather events.

The beneficial impacts of carbon dioxide on plants may also be limited, said co-author Dr. Philippe Ciais, associate director of the Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences, Gif-suv-Yvette, France. “Studies have shown that plants acclimatize, or adjust, to rising carbon dioxide concentration and the fertilization effect diminishes over time.”

“While the detection of greening is based on data, the attribution to various drivers is based on models,” said co-author Josep Canadell of the Oceans and Atmosphere Division in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Canberra, Australia. Canadell added that while the models represent the best possible simulation of Earth system components, they are continually being improved.