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

80 – 71  Lihue, Kauai
84 – 73  Honolulu, Oahu
mm mm  Molokai
82 – 65  Kahului AP, Maui
80 – 69  Kailua Kona
79 – 69  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

2.39  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
2.15  Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
 0.57  Molokai
 0.24  Lanai
 0.01  Kahoolawe
2.74  Puu Kukui, Maui
6.41  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

20  Port Allen, Kauai
32  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
29  Molokai
28  Lanai
28  Kahoolawe
25  Kahului AP, Maui
27  PTA Range 17, 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 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://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_ir_enh_west_loop-12.gif
High pressure systems east-northeast and north-northwest, the tail-end of a cold front to the north…with a trough just northwest of Kauai

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
High clouds north and west

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Clear to partly cloudy leeward, some clouds windward…cirrus locally

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

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~


Small Craft Advisory…windiest coasts and channels


High Surf Advisory…east shores of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui and the Big Island…then north and west shores of Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, and north shores of Maui

Winter Weather Advisory…Big Island summits/ snow above 12,000 feet

 

Broad Brush Overview: The current trade wind flow will bring clouds and showers during the next few days, as moisture associated with an old cold front…combines with a weak disturbance aloft. Showers will favor windward and mountain areas as usual, with scattered showers drifting leeward at times on the smaller islands. Winds are expected to diminish Thursday into next weekend, with a land and sea breeze weather pattern returning.

Details: The latest weather map shows a high pressure system over the eastern Pacific, with ridge north of the islands, and a cold front moving through the central Pacific. Moderate trades are expected across the island chain through mid-week. Unsettled and off and on wet weather conditions will continue through Wednesday, as a trough remains parked in the upper atmosphere. This ridge and the upper trough will help lift trade wind inversion heights above normal levels, allowing more active showers…especially over the windward and mountains areas.

Looking Further Ahead: A second cold front with a much deeper parent low, will move into the central Pacific Wednesday. This front will weaken the ridge north of the islands beginning Thursday. Winds will shift southeast and become lighter…driving daytime sea breezes and nighttime land breezes. Look for onshore flowing sea breeze clouds over island interior sections, with scattered showers each afternoon. Mostly clear skies are forecast each night as the offshore oriented land breeze develops into the morning hours.

Here’s a wind profile of the Pacific Ocean – Closer view of the islands / Here’s the vog forecast animation / Here’s the latest weather map

Marine environment details: A trade wind swell generated east of the state will keep the Small Craft Advisory remains in effect for most marine zones. The High Surf Advisory (HSA) for east facing shores continues as well.

The current small northwest swell will be reinforced by a west-northwest swell, which will peak Monday night and gradually decline through Wednesday. This second swell may warrant a HSA for exposed west and north facing shores Monday and Tuesday. A smaller northwest swell is possible late in the new week.


http://mauihouserentals.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/maui-rainbow-post-rain.jpg
Moderate trades…localized showers



World-wide Tropical Cyclone activity

>>> Here’s the latest PDC Weather Wall Presentation, covering a tropical disturbance being referred to as Invest 99S off the coast of Madgascar


https://icons.wxug.com/data/images/sst_basin/gl_sst_mm.gif


>>> Atlantic Ocean:

>>> Caribbean Sea:

>>> Gulf of Mexico:

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:

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:

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:


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


Interesting: Trash-Blasting Lasers Could Help Clean Up Space Junk, China Says – Far above your head right now, whizzing across the majestic canvas of space at 17,500 mph, is a load of garbage.

More than 500,000 pieces of human-made debris — colloquially known as “space junk” — orbit the Earth at any given time, NASA reported in 2013. At least 20,000 items in this extraterrestrial scrap heap are larger than a softball, and can include such massive detritus as entire defunct satellites and abandoned launch vehicles.

Such huge obstacles naturally pose a danger to new space missions, according to NASA. But just as dangerous are the many millions of pieces of debris that are so small they can’t even be tracked. “Even tiny paint flecks can damage a spacecraft when traveling at these velocities,” NASA officials wrote. “In fact, a number of space shuttle windows have been replaced because of damage caused by material that was analyzed and shown to be paint flecks.”

As more space missions (and more space junk) enter orbit every year, the need to clean up Earth’s outer atmosphere grows ever more pressing, scientists say. Researchers previously proposed using magnets, ultrathin nets and giant harpoons to tackle the trash problem. How to clean up the smallest debris — the millions of particles that are less than 10 cm wide — is a trickier question to answer.  Now, in a new paper published in Optik – International Journal for Light and Electron Optics, researchers at the Air Force Engineering University in China propose a solution: just blast the junk with satellite-mounted lasers.

The study researchers ran multiple numerical simulations to model how the orbital path of space debris could be affected by radiation from space-based lasers. Essentially, the idea is to lower the orbital path of the debris enough so that it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, below about 120 miles above the surface, where it would burn up.

The models showed that orbital measurements called inclination, which describes the angle between the plane of orbit and Earth’s equator, and right ascension of ascending node (RAAN), which describes the angle between Aries and the satellite as it crosses Earth’s equator while passing from the Southern to Northern Hemisphere, proved crucial to the calculations. According to the models, small-scale debris cleanup proved most effective when the RAAN of the space-based laser stations matched the RAAN of the debris.

While these results make a strong theoretical case for using space-based lasers as a viable means of cosmic cleanup, the idea of laser junk removal is not new. In 2015, Japanese scientists proposed adding a trash-blasting laser to the country’s Extreme Universe Space Observatory module on the International Space Station, as well as developing a new satellite-mounted laser specifically for debris removal. Using a so-called coherent amplification network laser — which focuses many small lasers into one powerful beam — the satellite could vaporize thin layers of matter off of any debris it encountered, researchers said, forcing the junk downward to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

China’s willingness to experiment with rapid debris removal is appropriate considering that the country is considered one of the worst offenders when it comes to space junk, Universe Today reported. In 2007, a Chinese anti-satellite missile test was responsible for what is considered the most severe fragmentation of space junk in history. The incident spewed thousands of new pieces of junk into low Earth orbit, one of which appeared to damage a Russian spacecraft in 2013.