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

72 – 71  Lihue, Kauai
79 – 68  Honolulu, Oahu
79 – 62  Molokai AP
79 – 61  Kahului AP, Maui
81 – 70  Kailua Kona
74 – 68  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

1.41  N Wailua Ditch, Kauai
0.93  Kahana, Oahu
0.02  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
 0.00  Kahoolawe
0.41  Hana AP, Maui
1.14  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

22  Port Allen, Kauai
38  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
25  Molokai
25  Lanai
32  Kahoolawe
29  Maalaea Bay, Maui
27  Waikoloa, 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


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High pressure far north, low pressure systems northeast and northwest…which will keep our trade winds blowing

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Deep clouds in our vicinity

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Thunderstorms north and northwest of Kauai

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Showers locally – Looping image

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

High Surf Warning…for north and east facing shores of Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui and the Big Island beginning Wednesday

High Wind Warning…Big Island summits / 45-70 mph

Small Craft Advisory…all coasts and channels 

Marine Weather Statement…surges possible in harbors exposed to the northeast beginning Wednesday

 

Broad Brush Overview: The trade winds will increase, then ease toward the weekend, as high pressure first strengthens to our north…then is weakened by a cold front approaching from the west. The trade winds will carry clouds and showers our way, focusing rainfall across windward and mountain areas, with a few for leeward spots. Showers will increase later in the work week into the weekend, as low pressure forms across the islands…with locally heavy rainfall possible.

Looking Ahead: The models remain in good agreement showing an upper trough of low pressure dropping into the area west of the state Friday and Friday night. At the same time, a surface low pressure system is expected to develop near or over the islands by the weekend. The surface low is then expected to lift northeast and away from the state early next week.

Deep tropical moisture will move over the western islands Friday, then shift eastward into the weekend, resulting in a wet conditions statewide. Conditions should improve early next week as the surface low pulls away from the state, dragging the deepest moisture away from the island chain. There is a potential for heavy rainfall and flash flooding over the weekend.

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: Moderate to strong trades will hold, before increasing a notch tonight through mid-week. Increasing winds combined with a large northeast swell, are expected will lead to small craft advisory conditions across most waters tonight through Thursday. Winds and seas are forecast to trend down Friday into the weekend, as a trough moves into the area and the swell lowers.

Surf along north and east facing shores will begin to rise tonight, peak Wednesday through Thursday, then slowly trend down into the weekend, as a large northeast swell moves through. Surf will likely reach warning levels along north and east facing shores around the peak Wednesday into Thursday, with advisory level surf potentially lingering into Saturday for east facing shores.

Surf along south facing shores will remain small through the rest of the week, although could see an upward trend Friday into the weekend.

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The Spring season has begun



World-wide Tropical Cyclone activity

Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering Tropical Cyclone 15S (Marcus) in the South Indian Ocean…in addition to Invest 96W in the western Pacific

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>>> 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:

Tropical Cyclone 15S (Marcus)

JTWC textual forecast warning
JTWC graphical track map
NOAA satellite image

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


Interesting: Facts About Rhinos – Rhinoceroses are large, herbivorous mammals identified by their characteristic horned snouts. The word “rhinoceros” comes from the Greek “rhino” (nose) and “ceros” (horn). There are five species and 11 subspecies of rhino; some have two horns, while others have one.

Because the animals’ horns are used in folk medicine for their supposed healing properties, rhinos have been hunted nearly to extinction. Their horns are sometimes sold as trophies or decorations, but more often they are ground up and used in traditional Chinese medicine. The powder is often added to food or brewed in a tea in the belief that the horns are a powerful aphrodisiac, a hangover cure and treatment for fever, rheumatism, gout and other disorders, according to the International Rhino Foundation.

Conservation status

Save the Rhino estimates that there were 500,000 rhinos across Africa and Asia at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, the group says, there are 29,000 rhinos in the wild. Poaching and loss of habitat have put all rhino species in danger of extinction.

In 2009, four northern white rhinos were moved from a zoo in the Czech Republic to a private conservancy in Kenya in the hope that they would breed, according to the IUCN. On Oct. 18, 2014, Ol Pejeta Conservancy announced that one of them, one of the last two breeding males, had died. He was not a victim of poaching, however, and the conservancy was investigating the cause of death. On March 20, 2018, the conservancy announced the death of the last male northern white rhino, Sudan.

There are now only two northern white rhinos left in the world, both living in captivity, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The captive northern white rhinos are two females — Najin, Sudan’s daughter, and Fatu, Najin’s daughter — which live in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. The two females are incapable of a successful pregnancy: Najin is too old and issues with her legs make it impossible for her to support the weight of a mounting male; Fatu has a uterine condition that will likely keep her from breeding, according to experts.

With natural breeding attempts nixed for the northern white rhinos, conservationists have turned to in vitro fertilization. However, IVF in these rhinoceroses comes with its own set of challenges, including figuring out how to get immature eggs to develop outside of the female’s body and also how to inject sperm into these eggs.

As for the Sumatran rhinos, they are hanging on by a thread as well. Along with the Javan rhino, Sumatran rhinos are barely hanging on in the wild. They went extinct in Vietnam in 2010 and in Malaysia in 2015, according to the International Rhino Foundation. Small populations of the subspecies survive in three national parks in Sumatra. And in March 2016, conservationists captured a live Sumatran rhinoceros in the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo for the first time. Though a camera-trap image snapped in 2013 revealed Sumatran rhinos did survive in this region called Kalimantan, the capture of the female marked the first time in 40 years that humans had physically contacted a live Sumatran rhino there.

Rhino horns

Rhino horns are made of keratin, which is also the key component of human hair and fingernails. But the horns are not just dense clumps of hair. CT scans have shown dense mineral deposits of calcium and melanin in the core of the horn. The calcium makes the horn stronger, and the melanin protects it from the sun’s UV rays, according to scientists at Ohio University.

The horns are similar to horse hooves, turtle beaks and cockatoo bills, said Tobin Hieronymus, an OU doctoral student. Rhino horns tend to curve backward, toward the head, because the keratin in front grows faster than the keratin in the back. The outside of the horn is rather soft and can be worn down or sharpened after years of use, according to the San Diego Zoo. If a horn breaks off, it can gradually grow back.

Black rhinos, white rhinos and Sumatran rhinos have two horns. Javan rhinos and greater one-horned rhinos have one. On the black rhino, the front horn can grow to 20 to 51 inches, while the rear horn can grow to about 20 inches, according to the International Rhino Foundation. A white rhino’s horns are slightly smaller, and a Sumatran rhinos horns are about 10 to 31 inches for the front and less than 3 inches for the rear. The greater one-horned rhino’s horn is 8 to 24 inches, and Javan rhinos have a horn that is about 10 inches long.

How big are rhinos?

The largest rhino species is the white rhino, according to the San Diego Zoo. It grows to 12 to 13 feet long and up to 6 feet from hoof to shoulder. It weighs around 5,000 lbs.

The smallest rhino species is the Sumatran rhino. It grows to 8 to 10 feet long and up to 4.8 feet from hoof to shoulder. The Sumatran rhino weighs around 1,765 lbs.

Habitat

White rhinos and black rhinos live in the grasslands and floodplains of eastern and southern Africa. Greater one-horned rhinos can be found in the swamps and rain forests of northern India and southern Nepal. Sumatran and Javan rhinos are found only in small areas of Malaysian and Indonesian swamps and rain forests.

Rhinos spend their days and nights grazing and only sleep during the hottest parts of the day. During the rare times when they aren’t eating, they can be found enjoying a cooling mud soak. These soaks also help to protect the animals from bugs, and the mud is a natural sunblock, according to National Geographic.

Though rhinos are often solitary, they do occasionally form groups. Called crashes, these groups are made up of a female and her offspring. A dominant male rules over an area of land. The male will allow some sub-dominate males to live on his territory. Females roam freely around several different territories.

Diet

Rhinoceroses are herbivores, which means they eat only vegetation. The type of vegetation they eat varies by species. This is because their snouts are different shapes to accommodate different types of food, according to National Geographic. For example, the black rhino eats trees or bushes because its long lips allow it to pick leaves and fruit from up high. The white rhino has a flat-shaped snout that lets it get closer to the ground for eating grass.

Offspring

Every two and a half to five years, a female rhino will reproduce. Female rhinos carry their young for a gestation period of 15 to 16 months. They usually only have one baby at a time, though they do sometimes have twins. At birth, baby rhinos, which are called calves, are still quite big, at 88 to 140 lbs, according to the San Diego Zoo.

At around 3 years old, the calf will set out on its own. A rhino can live up to 45 years.