Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 10-11, 2018

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

82 – 74  Lihue, Kauai
86 – 71  Honolulu, Oahu
84 – 64  Molokai AP
82 – 62  Kahului AP, Maui
83 – 75  Kailua Kona
80 – 69  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

1.15  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.03   Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
1.01 Hana AP, Maui
2.06  Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

15  Port Allen, Kauai
18  Kii, Oahu
10  Molokai
17  Lanai
28  Kahoolawe
23  Kahului AP, Maui
14  Nene Cabin, 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

Large high to the northeast…with a cold front well northwest

High clouds moving over parts of the state from the southwest

Partly to mostly cloudy skies…some localized clearing

Showers locally…mostly windward and mountains
Looping image

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Broad Brush Overview: Our common springtime trade wind flow over the islands will soften over the next few days, as a surface trough of low pressure develops over the the state through Friday night. A strengthening high pressure system will pass by to the north of the area over the weekend into early next week…bringing locally stronger trade winds back to the state then.

Details: The recent gusty trade winds have weakened quite a bit compared to yesterday. The surface high far north-northeast, that generated the brisk winds is moving further away from the islands. Meanwhile, low clouds are being carried our way on the trade wind flow, keeping skies cloudy over the windward areas…while bringing some showers locally.

A surface trough of low pressure will form over the state, as an upper level trough is forecast to pass by. Our local winds will become lighter as a result, and even lighter tonight and Friday. This in turn will prompt land and sea breezes to occur. The sea breezes will result in afternoon clouds and showers, falling mainly over interior upcountry areas, while nighttime land breezes will lead to clearing over the islands.

The overlying atmosphere may become a bit less stable, although the models suggest most showers will affect the windward sides of Maui and the Big Island, then lift just north of the state over the coastal waters tonight and Friday. Thus, not much of an increase in the coverage of the showers is expected, though locally heavier rainfall is possible…especially during the afternoon and evening hours.

The lighter winds that will be settling over the island chain may allow volcanic haze (vog) to become more widespread on the Big Island through Friday night. However, at least hopefully, there may not be enough of a southeast wind flow, to spread much of this vog to the smaller islands…time will tell.

Looking Ahead: A new surface high is forecast to pass north of the islands and strengthen slightly over the weekend into early next week. It will bring stronger trade winds back to the islands Saturday, with winds becoming even stronger on Sunday onward. The way it looks now, the trades will prevail through at least the middle of next week…with showers focused mainly over the windward areas.

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 trade winds will weaken to light to moderate east-southeast winds through Friday, before increasing again this weekend. The east-southeast flow will bring increasing showers to mainly windward portions of the eastern half of the state.

Lingering north-northwest swells will remain through the weekend, with surf heights below advisory levels. Surf along east facing shores will drop off tonight as the trades weaken, although increase again over the weekend…with the return of stronger trade winds. The south facing shores will see small surf through the weekend, with an increase expected next week as a small swell makes it into the local waters.

 

World-wide Tropical Cyclone activity

Here’s the Thursday Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation…covering a tropical cyclone being referred to as Tropical Depression 1E in the eastern Pacific Ocean, and a tropical disturbance being referred to as Invest 97W in the western Pacific Ocean (with a high chance of developing)

>>> 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:

Tropical Cyclone 01E

NHC textual advisory
NHC graphical track map
NOAA satellite image

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

>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: No active tropical cyclones

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


Interesting: Youtube video of the recent activity

Kilauea Volcano: Facts About the 30-Year Eruption – Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. It is a shield-type volcano that makes up the southeastern side of the Big Island of Hawaii. The volcano rises 4,190 feet above sea level and is about 14 percent of the land area of the Big Island. The summit caldera contains a lava lake known as Halema`uma`u that is said to be the home of the Hawaiian volcano goddess, Pele.

To the casual observer, Kilauea appears to be part of the larger volcano Mauna Loa, but geological data indicates that it is a separate volcano with its own vent and conduit system. Kilauea has had more than 60 recorded eruptions in the current cycle, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and has been erupting on a continuous basis since 1983.

On May 3, 2018, the volcano erupted dramatically, several hours after a magnitude-5.0 quake struck the Big Island. The eruption spewed lava into residential subdivisions in the Puna district of the Big Island, prompting mandatory evacuations of the Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens subdivisions, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

Formation theories

Scientists have two theories about the formation of the Hawaiian Islands. Unlike most volcanoes, the Hawaiian chain sits squarely in the middle of the Pacific plate rather than on a tectonic boundary. In 1963, J. Tuzo Wilson proposed the “hotspot theory” to explain this unusual placement. Wilson proposed that the linear geography of the Hawaiian Islands is due to the movement of the Pacific plate over a stationary point of great heat from deep within the Earth.

Heat from this localized hotspot melts the Pacific plate above the hotspot as the rocky crust is pushed over it by the spreading seafloor along the plate boundary. The melting rock of the Pacific plate produces magma. Less dense than the solid rock of the plate, the magma rises through the mantle and the crust as a thin thermal plume, erupting beneath the ocean to form an active seamount. Over time, the countless eruptions increase the height of the seamount until it breaks the ocean surface and becomes an island volcano.

As the Pacific plate continues to move northward over time, the island is pushed away from the hotspot and a new island begins to form over the hotspot. In 2009, Cecily Wolfe of the University of Hawaii used sea bottom sensors to identify how seismic waves propagate through the pliable mantle layer beneath the Earth’s crust. She believes her evidence has pinpointed the location of the hotspot.

In contrast, a new study done by geologists from MIT and Purdue University in 2011, mapped rock layers within the crust. They could find no evidence of a single thermal plume. Instead, they found a “pancake shaped” layer of abnormally hot rock in the crust only about 403 miles beneath the surface, well above the mantle. Temperatures were 572 to 752 F hotter than expected at that depth.

This data suggests that hotspots may not be as deep as previously thought and may not be permanently fixed in one spot. Wolfe acknowledges the importance of the new find, but believes it will take much more work to truly explain how her thermal plume and the “pancake” of hot rocks are related and how they provide the heat source for Kilauea and the other active volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands. “Neither theory is rock solid. Nothing in earth science is perfect,” Wolfe observed.

Eruption history

Native Hawaiian oral traditions record the extraordinary eruptive history of Kilauea long before European and American missionaries wrote about it in their journals. Scientific study of the volcano began when geologist Thomas Jagger of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology visited Hawaii on a lecture tour and was approached by local businessmen. The Hawaiian Volcano Research Association (HVRA) was formed in 1909. In 1919, Jagger convinced the National Weather Service to take over the pioneering research, and in 1924 the observatory was taken over by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The current ongoing eruption cycle began on Jan. 3, 1983, along the middle of the east rift zone. By April, the eruptions became localized at one vent. Lava fountains built a cinder and spatter cone 836 feet high that was named Pu`u `o`o. The frequent short eruptions produced thick chunky lava flows that usually cooled and halted before reaching the coast. However, in July 1983, the lava made its inexorable advance into the nearby Royal Gardens subdivision and destroyed 16 homes. The expensive subdivision was largely abandoned.

In 1986, lava flows cut through the town of Kalapana as the lava made its way to the sea. As the lava field spread, cooled and spread again over the next three years it destroyed many homes and the Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. In March 1990, Kilauea entered its most destructive eruption period in modern history. Over the summer more than 100 homes, a church and a store were buried beneath 50 to 80 feet of lava.

On March 3, 2012, the very last house in the Royal Gardens subdivision was abandoned by 61-year-old Jack Thompson. For years, Thompson had watched as lava claimed the homes of his neighbors, leaving the area to Thompson and a few hardy squatters. The last roads leading to Royal Gardens were closed in 2008, forcing Thompson to hike several miles to reach an access road whenever he needed something from town, but he still refused to leave. Finally on the morning of March 3, Thompson and a friend were evacuated by helicopter as lava finally consumed his home.

Lava in Halema`uma`u crater overflowed the crater’s ledge in October 2012, and lava reached the ocean in November when it flooded the ledge of the crater. Lava flowed over the ledge again in January 2013 and continues to flow into the ocean, according to USGS.

The volcano has destroyed hundreds of homes and other structures and frequently damages local utilities and roads. Activity at the summit and along the rift zones can be observed online through webcams placed within the caldera, and information on Kilauea’s activity is updated daily on the USGS website.