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

81 – 67  Lihue, Kauai
85 – 70  Honolulu, Oahu
84 – 65  Molokai AP
84 – 62  Kahului AP, Maui
86 – 74  Kailua Kona
83 – 68  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

0.03  Kilohana, Kauai
1.86  St. Stephens, Oahu
0.18  Molokai
0.20  Lanai
 0.01  Kahoolawe
0.76  Puu Kukui, Maui
0.85  Puhe CS, Big Island

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

15  Port Allen, Kauai
 21  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
22  Molokai
18  Lanai
27  Kahoolawe
25  Maalaea Bay, Maui
22  Kealakomo, 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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A low pressure system…with an associated cold front well north

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/cpac/ir4.jpg
High Cirrus moving over parts of the state from the southwest

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/hi/ir4.jpg
Clear to partly cloudy, some cloudy areas…towering cumulus just south

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Showers locally, mostly windward and offshore…some are quite heavy near the Big Island
 Looping image

 

Here’s the latest VOG Forecast Animation

Here’s the Vog Information…website

Special Weather Statement…very light ashfall and hazardous air quality possible on the Big Island / south, north, east, and interior Big Island

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Broad Brush Overview: The trade wind producing high pressure ridge to our north will weaken, as a low pressure system moves by further to the north…bringing lighter winds. Daytime onshore sea breeze winds will develop, with clouds and a few showers forming over the upcountry interior sections. The high pressure ridge becomes more robust again Thursday, bringing a trade wind weather pattern back into play, with the usual windward shower activity lasting through the weekend.

Details: Weather maps and satellite imagery show this low pressure system, and its associated cold front moving through the Central Pacific…north of the state. This trough has weakened the high pressure ridge north of the islands, resulting in lighter wind speeds, with land and sea breeze winds developing over the next 24 hours. A cloud band associated with a weak trough just southeast of the state, has moved in over the Big Island, bringing low clouds and showers along the eastern slopes.

As this weak trough of low pressure moves into the Big Island, the winds aloft have shifted to a more southerly direction. These southerly winds, combined with upslope sea breeze surface winds over the volcano area, will push any new volcanic emissions in a more northerly direction. Recent eruptions near the Kilauea volcano will likely produce thick volcanic haze (vog) across the Puna, Kau and Hilo districts of the Big Island for the time being.

Looking Ahead: As the previously mentioned low north of the state moves eastward, a new high pressure system builds back in. The extended forecast continues to show a persistent high pressure ridge north of the islands through much of next week…allowing a more typical trade wind weather pattern to remain in place. Moisture will be rather limited in this pattern however, with scattered windward biased showers, and no organized showers are thus expected.

Here’s a near real-time Wind Profile of the Pacific Ocean – along with a Closer View of the islands / Here’s the latest Weather Map

Marine Environment Details: Light to locally moderate trades will prevail over the most of the coastal waters through tonight. The trades are expected to gradually strengthen again Thursday. Based on the latest forecast, winds are expected to reach the Small Craft Advisory criteria across the typically windy waters adjacent to the islands of Maui County and the Big Island Friday night through this weekend.

Surf will likely remain below the High Surf Advisory criteria along all shorelines into early next week. The current small north-northwest swell will diminish. Additional small north and northwest swells are forecast from Thursday through this weekend. A series of small south swells will continue to maintain surf along south facing shores through early Friday. A south-southwest swell, which is expected to arrive late Friday, may produce a modest increase in surf heights along south facing shores this weekend. Surf along east facing shores will continue to gradually subside through mid-week…due to the weaker trades. However, expect choppy surf to increase slightly along east facing shores as the trades strengthen later this week through the weekend.

 

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World-wide Tropical Cyclone activity

Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering Tropical Cyclone 01A in the Gulf of Aden (near the Arabian Sea)

Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering a dissipating tropical disturbance in the northeastern part of the Gulf of Mexico

 

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>>> Atlantic Ocean: No active tropical cyclones

>>> Caribbean Sea: No active tropical cyclones

>>> Gulf of Mexico: No active tropical cyclones

1.) A broad non-tropical area of low pressure located over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico is producing widespread cloudiness, showers, and thunderstorms across much of Florida, western Cuba and a good portion of the Bahamas.

This system is forecast to degenerate into a trough of low pressure, and tropical cyclone formation is not anticipated.

* Formation chance through 2-days…low…0 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…0 percent

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: No active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days.

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: No active tropical cyclones

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 01A

JTWC textual Warning
JTWC graphical track map
NOAA satellite image

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


Interesting:   Optimal age of puppy cuteness optimized – The popular meme proclaiming that all dogs are puppies assumes that humans’ adoration of canines is not conditional on their age. But a new study led by Clive Wynne, professor of psychology and director of Arizona State University’s Canine Science Collaboratory, suggests otherwise.

In a paper published this month in Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of the Interactions of People and Animals, Wynne and colleagues describe the study, which found dogs’ attractiveness to humans peaks at roughly eight weeks, the same point in time at which their mother weans them and leaves them to fend for themselves.

While spending time in the Bahamas, Wynne was able to observe the many street dogs there. According to him, there are around a billion dogs in the world, 80 percent of whom are feral. For those dogs, human intervention is crucial to their survival. Wynne wondered if there was a connection between pups’ weaning age — when they are at their most vulnerable — and their level of attractiveness to humans. So he designed an experiment to test his query.

“It came out exactly as I’d hoped it would — that there is indeed an optimal age of maximum cuteness, and that age does line up pretty closely with the age at which mothers wean their pups,” Wynne said.

“This could be a signal coming through to us of how dogs have evolved to rely on human care. This could be dogs showing us how the bond between human and dog is not just something that we find immensely satisfying in our lives. … But for them, it’s the absolute bedrock of their existence. That being able to connect with us, to find an emotional hook with us is what actually makes their lives possible.”

The study was carried out using a series of photographs of puppies at different ages, from the first weeks of life through young adulthood. Fifty-one participants were asked to rank the puppies’ level of attractiveness in each photo. Three distinctive-looking breeds were ranked: Jack Russell terriers, cane corsos and white shepherds.

Results showed that the pups’ attractiveness was lowest at birth and increased to a maximum before 10 weeks of age before declining and then leveling off.

Cane corsos showed a maximum attractiveness at 6.3 weeks of age; Jack Russell terriers showed a maximum attractiveness at 7.7 weeks of age; and white shepherds showed a maximum attractiveness at 8.3 weeks of age.

“Around seven or eight weeks of age, just as their mother is getting sick of them and is going to kick them out of the den and they’re going to have to make their own way in life, at that age, that is exactly when they are most attractive to human beings,” Wynne said.

The findings provide insight into the depth and origin of the relationship between humans and dogs, the oldest and most enduring of any human-animal relationship. And while some theories attribute the survival of the canine species to their intelligence, Wynne dissents.

“I think that the intelligence of dogs is not the fundamental issue,” he said. “It’s this tremendous capacity to form intimate, strong, affectionate bonds. And that starts at maybe eight weeks of life, when they’re so compelling to us.”

Though humans and other animals, such as cats and birds, have the capacity to form strong bonds, dogs in particular are especially suited to the task because of their gregarious nature. Even in hand-reared wolves, the species from which all dogs are descended, the willingness to engage humans does not match that of the domestic dog.

“It does seem to me that the dog has something rather special,” Wynne said. “Dogs have a very open-ended social program. That they are ready and willing to make friends with anybody.”

Wynne has thought of a couple of interesting ways to follow up on the cuteness study. One way is to show participants video of puppies at different ages, instead of still photos, to determine if perhaps there is something in the pups’ movement that attracts people. Another is to determine what the pups’ mother thinks about their level of attractiveness at different ages, though that is obviously easier said than done.

The takeaway from the study for Wynne is that extra piece of the puzzle that makes up the human-dog connection.

“[The study] doesn’t mean to say that we stop loving our dogs past [eight weeks],” he said. “The eight-week point is just the point where the hook is biggest, the ability of the animal to grab our interest is strongest. But, having grabbed our interest, we continue to love them all their lives.”