Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / June 18-19, 2018

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

83 – 70  Lihue, Kauai
89 – 73  Honolulu, Oahu
84 – 71  Molokai AP
85 – 64  Kahului AP, Maui
86 – 76  Kailua Kona
83 – 68  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

0.01  Kalaheo, Kauai
0.06  Kahana, Oahu
0.00  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Maui
0.03  Honaunau, Big Island

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

23  Port Allen, Kauai
24  Kuaokala, Oahu
23  Molokai
16  Lanai
22  Kahoolawe
14  Maalaea Bay, Maui
24  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 10,000+ feet high 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

Unusual late season cold front pushing southward (click to enlarge)

Low pressure system far north of the state…thunderstorms south

Clear to partly cloudy…localized high clouds

Showers locally…and offshore – Looping image

 

Here’s the latest Vog Forecast Animation

Here’s the Vog Information website

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Broad Brush Overview: The high pressure ridge north of the state, will remain in place for the next few days, as a weak cold front pushes south towards the state. High clouds ahead of this system are already moving over the islands. Wind directions shift from Tuesday night into Wednesday, becoming east to southeast, carrying the vog plume from the Big Island…northwestward across the smaller islands. Trade winds will increase to moderate levels Friday into the weekend, blowing out any lingering vog over the smaller islands.

Details: An unseasonal weather pattern has formed across the Central Pacific basin. A weak high pressure ridge north of the state, will keep light trade winds with daytime sea breezes along leeward slopes of all islands. In the upper levels, just east of the islands, high and low pressure centers are hunkering in. Much of the shower activity over the islands for the next several days…will be driven by smaller scale dynamics.

Meanwhile, high cirrus clouds are drifting over the state from the north. Light trade winds and daytime sea breezes along the leeward slopes of all islands, will prompt low clouds and showers along windward, mountain and upcountry sections of each island. Shower activity will be limited by a low trade wind inversion…in a relatively stable atmosphere.

A dissipating cold front will push south through the ridge towards the state. The best shower dynamics associated with this boundary will stall to the north, keeping enhanced shower activity north of the islands. The main impact with this system will be periods of clouds through Wednesday. Light trade winds shift directions Tuesday night into Wednesday…becoming east to southeast.

This in turn will push the northern edge of the vog plume northwestward from the Big Island across the smaller islands, with vog lingering across most of the state through Thursday. A building ridge north of the islands will increase the trade winds to moderate levels Friday onward…blowing out any lingering vog over the smaller islands.

Looking Ahead: Returning moderate trade winds Friday will produce increasing cloud and showers, favoring more typical windward and mountain areas. An upper level low will also track north of the islands helping to lift the cap on the trade wind inversion. Thus, there will be enhanced showers across the islands through the weekend…with periods of showers potentially drifting over leeward areas.

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  / Here’s the latest Vog Forecast Animation / Here’s the Vog Information website

Marine Environmental Conditions: Light to moderate trade winds will likely weaken Tuesday, with winds potentially becoming more variable through Wednesday, as the large scale flow becomes quite weak. High pressure will consolidate far northeast of the area Thursday and Friday, and then move west into the weekend…supporting increasing trade winds. Winds will likely be strong enough to warrant a Small Craft Advisory in the windier areas by Thursday or Friday.

The west-northwest and south swells of the past couple of days will diminish through Tuesday, with little significant swell expected for most of the upcoming week. Small south-southwest swells will likely support tiny to small surf along south facing shores, while locally strong trade winds at the end of the week…will lead to increased wind swell.

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Here’s the Tuesday Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering the Pacific and Indian Oceans

Here’s the Tuesday Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico

 

>>> Atlantic Ocean: No active tropical cyclone

>>> Caribbean Sea: No active tropical cyclones

>>> Gulf of Mexico: No active tropical cyclones

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

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 looping satellite image of the eastern Pacific and south of Mexico

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

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

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: Will Mars Rover Survive Fierce Dust Storm? – NASA’s long-lived Opportunity Mars rover is weathering a monster dust storm that has plunged its environs into permanent darkness.

That darkness has prevented the solar-powered Opportunity from charging its batteries sufficiently, and the rover has fallen silent as a result. Still, mission team members expressed optimism that the plucky robot, which has been exploring the Red Planet for more than 14 years, will pull through.

“We should be able to ride out this storm,” John Callas, Opportunity project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said during a news conference June 13. “We’re concerned, but we’re hopeful that the storm will clear and the rover will begin to communicate to us.”

Not its first dust rodeo

The golf-cart-size Opportunity landed in January 2004, a few weeks after its twin, Spirit, touched down on a different part of the Red Planet. Both rovers embarked on 90-day missions to search for signs of past water activity.

Spirit and Opportunity found lots of such evidence, and they kept roving long after their warranties expired. Spirit wasn’t declared dead until 2011, and Opportunity is still going strong; since August 2011, it has been exploring the rim of the 14-mile-wide Endeavour Crater.

Opportunity has seen a lot in its time on Mars — including another powerful dust storm, which the rover weathered in 2007. During that storm, Opportunity went silent for a four-day stretch, Callas said. But the mission team always had control of the rover, he added; the silence was a choice, an attempt to conserve power during the days of darkness.

The current dust storm and Opportunity’s present situation are different.

The storm was first observed by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on May 30, and it has been growing dramatically ever since. In just two or three days, it will likely encircle the entire planet — a milestone only about a dozen Martian dust storms have achieved in recorded history, NASA officials said. (NASA’s Curiosity rover, which is exploring a different part of the Red Planet, is seeing increased dust levels now as well. But Curiosity is nuclear-powered, so such storms don’t pose much of a threat to the vehicle.)

And the dust is incredibly thick over Endeavour Crater — thicker than anything Opportunity has dealt with before, mission team members said. Opportunity is now enduring complete darkness 24 hours a day, and its power levels have dropped precipitously as a result — from 645 watt-hours on June 2 to about 22 watt-hours on Sunday June 10, Callas said.

That latter number is so low that Opportunity has apparently put itself into “low power fault mode,” turning off everything but its internal clock in an effort to conserve energy, he added. The rover will wake up again once it gets enough sunlight to charge its batteries, at which point it will automatically try to phone home.

“So, at this point, we’re in a waiting mode,” Callas said. “We’re listening every day for possible signals from the rover, and we’ll be prepared to respond to that.”

If Opportunity’s power levels drop much lower, the rover may lose the ability to maintain its internal clock. That would complicate, but not doom, recovery efforts, Callas said; Opportunity would still try to communicate after coming back online, but the timing of its attempts would be far less predictable.