Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / April 3-4, 2018

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

80 – 67  Lihue, Kauai
80 – 70  Honolulu, Oahu
82 – 70   Molokai AP
84 – 71  Kahului AP, Maui
84 – 74  Kailua Kona
84 – 71  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

0.08  Kokee, Kauai
0.25  Kokee, Oahu
3.11  Molokai
1.39  Lanai
0.86  Kahoolawe
3.75  Puu Kukui, Maui
2.71  Pali 2, Big Island

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

17  Moloaa Dairy, Kauai
24  Kuaokala, Oahu
14  Molokai
15  Lanai
18  Kahoolawe
14  Maalaea Bay, Maui
35  Kaupulehu, 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

Low northwest, with its cold front over the state…high pressure ridge south of the state

Cold front has made it into the state…with a second front northwest

Partly to mostly cloudy…several thunderstorms offshore

Showers locally over the islands…and west of Kauai
Looping image

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

Flash Flood Watch…Niihau, Kauai, and Oahu

Small Craft Advisory…Kauai NW waters, Kauai windward, and Kauai Channel

Wind Advisory…Big Island summits / 40-60 mph

Broad Brush Overview: The long lasting unsettled weather will continue, with a cold front remaining in place over the islands through the weekend. In addition, a series of low pressure disturbances moving across the state, will bring partly to mostly cloudy weather, with the potential for locally heavy rainfall. High pressure will build north of the state early next week, bringing a return of moderate to strong trade winds…and a more windward and mountain focused rainfall pattern.

Details:  The area of low pressure west of Kauai is expected to track steadily off to the east-northeast through Wednesday night, passing by well to the north of the islands Wednesday. A trailing cold front will then shift southeastward over the smaller islands Thursday night. As the low moves east-northeastward through tonight, this will allow the stalled frontal boundary currently near Maui, to lift back northward. As a result, we can expect most of the shower activity to remain confined to Maui and the Big Island for the time being, with shower coverage increasing over the other islands…as the front lifts back northward.

As the low lifts off to the east-northeast tonight, and to the north of the islands Wednesday, we should see an area of moderate and possibly heavy rainfall lift northeastward across the smaller islands. Additionally, the airmass looks like it will become increasingly unstable Wednesday, so that a few thunderstorms may break out over Kauai and Oahu. This in turn suggests that we may see flash flood watches becoming necessary for portions of the state tonight and Wednesday…depending on the strength of the low passing by to the north of the state.

Looking Ahead: The models show the front shifting southward Friday, either bringing it into the Big Island, or stalling over the central islands. One of the models keeps unsettled weather over the eastern islands, particularly windward areas Friday night through early next week. Another shows the front meandering across the central and western islands Friday night through the weekend, keeping conditions unsettled across the entire island chain. At any rate, the models finally show a return of moderate to locally strong trade winds…with a windward biased rainfall pattern.

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: The current northwest swell will continue to slowly subside. A small reinforcing northwest swell is expected to arrive Wednesday and continue through Thursday, then gradually lower Friday. Elsewhere choppy surf is expected along most south facing shores into mid-week, due to the strengthening southwest kona winds.

A new moderate north-northwest swell arriving late Friday, will likely increase surf along most north and west facing shores of the smaller islands Friday night into Saturday. This swell will slowly subside late Saturday through Sunday. Surf is expected to reach the High Surf Advisory (HSA) criteria along most north and west facing shores of the smaller islands early next week…due to a large northwest swell arriving early Monday.

World-wide Tropical Cyclone activity

Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering Tropical Cyclone 17P (Iris) offshore from the Queensland coast of Australia

>>> 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

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

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


Interesting: NASA Has a Plan to Put Robot Bees on Mars – NASA has two teams of researchers working to design a robotic bee that can fly on Mars.

The space agency announced the project on March 30. It’s in its early stages, but the idea is to replace modern rovers — which are slow, bulky and very expensive — with swarms of sensor-studded, fast-moving micro-bots that can cover much more ground at a relatively low cost.

Literally called Marsbees, the little bots are “flapping wing flyers of a bumblebee size with cicada-sized wings,” NASA officials wrote.

The largest species of bumblebee grows to be up to 1.6 inches long, but the American bumblebee is about a quarter of that size. Cicada wings, according to a range of formal scientific descriptions, can vary from 1.2 inches to more than double that length, depending on the species.

One reason this idea is at all feasible: Mars’ low gravity. The planet has just one-third of Earth’s gravitational pull, offering the Marsbees an advantage despite the thin atmosphere.

The Guardian reported that these “bees” will not only map the Martian terrain but also collect samples of the planet’s thin air, in hopes of finding methane gas — a possible sign of life. NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected low levels of the gas previously, Science reported, though whether it was biologically produced is unknown.

Flapping-wing bots are pretty uncommon on Earth, the NASA statement noted, because rotary-wing bots like quadcopters are much more popular. But the flapping-wing design allows the team to integrate certain low-power, highly efficient technologies that will be important on the Red Planet, where the bots will have to return regularly to their home base to recharge.

Marsbees are still in their very early stages, with a team at the University of Alabama working on numerical models and a Japanese team slated to design and test a micro-flapping-bot prototype.