Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / April 5-6, 2018

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

87 – 77  Lihue, Kauai
83 – 77  Honolulu, Oahu
81 – 76  Molokai AP
84 – 74  Kahului AP, Maui
86 – 76  Kailua Kona
86 – 73  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

1.28  Waiakoali, Kauai
1.02  Poamoho, Oahu
1.05  Molokai
0.49  Lanai
0.34  Kahoolawe
1.66  Ulupalakua, Maui
0.77  Pali 2, Big Island

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

24  Port Allen, Kauai
28  Kii, Oahu
18  Molokai
15  Lanai
18  Kahoolawe
29  Kahului AP, Maui
25  South Point, 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

Lows north and west-northwest and west, with a cold front approaching the state from the northwest…while a high pressure ridge remains south of the state

A cold front northwest…moving towards Kauai

Increasing clouds

Showers locally over the islands and offshore
Looping image

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Broad Brush Overview: The islands will continue to feel quite warm, as the long lasting and moist, southwesterly kona winds blow across the state…ahead of a cold front nearing Kauai. This front will push down the chain, ushering in a return of trade flow in its wake. This front will reach the Big Island later Friday, before stalling. Remnant moisture along this front will keep the trades rather showery through the weekend into next week.

Details: The most reliable computer model forecasts show the cold front pushing southeastward down the island chain tonight, spreading increased showers our way as it arrives, along with bringing back the long lost trade winds…as it passes through. The entire island chain will likely lie within trade flow by Sunday…and continue well into next week for a change.

Looking Ahead: The front, even though it will be stalled over the eastern islands, will become a focus for wet weather into next week. Look for widespread showers across the Big Island and Maui County through next Wednesday, while the trade flow pushes showers across the other islands as well. Thus, we can expect a lingering wet pattern for the islands, with rainfall favoring windward areas…with the leeward sides getting wet from time to time as well.

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: A series of northwest swells are expected over the weekend through the first half of next week. The first is expected late Friday night into Saturday, which will peak Saturday, then slowly lower through Sunday. Surf may near the advisory level around its peak, especially if the swell ends up coming in higher than anticipated.

The second in the series of swells is expected Monday, which will become reinforced Monday night through Tuesday. Heights associated with this potential reinforcement could near advisory levels along north and west facing shores Tuesday as it peaks. A downward trend is expected through the mid-week period.

Surf along east facing shores may come up over the weekend into early next week, as the trades return.

Surf along south facing shores will remain small with very little activity shown within Hawaii’s swell window over the south Pacific…over the next few days.

 

World-wide Tropical Cyclone activity

Here’s the Thursday Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering Tropical Cyclone 17P (Iris) offshore from the Queensland coast of Australia…and a tropical disturbance being referred to as Invest 91P near Vanuatu

>>> 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: Neanderthals’ Big Noses Get an Airy Explanation – In the human family tree, Neanderthals are our closest extinct relatives, and they looked a lot like modern humans. But one defining difference was a distinctive skull shape, with the middle part of their faces pushed forward dramatically — far more so than in their human cousins.

Scientists have argued about what might have shaped Neanderthal skulls, with some suggesting that this adaptation meant greater biting power, and others proposing that it could have been due to an enhanced airway.

Now, thanks to digital 3D modeling, a new study has answers. And they point to the “enhanced airway” hypothesis.

Humans and Neanderthals co-existed on Earth for about 5,000 years, until Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago. Both groups shared a number of physical features, including an oddball bone called the hyoid bone that’s linked to speech; a pelvis built for upright walking; and larger skulls to accommodate bigger brains than their more distant primate relatives.

Neanderthals also had certain skull features that modern humans don’t — a heavier brow and weaker chin — that recall earlier ancestors in the human lineage. But their protruding faces were unique, setting them apart “not just from us, but from their ancestors, too,” the study’s lead author, Stephen Wroe, director of the Function, Evolution and Anatomy Research (FEAR) Lab at the University of New England in Australia, said in a statement.

Researchers have advanced several explanations for this specialization. One hypothesis, partly based on evidence from Neanderthal tooth wear, hinted at unusually powerful biting that would have applied more force to the front teeth, the scientists wrote in the study.

However, other researchers argued that Neanderthal face shape was linked to a modified airway that helped them survive in the chilly, dry climate of the last Ice Age during the Pleistocene epoch (about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago).

To test these ideas, scientists imaged Neanderthal skulls using X-ray computed tomography (CT) scans and created 3D digital models from those scans. By working with digital models, the scientists could “crash-test” the skulls without the risk of damaging them.

First, they used the models to simulate Neanderthal bite force — the first study to do so. The researchers compared the performance of their Neanderthal biter to models of skulls from modern humans, and from an earlier extinct human species, Homo heidelbergensis, which lived about 700,000 to 200,000 years ago, and they discovered that when it came to biting, Neanderthal performance wasn’t such a big deal.

“We found that the Neanderthal skulls showed just as much strain when biting at the front teeth as did many modern humans — suggesting that they were no better adapted to perform this behavior than we are,” Wroe said in the email.

Next, the scientists re-created the soft tissue of the skulls’ nasal passages, and modeled the movement of air through the different cavities, Wroe told Live Science. Tests indicated that Neanderthals’ nasal passages could heat up and humidify the air they were breathing more effectively than H. heidelbergensis — definitely a plus in a cold, dry climate — but not as efficiently as modern humans, the study authors reported.

But Neanderthals vastly outperformed both H. heidelbergensis and modern humans with the sheer quantity of air they could move quickly in and out of their lungs; in fact, a Neanderthal’s breathing was likely almost twice as effective as a human’s at pulling in air, according to the study.

To survive and thrive in an Ice Age landscape, Neanderthals may have needed lots of energy to regularly chase after large animal prey or just to keep warm — “Or it could be some combination of both,” Wroe said in the statement.

“The take-home message from this is that the distinctive, projecting Neanderthal face is an adaptation linked with an extreme, high-energy lifestyle,” he added.