Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 19-20, 2018

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

82 – 74  Lihue, Kauai
86 – 76  Honolulu, Oahu
83 – 73  Molokai AP
84 – 69  Kahului AP, Maui
87 – 71  Kailua Kona
83 – 66  Hilo AP, Hawaii

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

0.25  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.06  Punaluu Stream, Oahu
0.04  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.02  West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.40  Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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

30  Port Allen, Kauai
38  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
30  Molokai
36  Lanai
37  Kahoolawe
38  Kahului AP, Maui
43  Waikoloa, 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

High pressure north and northeast…with troughs just north

An upper level low west…deep clouds far southeast

Clear to partly cloudy…cloudy spots windward 

Showers locally
Looping image

 

Here’s the latest VOG Forecast Animation

Here’s the Vog Information website

Small Craft Advisory…Oahu leeward waters, Kaiwi, Pailolo and Alenuihaha Channels, Maalaea Bay, Maui County leeward and windward waters, Big Island leeward and southeast waters

 

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

 

Broad Brush Overview: A well established trade wind weather pattern will take us through the next week at least, with clouds and showers most concentrated along the windward coasts and slopes. These classic trade winds will deliver brief passing showers to the smaller islands this weekend through next week. A slight hiccup will occur over the eastern islands of Maui and the Big Island tonight into Sunday…as a more organized area of windward showers arrives.

Details: A trade wind producing ridge of high pressure will be parked to our north this weekend, supporting our trade wind flow across the island chain. The parent high to this ridge is forecast to weaken and move east early next week, as a cold front passes by to the north. However, a new high building in behind this front, will continue the trade winds. Any decrease in wind speed early next week will be short-lived, snapping right back in place thereafter.

The models point out a relatively dry trade wind weather pattern at the moment over the smaller islands. Meanwhile, just to the east of the Big Island, satellite imagery shows an area of moisture, which should bring some showers…increasing tonight and Sunday. The bulk of this moisture is expected to push across the Big Island and Maui, with only a slight increase in showers expected over windward portions of the other islands.

Looking Ahead: As a new high builds north of the islands Tuesday and Wednesday, it will carry pockets of moisture riding in on the trades…bringing off and on passing windward showers for most of the new week. The American GFS and European ECMWF models indicate that moisture associated with the passing front will get caught in the trade wind flow, and bring an increase in windward showers next weekend….time will tell.

>>> Meanwhile, close monitoring of Kilauea on the Big Island continues, as Hawaii Volcano Observatory personnel indicate that additional steam-driven explosions are possible at any time. If this occurs…an Ashfall Advisory or Warning would likely become necessary then.

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 Environmental Conditions: Strong trades associated with high pressure north…forecast to hold through much of the upcoming week.

The north-northwest swell that arrived and peaked Friday, will gradually trend down this weekend…with surf along north facing shores lowering. Another small north-northwest pulse could bring the surf back to similar levels by mid-week along north facing shores.

Two overlapping south-southwest swells from a couple of sources that passed near New Zealand around a week ago, will arrive and peak this weekend. Surf heights will remain just below advisory levels. Another similar pulse out of the south-southwest is expected through mid-week or Thursday.

Surf along east facing shores will gradually build, as strong trades hold locally and upstream. Heights should remain below advisory levels for east facing shores.

 

World-wide Tropical Cyclone activity

Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering now retiring Tropical Cyclone 01A (Sagar)…in addition to a tropical disturbance being referred to as Invest 92A, in the Arabian Sea

 

>>> Atlantic Ocean: No active tropical cyclones

>>> Caribbean Sea: No active tropical cyclones

>>> Gulf of Mexico: No active tropical cyclones

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

>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea:

Tropical Cyclone 01A (Sagar) – Final Warning

JTWC textual Warning
JTWC graphical track map
NOAA satellite image

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


Interesting: Human Gut Microbes Took Root Before We Were Human – The relationship between humans and the bacteria in our guts extends far back into the past — to the time before modern humans even existed, a new study finds.

Microbes in two bacterial families — Bacteroidaceae and Bifidobacteriaceae, which are present in humans and African apes — likely colonized the guts of a shared ancestor of both groups around 15 million years ago, the researchers discovered.

Since then, the bacteria have inhabited the digestive systems of humans and apes for thousands of generations.

The researchers’ genetic data also tell a story of parallel evolution — in the microbes, and in the primate hosts they inhabited.

“Just like we share a common ancestor with chimpanzees about 6 million years ago, a lot of our gut bacteria share a common ancestor with chimpanzee gut bacteria, which diverged around the same time,” said study co-author Andrew Moeller, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Berkeley.

“And the same is true for human and gorilla gut bacteria. We share a common ancestor maybe about 15 million years ago, and we found that some of our gut bacteria shared common ancestry about the same time,” Moeller said in a statement.

Recent research has shown that humans’ complex communities of gut microbes may influence our immune systems, and may be associated with certain moods and behaviors.

This new study provides the first evidence of when in our evolutionary history those microbes may have colonized us, the researchers said.

Previous findings enabled the researchers to identify an animal species purely from the groups of microbes in their gut, study co-author Howard Ochman, a professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a statement.

“If you were to give me a sample that came from chimpanzees, I could easily distinguish them from those that had come from human populations,” Ochman said.

However, earlier analysis of gut microbes in humans and apes could only compare the overall diversity of their bacterial communities. In the new study, researchers identified individual types of bacteria. By comparing bacteria between humans and apes — chimpanzees, bonobos and two subspecies of gorillas — the researchers trace their lineages of bacteria through time.

Numerous studies have shown that many factors affect the bacterial diversity in the human gut, including people’s diet, geography and medical history. The new findings suggest that evolution may have played a more important role in establishing some of these microbial partners than previously thought.

“Just like our genes are passed down every generation, some of our gut bacteria have been passed down in an unbroken line of descent for a really long time,” Moeller said.