Hawaii Weather Today

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 17-18, 2026

Glenn — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 14:56:41 +0000

Glenn James
Hawaii Weather Today
Creator, Author, and Administrator for 30 years

The latest update to this website was Sunday evening at 827pm HST

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

3.13 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
2.48 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.28 Honolimaloo, Molokai
0.02 Lanai City, Lanai
1.87 West Wailuaiki, Maui
6.95 Pahoa, Big Island

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

18 Nawiliwili, Kauai – NE
33 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu – ESE
22 Makapulapai, Molokai – ENE
25 Lanai 1, Lanai – NE
28 Na Kula, Maui – E
24 South Point, Big Island – NE

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of our tallest mountain Mauna Kea (~13,800 feet high) on the Big Island of Hawaii. Here’s the webcam for the (~10,023 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.

Big Blue…click twice for largest version

Lots of thunderstorms in the deeper tropic southwest…cold front far northwest

Variably cloudy, with a mix of low, middle and high level clouds

Showers locally…some are heavy

Please open this link to see details on the current Watches, Warnings and Advisories noted above

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

Glenn’s Sunday comments: I’m at home here in upper Kula, Maui, Hawaii

It was mostly clear with some haze here this morning in Maui County, with a low temperature at my place 51.5 degrees…with the relative humidity 73%

1110am, cumulus clouds are gathering force mover and around the mountains, although our local beaches remain sunny late this morning.

222pm, it’s cloudy here in upper Kula, and we just had a light shower that didn’t amount to much…although my deck is wet nonetheless.

505pm, it clouded up again and we just another light to moderately heavy shower, although it just ended about 10 minutes after starting. I made a nice pot of soup, with vegetable broth, onions, celery, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, carrots, and some fire roasted diced tomatoes…I’ll grated some cheese on top when I eat dinner.

656pm, really nice sunset, with lots of orange lighting up the tops of the developed cumulus clouds, and the high cirrus clouds are starting to take on some nice color as well. The cloud cover is keeping the temperature rather warm at my place, with 66.2 degrees at the time of this writing.

819pm, there’s still some clouds around here in upper Kula, and thus the temperature remains relatively warm, with 63.6 degrees at the time of this writing…with the relative humidity 77%. This is in contrast to the temperature at the Kahului AP down near sea level, which is 78 degrees.

The Jacaranda Trees are going off here in upcountry Kula, Maui

>>> Highest Temperature Sunday, May 17, 2026 – 109 degrees at Rio Grande Village, TX
>>> Lowest Temperature Sunday, May 17, 2026 – 11 degrees near Mackay, ID

>>> Interesting Weather Web blog: Mauka Showers…2025-2026 Wet Season Numbers…And Here Comes El Niño!

Hawaii’s Broad Brush Weather Overview…as of Sunday evening: A slightly unstable and somewhat wet trade wind flow will continue into Monday. An increasingly stable, moderate to breezy trade wind flow will develop Tuesday and Wednesday, and will persist into next weekend.

Weather Details for the Hawaiian Islands…as of Sunday evening: Scattered heavy showers developed over select areas across the state, due to the higher than normal moisture values combined with some afternoon day time heating. As we head into the evening, the intensity of the showers should generally decrease. The one exception is over windward Big Island and possibly east Maui, where we are seeing frequent trade wind showers. Hilo sounding showed over 2 inches of precipitable water values, and a wet trade wind pattern could very well continue for the Big Island through the middle of the week, with frequent showers over windward areas.

Overall, broad troughing aloft combined with higher than normal precipitable water values, and moderate easterly trade winds will continue to produce brief downpours at times through the middle of the week. Showers will generally favor windward areas during the overnight and morning hours, with scattered leeward showers developing during the afternoons. Humidity levels will remain moist, which should make temperatures feel warmer than normal.

Increased stability and stronger trade winds are expected by Thursday. Latest global guidance from the GFS and ECMWF are in good agreement with a strong high developing far north of the state, which should result in windy conditions. Winds could very well reach Wind Advisory thresholds Thursday into Friday for select areas downstream of terrain. Drier conditions are also expected during this time, but scattered showers should continue to ride in with the windy trade winds, especially during the night and early morning hours.

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 / Looping Surface Precipitation…through the next 8-days / Vog Map

Marine Environmental Conditions…as of Sunday evening: Moderate to locally fresh easterly trades have returned. An upper level-low that plagued the state has moved off to the northeast, increasing stability and decreasing showers.

A small, medium-period north-northwest (320-330 degree) swell will continue to decline through tonight, with surf along north-facing shores following suit. A medium-period north-northwest reinforcement may provide another small bump in surf along north-facing shores by early Monday morning, followed by another small reinforcing swell on Tuesday.

Surf along west-facing shores will remain nearly steady through the rest of this weekend, as the northwest swell influence gradually declines, but a new, long-period south-southwest swell fills in.

A mix of small, medium- to long-period, south swells will maintain small surf along south-facing shores for the next several days. The long-period south-southwest swell described above will increase surf along south-facing shores through today. Additional small, medium- to long-period, south swell reinforcements will arrive through mid-week.

Moderate to fresh trades will maintain rough and choppy surf along east-facing shores for the next several days.

Tides will peak around 2.5 to 3.0 feet today. Minor overwash of low lying coastal areas will be possible during times of high tide.

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

>>> Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7 days.

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7 days.

>>> Gulf of America: There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7 days.

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7 days.

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will begin on June 1, 2026.

Here’s the link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclone

>>> Southwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

Interesting: Improving Plastics Recycling From End-of-Life Vehicles

Each year, four to six million cars are scrapped in the EU—resulting in the loss of resources. The EU End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation is intended to ensure that these materials are recovered and reused in new vehicles in the future. Researchers at the TUM have now analyzed a process developed within the Car2Car research project that enables plastics to remain within the recycling loop. The study shows potential climate benefits as well as the possibility of meeting upcoming EU requirements.

When a vehicle is taken out of service, it is quickly reduced to its basic components: batteries, wheels, catalytic converters, and airbags are removed, and fluids are drained. What remains is sent to a shredder. The result is a heterogeneous mix of metals, textiles, plastics, foams, and composite materials. Extracting recyclable plastics from this mixture is complex, but it is becoming increasingly important for automakers and suppliers, as the EU is currently planning a new regulation on the treatment of end-of-life vehicles. Once the regulation comes into effect, the share of recycled plastics used in new vehicles that comes from post-consumer recycling is to be gradually increased to 25 percent.

A portion of this recycled content must come from “closed?loop recycling,” meaning recycling plastics from end?of?life vehicles back into new vehicles. According to the EU proposal, this share should account for at least 20 percent of the required recycled content. “At first glance, that may not sound like much, but around 200 kilograms of plastic will be generated per end?of?life vehicle in the future,” says Magnus Fröhling, Professor of Circular Economy and Sustainability Assessment at TUM Campus Straubing. “In addition, plastics recycling has played only a minor role in the automotive industry so far, meaning we are still at a very early stage in this regard.”

Read more at: Technical University of Munich

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / April 29-30, 2020

Glenn — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 15:01:02 +0000

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

81 – 72 Lihue, Kauai
83 – 71 Honolulu, Oahu
81 – 71 Molokai AP
84 – 71 Kahului AP, Maui
85 – 74 Kona AP, Hawaii
84 – 69 Hilo, Hawaii

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

1.41 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.36 Tunnel RG, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.01 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.08 Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

24 Port Allen, Kauai
39 Kuaokala, Oahu
27 Molokai
42 Lanai
18 Kahoolawe
25 Kapalua, Maui
32 Upolu AP, Big Island

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of our tallest mountain Mauna Kea (~13,800 feet high) on the Big Island of Hawaii. Here’s the webcam for the (~10,023 feet high) Haleakala Crater on Maui, although it’s often not working correctly these days. 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.

A minor cloud band is bringing a few showers…to some windward areas
Looping version of the central and northeast Pacific

A batch of high cirrus is approaching the state from the north

Just a few showers falling locally
Looping Radar Image
Looping Surface Precipitation…through the next 8-days

Please click this link…to see current Watches, Warnings and Advisories noted above

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

Glenn’s Wednesday comments: It’s just getting light enough to see the sky at the moment, and the day is opening up beautifully, with hardly a cloud to be seen in any direction. As is often the case, that layer of capping clouds are over the West Maui Mountains. I’m looking for another gorgeous spring day here in the islands!

Late morning is still showing these sunny blue skies over the island, even here in upper Kula, where clouds often start showing up this time of day. It looks like this string of near perfect days will continue unabated, with the gusty trade winds prevailing…well into the future.

2pm Wednesday afternoon here in upper Kula, the air temperature was 77 degrees, while at near the same time, down at the Kahului AP, it was 83 and windy, with 59 degrees up at the summit of the Haleakala Crater. Everywhere from the top down to sea level, our mostly sunny conditions continue…with just a smattering of cumulus clouds here and there.

As we head through this sunset hour, skies remain clear, clear, clear. Earlier in the afternoon while I was out on my second walk of the day, I could see all of the slope on this leeward side of Haleakala, which is unusual…as there are typically clouds masking the view from here in Kula.

This evening after dark, after the mostly day, I see that clouds have formed along the slopes. I can still see stars shining in the cloud breaks, so it’s not a solid overcast by any means…although nor does it feel anything like we might see a few showers. The temperature at 816pm was 60.2 degrees.

Broad Brush Overview: High pressure remains in place north of the state, which will keep gusty trades blowing through the weekend. Showers will favor windward areas, particularly at night and during the early morning hours. A few showers may be carried into leeward areas from time to time as well.

These trades will soften a little early next week, as a trough of low pressure develops along a stalled front north of the state. Showers may increase a bit heading into the middle of next week, as some deeper moisture moves in from the east…and upper level troughing arrives over the state then.

Details: High pressure will remain parked north of the state of Hawaii through the weekend, keeping the trade winds blowing across the island chain. The trades are expected to ease to moderate levels early next week…as a trough of low pressure develops north of the state.

The springtime trade wind weather pattern of late, will prevail through the weekend, and likely into early next week. Passing showers will favor windward and mountains, with a stray shower reaching leeward areas from time to time. Rainfall amounts will remain light through the period.

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: Moderate to strong trade winds associated with a ridge anchored north of the state, will continue through the weekend. Strongest winds are expected over the channels, Maalaea Bay and waters near South Point of the Big Island. Seas will remain rough over these windier areas, as a moderate north-northwest swell fills in.

Surf along exposed north and west facing shores will trend up as a north-northwest swell builds down the island chain. The offshore buoys northwest of the islands are reflecting this new energy. This swell will peak, then lower into Thursday. A very similar setup is expected to fill in locally by Friday and Saturday as back-to-back small north-northwest swells build down the island chain.

Surf along east facing shores will remain rough due to the gusty trades. Heights will remain below the advisory level due to the limited fetch upstream across the eastern Pacific.

Surf along south facing shores will remain small each day, with southerly swells expected.

Great weather we’re having these days!

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

>>> Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Latest satellite image of the Atlantic

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

Latest satellite image of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s the link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Interesting: Admiralty Island: “Fortress of the Bears” – In the language of the Tlingit people, Admiralty Island’s original name—Kootznoowoo—means “Fortress of the Bears.” It is a fitting name for a place with one of the highest densities of brown bears in North America. The bears—roughly 1,500 in an area the size of Delaware—thrive in the island’s dense spruce and hemlock forests and alpine meadows.

However, years of logging and ecosystem change near a cove in the northwestern part of the otherwise pristine island have left their mark. During a period of logging in the 1980s and 1990s, old-growth forests in certain stream and lake valleys were stripped bare. The changes near Cube Cove altered the island’s coastal temperate rainforest ecosystem, requiring that bears—and several other types of wildlife—make adjustments. In addition to having some of the world’s most productive bald eagle habitat, the forests and waterways around Cube Cove support deer, otters, martens, minks, and many types of other birds and fish.

Year by year, the clear-cut areas around Lake Kathleen, Lake Florence, and several stream drainages have grown thicker and greener. But even as these regrowing forests start to fill in where old-growth forests once stood, people who know Admiralty Island well say the newer forests are still of a very different character than those they are replacing. “This area will slowly return to supporting wildlife, but it will take at least 200 years—maybe 300—before these newer forests can provide the high-quality habitat conditions of old-growth forests,” said KJ Metcalf, a retired U.S. Forest Service ranger for the Tongass National Forest and president of Friends of Admiralty Island. “But at least the forests have taken their first steps toward recovery.”

One of the key differences between old-growth forests on Admiralty Island and the secondary forests is the size and age distribution of trees. After clear-cutting, secondary forests grow back with closely packed trees that are all roughly the same size and age. At certain stages of regrowth, the young trees become so tightly packed that they can block wildlife from passing, a problem for bears and deer that move between alpine and coastal ranges depending on the season.

At other stages, the leaf canopy becomes so dense that it blocks most light, preventing moss, lichens, shrubs, and other understory vegetation—forage for many types of wildlife — from growing on the forest floor. In future decades, gaps will open up in the forest canopy as winds, disease, and insects cause some trees to die and allow for a better distribution of tree sizes and ages and more under story.

“I can not emphasize how productive these drainages were and the key role they once played in connecting the high country to the coastline.” said Metcalf. “For this part of Admiralty, that value has unraveled and remains broken, despite the regrowth. In time, fortunately, that will heal.”

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / March 20-21, 2020

Glenn — Wed, 01 Jan 2020 17:33:42 +0000

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

76 – 68 Lihue, Kauai
76 – 69 Honolulu, Oahu
78 – 67 Molokai AP
84 – 69 Kahului AP, Maui
82 – 73 Kona AP, Hawaii
82 – 71 Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.57 Poipu, Kauai
0.06 Waimanalo, Oahu
0.71 Molokai
0.18 Lanai
0.01 Kahoolawe
0.37 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.93 Kealakekua, Big Island

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph) Friday morning:

22 Moloaa Dairy, Kauai
10 Palehua, Oahu
07 Molokai
07 Lanai
20 Kahoolawe
09 Maalaea Bay, Maui
17 South Point, Big Island

The long lasting Kona low…is finally shifting northward

Partly to mostly cloudy, some clear areas…fewer rain bearing clouds moving over the state from the south-southwest

Showers locally
Looping image

Please click this link…to see current Watches, Warnings and Advisories noted above

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

Celebrating the beginning of Spring

Broad Brush Overview: Our local weather conditions will improve statewide through Saturday, with a sea breeze and land breeze pattern keeping showers near the coast during the morning and at night and over the interior areas during the afternoon and evening. Trade wind weather will return Saturday night, with windy conditions expected Sunday through late next week. Showers will favor windward areas once the trades return, although showers will reach leeward at times…due to the strength of the trades.

Details: Weather maps show the weakening kona low several hundred miles north-northwest of Kauai, which continues to lift northward and away from the islands. This is keeping a light to moderate southeasterly flow in place across the island chain, with land breezes present in many sheltered areas. The kona low will weaken into a trough, while a ridge of high pressure strengthens far to the north-northeast of the state through the weekend.

Light to moderate southeast to south winds are expected to hold in place, then transition over to more of an east-southeasterly flow tonight and Saturday. Trade winds will then rapidly build from east to west across the island chain late Saturday night, becoming stronger on Sunday, with windy conditions then expected Monday through late next week…as a robust surface high builds southward toward the area.

The southeasterly flow will keep the smaller islands sheltered from the stronger winds, leading to a sea breeze and land breeze pattern. This should keep a few showers in place along windward coasts during the night and morning hours, with scattered showers developing over interior and mountain areas during the afternoon and evening.

Lingering deep moisture and some instability could result in a few downpours mainly during the afternoon hours each day, and a thunderstorm or two could pop over the Big Island as well. Additionally, rainfall chances will remain a bit higher across Kauai where a plume of moisture extending southward from the departing kona low will linger through Saturday.

Looking Further Ahead: Trade wind weather conditions will return Sunday through the better part of next week. Showers will favor windward and mountain areas, although showers will reach leeward areas at times as well…due to the strength of the trades.

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: The kona low continues to weaken north-northwest of Kauai. It is moving northerly at 10 to 15 knots, further away from Hawaii. However, it will still maintain southerly winds around Kauai County through late tonight before giving way to trades. Trades are expected to strengthen through Sunday night, reaching moderate to strong area- wide. This comes about as a strong high settles in far north of the islands. The trades may reach near gale force in some of the channels Sunday night or Monday.

The west-northwest swell is on the way to the state. It appears to be a low end High Surf Advisory (HSA) at this time for the western islands. The HSA will be issued for Kauai and Oahu’s north and west facing shores. This swell will be diminishing slowly through Monday after peaking Saturday.

The significant boost in the trades will lead to a HSA for the east facing shores beginning Monday. In the mean time, a small north-northeast swell will maintain moderate size surf along the east facing shores. Surf along south facing shores will remain slightly up along coasts exposed to the southeast winds. Otherwise, expect mainly small south swells through this weekend. Wave Watch III is suggesting an out of season south-southwest swell reaching the south facing shores this coming Monday night. The swell will peak Tuesday…which may lead to a HSA for the south facing shores.

Showers at times locally

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Latest satellite image of the Atlantic

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

Latest satellite image of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s an animated color enhanced satellite image of the central and eastern Pacific

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s the link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Interesting: How To Set Up A Healthy Home Workspace – The COVID-19 pandemic has millions of Americans setting up work stations at home for the first time. Although it may be tempting to set up shop on the couch, experts at the Texas A&M Ergonomics Center (Ergo Center) recommend putting some thought into where and how you work from home.

A thoughtfully designed home workspace can prevent a slew of health issues, from headache-inducing eye strain to shoulder, neck and back pain — and it can improve your productivity. To help you set up a healthy work station at home, two ergonomists — experts in designing workspaces — give the following advice:

“No matter what, you can overcome a not-so-great setup at home if you don’t stay there very long and if you move around a lot,” said Martha Parker, ergonomist and project manager at the Ergo Center.

Wherever you work, Parker recommends getting up and moving around every 20 to 30 minutes. Her preferred rule of thumb, which comes from current best-practices research, is 20/8/2: sit at your work station for 20 minutes, stand at your work station for eight minutes, then walk around for two minutes. If you don’t have a sit-to-stand work station at home, sit for 28 minutes then get up and walk around for two.

Similar measures can be taken to prevent eye strain, and ergonomists call it the 20/20/20 rule.

“We are made to look at the horizon and objects far away,” Parker said. “Looking at a computer all the time can affect most people’s natural vision. Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds to help your eyes readjust.”

To keep you on track, you can use a pomodoro timer — based on the pomodoro time management technique — which can be bought in physical form or as an app on your phone.

Create three zones

Where you put your work supplies can make a big difference in efficiency and safety. Your home workspace probably already includes primary, secondary and tertiary work zones, even though you may not think about it that way.

Your primary work zone should include items you need constant immediate access to — like your keyboard, mouse and phone. This zone includes the space you can reach without turning when your arms are straight to your side and bent at the elbow 90 degrees.

Your secondary work zone is approximately the space you can reach all around you with extended arms. Put the things you reach for a few times a day in this zone, such as notepads, pens and reference books. Finally, there’s the tertiary work zone. This is the area you have to lean to reach or get up and walk to. Put things here that you need once a day or less, such as a stapler, printer or filing cabinets. This is also the zone where the coffee maker, teapot and snacks can live.

Set the tone

Two main factors that are important in the environment, from an ergonomist’s standpoint, are light and sound. However, this can be the trickiest part to control, especially for those who don’t have a dedicated workspace (such as an office) at home. During a COVID-19 quarantine, the environment can be especially challenging to adjust if you have young children home from school.

“Try to limit distracting noises as best you can,” Parker said. “This might be difficult to manage for your own personal focus, but you can limit distractions for others. For phone calls and video meetings, use a good microphone and headphones that dampen ambient noise. Some video conferencing services have virtual backgrounds that cover up visual distractions behind you. And don’t forget: you can mute your microphone when you’re not speaking during a call.”

Lighting may be easier to control. If much of your work is done on a computer, try to place your monitor 90 degrees from a window to minimize glare.

“A window behind you can cast a glare directly into your monitor, making it harder on your eyes to see it. Conversely, a window in front of you (behind your monitor) causes backlighting, which is also not ideal” said Adam Pickens, assistant professor at the Texas A&M School of Public Health and managing director of the Ergo Center.

Contrast is also important. For computer work, Parker and Pickens suggest having some indirect ambient lighting to minimize the contrast between the monitor and your surroundings. “And this may go without saying,” Parker said, “but if you do a lot of reading and writing with paper and books, make sure you have adequate lighting.”

Get comfy

The best way to make your primary work zone comfortable is by focusing on two dimensions: height and depth.

“I start with the most un-adjustable piece in a home workspace, which is usually the work surface,” Parker said. “Most people don’t have an adjustable work surface at home, so they’re setting up at a desk, the dining room table or the kitchen countertop. In 90 percent of these cases, the height will not be right.”

However, there are ways to work around these situations. The easiest course of action is to set up a standing work station because, according to Parker, there is more leeway to be off on height if you’re standing and moving around (remember, you can overcome most situations with movement). For an easy standing work station, place your laptop on a bar-height kitchen counter. Depending on how tall you are, this may be all you need to do.

How do you know when you’ve gotten the height right? The general rule of thumb is that your shoulders and neck should be relaxed and your forearms should be approximately parallel to the floor while you’re typing. Some tips for adjusting height:

Avoid working on a laptop for extended periods of time, especially if you are very tall or very short.
If you have to use a laptop, use a secondary keyboard and mouse.
Adjust monitor height by setting your laptop on top of reams of paper, large books or a laptop holder.

For depth:

Keep your monitor somewhere between your primary and secondary work zones, wherever you can see it best without craning your neck. A good rule of thumb is to keep your monitor at a minimum distance equal to its size (a 28-inch monitor would be no closer than 28 inches from your eyes).
Pull your keyboard and mouse all the way to the edge of your work surface to keep your forearms and wrists from resting on a hard surface and sharp edges.

And what about your chair? Parker says for a temporary work-from-home situation, it doesn’t really matter.

“I don’t usually recommend going out and spending a lot of money on a new chair if you don’t work from home all the time,” Parker said. “If you do work primarily from home, then yes, a chair matters. Given the uncertainty around the current situation, we could be working from home for longer than the short term, and a good chair would be a wise investment if that’s the case.”

A quality chair should be height adjustable, have good support in the lower lumbar area of your back and be the appropriate seat depth (meaning, you should be able to sit all the way back in the chair and have about three fingers’ width of space between the chair and the back of your knee).

Listen to your body

Following this advice can help you make your home workspace as close to optimal as you can with limited resources. But you may still ask, “I really can’t work from the couch?”

“Everything is fine in short intervals, whether you sit on the living room floor, work on a picnic table outside or even work from the couch,” Parker said. “Just remember to listen to your body. If you’re uncomfortable or something feels a little funny, move around and do something different.”

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / January 1-2, 2020

Glenn — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 14:44:04 +0000

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

83 – 76 Lihue, Kauai /
84 – 71 Honolulu, Oahu /
82 – 63 Molokai AP
83 – 62 Kahului AP, Maui /
82 – 68 Kona AP, Hawaii
81 – 68 Hilo, Hawaii /

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

0.25 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.12 Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.10 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.01 Kahoolawe
0.58 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.43 Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

10 Mana, Kauai
17 Palehua, Oahu
09 Molokai
17 Lanai
31 Kahoolawe
07 Kula 1 Maui
18 PTA Range 17, Big Island

The first cold front of 2020…is approaching from the west
(click on the images to enlarge or animate them)

Higher clouds remain offshore well southeast

Clear to partly cloudy…cloudy areas locally

Showers over some parts of the state…and offshore
Looping image

Please click this link…to see current Watches, Warnings and Advisories

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

Broad Brush Overview: A high pressure system far to the northeast of the islands, and an approaching cold front northwest of the state will cause wind speeds to decrease, becoming light and variable. The weakening cold front approaching the islands will spread clouds, showers, and gusty trade winds across the area later tonight through Friday.

A strong high pressure system in the wake of the front, will keep wet trade winds in place through the weekend. These trades continue through the first half of next week at moderate speeds, with signs of an upper level low lurking northeast of the island chain…possibly affecting the extended period rainfall chances.

Details: A high pressure system located far northeast of the islands, will interact with a low pressure system and its associated cold front northwest of the state, keeping the state in a light east to southeasterly wind flow. Wind speeds will remain light enough to allow localized sea breezes to develop along western slopes.

As we reach Thursday and Friday, this weakening cold front will move into the area from the west. The models continue to show bands of showers and northeasterly trade winds developing out ahead of the fronts arrival. The cold front reaches Kauai Thursday afternoon, with increasing low clouds and showers spreading eastward from Kauai to Maui through the overnight hours.

Look for increasing trade winds peaking Friday in the strong to locally windy range. These wind speeds may exceed the wind advisory thresholds and may require a wind advisory by Friday morning…for wind favored areas of each island. Colder air moving in behind the cold front will drop high and low temperatures statewide by a few degrees through the end of the week.

Looking Further Ahead: As we push into the weekend, a strong high will build into the Central Pacific, keeping gusty trade winds blowing. Wind directions will veer towards the east as the high passes through the area. A developing upper level low east of the Hawaiian Islands, and lingering moisture from the old frontal band…will keep unsettled weather around through Sunday.

From next Monday through mid-week, the models show an unstable low developing east to northeast of the state. However, model solutions are very inconsistent with the strength and location of this system. This means that for now, the confidence in precipitation coverage and rainfall amounts in the extended range forecast remains poor…going into the first half of next week.

However, it looks like moderate to strong trade winds will continue through next Wednesday with a high degree of confidence. Keeping unsettled weather in the forecast for the first half of next week, as the expectations are that the models will continue to improve on the forecast location of this unstable upper low. More forecast rainfall details will be provided as the forecast time period gets closer.

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: A slowly declining northwest swell continues moving across the area., which will gradually lower through Friday. A smaller northerly swell is expected to arrive Thursday night, then linger through the weekend. A rather small northwest swell is expected Sunday through next Monday. Surf along east facing shores will remain elevated through the remainder of the week into the weekend, due to upwind swell sources, as well as the expected increase in trade winds later this week.

Winds will continue to drop off a bit through through early Thursday although increase once again later Thursday, and on through the weekend, as high pressure builds in to our north. Seas will also remain elevated across most areas.

Happy New Year!

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Latest satellite image of the Atlantic

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

Latest satellite image of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s an animated color enhanced satellite image of the central and eastern Pacific

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s the link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

Tropical Cyclone 05S (Calvinia)

JTWC textual warning
JTWC graphical track map

Interesting: Why Hangovers Feel So Awful – Debaucherous evening last night? You’re probably dealing with veisalgia right now.

More commonly known as a hangover, this unpleasant phenomenon has been dogging humanity since our ancestors first happened upon fermentation.

Those nasty vertigo-inducing, cold sweat-promoting and vomit-producing sensations after a raucous night out are all part of your body’s attempt to protect itself from injury after you overindulge in alcoholic beverages. Your liver is working to break down the alcohol you consumed so your kidneys can clear it out ASAP. But in the process, your body’s inflammatory and metabolic reactions are going to lay you low with a hangover.

As long as people have suffered from hangovers, they’ve searched in vain for a cure. Revelers have access to a variety of compounds, products and devices that purport to ease the pain. But there’s a lot of purporting and not a lot of proof. Most have not been backed up well by science in terms of usefulness for hangover treatment, and often their effects don’t seem like they’d match up with what scientists know about the biology of the hangover.

Working overtime to clear out the booze

Hangovers are virtually guaranteed when you drink too much. That amount varies from person to person based on genetic factors as well as whether there are other compounds that formed along with ethanol in the fermentation process.

Over the course of a night of heavy drinking, your blood alcohol level continues to rise. Your body labors to break down the alcohol – consumed as ethanol in beer, wine or spirits – forming damaging oxygen free radicals and acetaldehyde, itself a harmful compound. The longer ethanol and acetaldehyde stick around, the more damage they can do to your cellular membranes, proteins and DNA, so your body’s enzymes work quickly to metabolize acetaldehyde to a less toxic compound, acetate.

Over time, your ethanol levels drop through this natural metabolic process. Depending on how much you consumed, you’re likely to experience a hangover as the level of ethanol in your blood slowly returns to zero. Your body is withdrawing from high levels of circulating alcohol, while at the same time trying to protect itself from the effects of alcohol.

Scientists have limited knowledge of the leading causes of the hangover. But they do know that the body’s responses include changes in hormone levels to reduce dehydration and cellular stress. Alcohol consumption also affects a variety of neurotransmitter systems in the brain, including glutamate, dopamine and serotonin. Inflammation increases in the body’s tissues, and the healthy gut bacteria in your digestive system take a hit too, promoting leaky gut.

Altogether, the combination of all these reactions and protective mechanisms activated by your system gives rise to the experience of a hangover, which can last up to 48 hours.

Your misery likely has company

Drinking and socializing are cultural acts, and most hangovers do not happen in isolation. Human beings are social creatures, and there’s a high likelihood that at least one other individual feels the same as you the morning after the night before.

Each society has different rules regarding alcohol use, which can affect how people view alcohol consumption within those cultures. Drinking is often valued for its relaxing effect and for promoting sociability. So it’s common to see alcohol provided at celebratory events, social gatherings and holiday parties.

In the United States, drinking alcohol is largely embraced by mainstream culture, which may even promote behaviors involving excessive drinking. It should be no surprise that overindulgence goes hand in hand with these celebratory social events – and leads to hangover regrets a few hours later.

Your body’s reactions to high alcohol intake and the sobering-up period can influence mood, too. The combination of fatigue that you experience from sleep deprivation and hormonal stress reactions, in turn, affect your neurobiological responses and behavior. As your body is attempting to repair itself, you’re more likely to be easily irritated, exhausted and want nothing more than to be left alone. Of course, your work productivity takes a dramatic hit the day after an evening of heavy drinking.

When all is said and done, you’re the cause of your own hangover pain, and you’re the one who must pay for all the fun of the night before. But in short order, you’ll forget how excruciating your last hangover was. And you may very soon talk yourself into doing the things you swore you’d never do again.

Speeding up recovery

While pharmacologists like us understand a bit about how hangovers work, we still lack a true remedy.

Countless articles describe a variety of foods, caffeine, ion replenishment, energy drinks, herbal supplements including thyme and ginger, vitamins and the “hair of the dog” as ways to prevent and treat hangovers. But the evidence isn’t really there that any of these work effectively. They’re just not scientifically validated or well reproduced.

For example, Kudzu root (Pueraria lobata), a popular choice for hangover remedies, has primarily been investigated for its effects in reducing alcohol-mediated stress and hangover. But at the same time, Kudzu root appears to inhibit the enzymes that break down acetaldehyde – not good news since you want to clear that acetaldehyde from your system quickly.

To fill this knowledge gap, our lab is working with colleagues to see if we can find scientific evidence for or against potential hangover remedies. We’ve focused on the benefits of dihydromyricetin, a Chinese herbal medicine that is currently available and formulated as a dietary supplement for hangover reduction or prevention.

Dihydromyricetin appears to work its magic by enhancing alcohol metabolism and reducing its toxic byproduct, acetaldehyde. From our findings in mice models, we are collecting data that support the usefulness of dihydromyricetin in increasing the expression and activity of enzymes responsible for ethanol and acetaldehyde metabolism in the liver, where ethanol is primarily broken down. These findings explain one of the several ways dihydromyricetin protects the body against alcohol stress and hangover symptoms.

We are also studying how this enhancement of alcohol metabolism results in changes in alcohol drinking behaviors. Previously, dihydromyricetin was found to counteract the relaxation affect of drinking alcohol by interfering with particular neuroreceptors in the brain; rodents didn’t become as intoxicated and consequently reduced their ethanol intake. Through this combination of mechanisms, we hope to illustrate how DHM might reduce the downsides of excessive drinking beyond the temporary hangover, and potentially reduce drinking behavior and damage associated with heavy alcohol consumption.

Of course, limiting alcohol intake and substituting water for many of those drinks during an evening out is probably the best method to avoid a painful hangover. However, for those times when one alcoholic beverage leads to more than a few more, be sure to stay hydrated and catch up on rest. Your best bet for a smoother recovery is probably some combination of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug like ibuprofen, Netflix and a little downtime.

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / November 2-3, 2019

Glenn — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 13:37:08 +0000

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

87 – 69 Lihue, Kauai /
86 – 72 Honolulu, Oahu /
87 – 67 Molokai AP
90 – 68 Kahului AP, Maui /
84 – 71 Kona AP, Hawaii
89 – 67 Hilo, Hawaii /

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

0.19 Waiakoali, Kauai
0.01 Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.07 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.30 Mahinahina, Maui
0.77 Papaikou Well, Big Island

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

18 Nawiliwili, Kauai
17 Kuaokala, Oahu
12 Molokai
12 Lanai
17 Kahoolawe
18 Maalaea Bay, Maui
18 Nene Cabin, Big Island

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of our tallest mountain Mauna Kea (~13,800 feet high) on the Big Island of Hawaii. Here’s the webcam for the ~10,023 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.

A weak autumn cold front is approaching to our northwest
(click on the images to enlarge or animate them)

Thunderstorms…well offshore to the northeast and south

Clear to partly cloudy…some cloudy areas too

Showers falling locally
Looping image

There are no watches, warnings, or advisories at this time

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

Broad Brush Overview: Light and variable winds will continue for the next several days. Showers will tend to favor interior and mountain areas during the afternoon and evening hours. A weakening cold front will reach Kauai Sunday. Increasing clouds and showers will likely accompany the front especially for Kauai and possibly Oahu. Light trade winds may return toward the middle of next week.

Details: Satellite imagery shows a weak cold front northwest of Kauai, slowly approaching the island chain. A large area of low pressure continues to linger just north of the state. Meanwhile, a strong high pressure system parked off the west coast of the U.S., will continue to block low pressure systems from moving into the East Pacific over the next few days.

This blocking pattern will keep an area of low pressure north of the island chain, keeping the ridge weak, and keeping light and variable winds in place. Daytime heating over the land will prompt sea breezes over island interiors. Look for upcountry clouds building through the afternoon, with scattered showers possible into the early evening. Overnight land breezes will clear out cloud coverage and shower activity.

The weakening autumn cold front will continue to drift towards the state of Hawaii. Although, a lack of any steering flow aloft will slow the movement of this relatively weak front as it reaches Kauai Sunday. Weather models show the frontal cloud band stalling near Kauai or even Oahu Sunday through Monday morning…with associated showers falling along the frontal band.

There are still indications that some of the unstable clouds and showers may drift into Oahu by Sunday afternoon and evening. The precipitation enhancement for Oahu will depend upon the final position of the cold front, as the forward motion may stall over the Kauai channel. Elsewhere some prefrontal showers may develop over the Big Island Sunday afternoon.

Looking Further Ahead: This front will weaken by Wednesday and then lift slowly westward, as a weak high pressure ridge builds back into the area from the East. A light easterly trade wind flow will develop, and interact with the local scale land and sea breeze weather pattern. Windward and mountain showers will increase slightly Wednesday through Friday…as light trades interact with the sea breezes.

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: A cold front will approach the islands from the northwest, then stall in the vicinity of Kauai Sunday through Monday. This will keep mainly light winds in place across the marine area. High pressure will build north of the state Tuesday through Friday, and this should bring a return of light to moderate trade winds. Winds are expected to remain below Small Craft Advisory (SCA) levels during the next week.

A series of small northwest swells will maintain small surf along north and west facing shores. A new large northwest swell will arrive late Sunday and Sunday night, peak Monday, then slowly lower through much of next week. This swell is expected to bring advisory level surf to most north and west facing shores Sunday night through Monday night, as well as SCA level seas to the coastal waters exposed to this swell.

A small rise out of the south-southwest is expected along south facing shores. A couple overlapping moderate sized south swells could bring a notable boost to south shore surf late next week into next weekend. East shore surf will remain well below seasonal levels during the next week.

The weekend’s here!

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Latest satellite image of the Atlantic

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

Latest satellite image of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s an animated color enhanced satellite image of the central and eastern Pacific

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s the link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean:

Tropical Cyclone 24W (Halong)

Sustained winds are 40 knots with gusts to 50 knots…as of Warning 3

Here’s what the computer models are showing

Satellite image of this area

>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

Tropical Cyclone 05A (Maha)

Sustained winds are 65 knots with gusts to 80 knots…as of Warning 16

Here’s what the computer models are showing

Interesting: My search for the best fried chicken in New York…When a Southerner gets homesick, the details matter. By Schuyler Velasco — When I decided to find the best fried chicken in the East Village, I was listening to my mother on the phone from my parents’ house near Jacksonville, griping about the cold. She had to bring the plants inside, she whined. There was frost on the windshield. For three nights in a row, the temperature had fallen below 40 degrees.

Normally I’d agree — a brutally frigid stretch. But at that moment, 40 degrees sounded downright tropical. I’m a fourth-generation Floridian on both sides, and until that October, I had never owned a scarf. Now, in January, I was headlong into my first real winter.

I had moved to Manhattan for grad school and found it thrilling and disorienting in the usual ways. But the cold made me unbearably homesick, and it threw the more minor differences between New York and northern Florida into sharper relief. Wearing a jacket every day exacerbated the claustrophobia brought on by tightly-packed streets and buildings. I missed Spanish moss and vast, winding oak trees. I missed decent oranges. I missed calling people “ma’am,” and driving on wide, straight roads.

I also missed Southern food. I was in the self-proclaimed “food capital of the world.” Maybe finding one great plate of fried chicken would anchor me in place, give me something familiar in a sea of newness, help me survive New York.

My love for fried chicken is passed down from my mother, and the two of us are veritable connoisseurs on the matter. We share a set of precise, unflinching criteria:

• Boneless chicken doesn’t count. Chicken nuggets aren’t fried chicken, nor are chicken sandwiches.

• The skin should be crispy, like a first bite of cereal, to provide a proper contrast to the overwhelming juiciness contained within.

• A little spice is crucial; cayenne offers the best flavor.

• It has to be served scalding hot; the average mortal should have to wait at least 2 minutes or so for the chicken to cool to an edible temperature.

At first glance, finding the perfect fried chicken didn’t look like it would be too tough. This was 2009, and Southern-inspired food joints were becoming New York trendy. High-end restaurants like Momofuku and Locanda Verde were booking $50-a-plate fried chicken dinners months in advance.

But in the South, the best and messiest fried chicken tends to come from the most desolate, remote places: roadside stands, the back ends of gas stations, run-down shacks off forgotten highway exits. For that reason, I refused to rely on Yelp!, instead starting with the fried chicken closest to my apartment and working my way out.

The first stop was Kennedy’s, a justifiably obscure fast food chain on 14^th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. Beware of food joints boasting multiple cuisines. Kennedy’s, according to its signage, also served hamburgers, seafood, and ice cream. The chicken was an alarming reddish-brown color, and the meat was completely raw near the bone. A sense of grease-laden regret is part of the fried chicken experience, but fear of salmonella should never enter the picture.

As bad as Kennedy’s was, it didn’t offer up the particular flavor of seasonal affective despair brought on by Mama’s Food Shop on 6^th Street and Avenue B. Mama’s menu was full of the New York approximation of soul food that you typically got in those early days of Southern food’s national takeover. The chicken seemed fine at first — temperature, crispiness, juices — but something wasn’t quite right. I realized that the slightly acrid aftertaste I was picking up in the skin was rosemary.

That rosemary threw me into a fit. It was a small thing, but it was everything wrong with Mama’s fried chicken. It was everything wrong with New York. The city felt, in that moment, like a poor imitation of a million places — like Epcot Center at Disney World, with all the little countries lined up on a half-mile loop: Norway next to China, China next to Mexico. A Moroccan walking through Epcot’s Morocco feels farther from home than ever. Mama’s Food Shop’s rosemary fried chicken left me more homesick than no fried chicken at all.

This was the epiphany, the tragedy, of my fried chicken quest: The real existential longing sneaked up in the small stuff. It was in fried chicken dinners served with instant mashed potatoes that (even worse) came without gravy; in “biscuits” that weren’t biscuits at all, but pre-packaged dinner rolls. There wasn’t a drop of sweet tea for miles. More than even the relentless cold, the devil of my missing home was in the details.

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / October 28-29, 2019

Glenn — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 14:10:00 +0000

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

86 – 73 Lihue, Kauai /
88 – 76 Honolulu, Oahu /
89 – 75 Molokai AP
87 – 70 Kahului AP, Maui /
84 – 72 Kona AP, Hawaii
86 – 73 Hilo, Hawaii /

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

0.43 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.38 Poamoho RG 1, Oahu
0.10 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.61 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.72 Kawainui Stream, Big Island

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

13 Makaha Ridge, Kauai
23 Kuaokala, Oahu
17 Molokai
20 Lanai
28 Kahoolawe
28 Maalaea Bay, Maui
25 Kealakomo, Big Island

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of our tallest mountain Mauna Kea (~13,800 feet high) on the Big Island of Hawaii. Here’s the webcam for the ~10,023 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.

A cold front just northwest of Hawaii
(click on the images to enlarge or animate them)

Thunderstorms offshore…in several directions

Partly to mostly cloudy…clear areas locally

Showers falling locally
Looping image

Small Craft Advisory…pink color below

High Surf Advisory…purple color below

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

Broad Brush Overview: The trades will continue, although will weaken significantly Tuesday and Wednesday, with light and variable winds then persisting through the rest of the week. These trades will carry clouds and passing showers…mainly to windward areas. As the winds lighten up, clouds and showers will develop over island interiors during the afternoons, with clearing at night. A passing disturbance aloft may lead to some heavier afternoon showers Tuesday into Thursday, followed by drier weather Friday into the weekend.

Details: Weather maps show a slow moving cold front stalled northwest of Kauai, along with a pair of highs far northeast and northwest. The resulting pressure gradient south of these highs, remains strong enough to keep moderately strong northeast to easterly trades over our area, with scattered clouds and showers riding along on the trades.

The trades will trend down as the cold front edges closer to the islands, prompted by an approaching trough of low pressure aloft. Generally stable conditions should continue, with showers remaining focused over windward slopes. A further decrease in winds and an increase instability, is expected Tuesday…which lingers into Thursday.

The models show lighter east to southeast breezes Tuesday, becoming light and variable Wednesday through Friday, as a weak low forms along the front to the north. Even if a low doesn’t form, low pressure troughing to the north will keep winds very light, with a land and sea breeze regime over the islands by Tuesday afternoon. While the greatest instability associated with the low aloft will remain north of the islands, it could generate enough instability to produce locally heavy showers…especially during the afternoon hours Tuesday-Thursday.

Looking Further Ahead: As we push into Friday and Saturday, the potential for heavy showers is expected to diminish, as the low aloft moves away to the northeast. Isolated showers should favor island interior areas each afternoon, although there doesn’t look to be sufficient moisture or instability to drive heavy shower development. Look for clouds and a few spotty showers to develop over land each afternoon…followed by partial clearing at night.

Meanwhile, the most reliable models are showing the large scale trough northwest of Hawaii deepening once again by the weekend. By Saturday this should maintain light winds, or possibly strengthening south to southwest kona winds near Kauai and Oahu, as a cold front advances toward the islands from the northwest. The front is currently expected to stall near Kauai Sunday or next Monday, with mostly dry conditions elsewhere…though confidence in this long-range forecast is low.

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: The current large northwest swell will reach High Surf Advisory)(HSA) levels. Advisory level surf will reach Kauai first, and then spread down the island chain. This swell is expected to peak tonight, and then slowly subside through the end of the work week…likely dropping below advisory levels sometime Wednesday.

Additional local impacts may be experienced from this swell tonight, as the peak of the swell will coincide with the new moon high tide.

The swell will boost seas near the islands to near the Small Craft Advisory (SCA) level across many marine zones…and then holding into Tuesday and possibly through Tuesday night.

Surf along east facing shores may see a small rise towards the middle of the week, as a northeast swell arrives and peaks Wednesday night below advisory levels.

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

1.) A large non-tropical low pressure system located several hundred miles west-northwest of the Azores is producing a broad area of gale-force to hurricane-force winds. The low could gradually acquire some subtropical characteristics over the next few days while it moves slowly southward to southeastward over warmer water. Environmental conditions are expected to become unfavorable for any further development by Friday when the low is forecast to move back over colder water.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…10 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…20 percent

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

Latest satellite image of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

1.) Disorganized showers and thunderstorms located several hundred miles south of the southern coast of Mexico are associated with an elongated area of low pressure. Any development of this system should be slow to occur while it moves slowly westward to west-northwestward during the next several days.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…10 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…20 percent

Here’s an animated color enhanced satellite image of the central and eastern Pacific

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s the link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Satellite image of this area

>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

Tropical Cyclone 04A (Kyarr)

Sustained winds are 125 knots with gusts to 150 knots…as of warning 18

Here’s what the computer models are showing for this typhoon

Interesting: ‘Cuddlebots.’ Space-age masks. How future technology will help us sleep — Humans spend about one-third of their lives asleep — one-sixth if you have small children — and our built-in biological downtime is critical for health and happiness. Sleeping fewer than seven hours a day is associated with heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure, along with depression and various other mental disorders. And according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one in three Americans is clinically sleep deprived.

Sociologists have all kinds of explanations for the crisis, but they all essentially boil down to… life itself. The modern American lifestyle — busy, stressful, powered by 24/7 artificial light and endless Information Age temptations — is the prime mover of sleep deprivation. Bedtimes have gotten later. (Thanks, Netflix.) Wake times have not. (Thanks, boss.) One widely cited 2013 Gallup poll crunched the archival numbers from previous surveys and found that Americans now sleep a full hour less than we did in 1942.

The good news is that an entire industry of sleep science and technology has developed in recent years to help us get more and better sleep. The future of when and where and how we sleep is changing, driven by shifting cultural priorities and emerging technologies.

Attitude and Awareness

A twinkly little silver lining to our national sleep epidemic is that we’re finally facing the problem. Thanks to public education campaigns, people are generally more aware of healthy sleep habits now than they were a generation ago. In an influential 2013 study titled “Raising Awareness of Sleep as a Healthy Behavior,” leading researchers concluded that “sleep should be viewed as being as critical to health as diet and physical activity.”

This call to arms (or pillows) has had a powerful economic ripple effect. On the consumer end of things, the global market for sleep tech products is expected to reach $76 billion in 2019.

For previous generations, sleep aids were limited to earplugs and sleep masks and scary prescription drugs. We can confidently expect the 21st century to offer much better options — some of them pretty space-age indeed.

Technology vs. Insomnia

The Dreamlight is a good example. A big hit at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, the device combines several different technologies designed to improve both the quantity and quality of your sleep.

Housed in a roomy and overstuffed sleep mask, the Dreamlight uses a network of circuitry to coordinate its many features. Embedded LED panels are designed to shine soft light through your eyelids when you fall asleep and when you wake up. According to the manufacturer’s research, dim orange lights trigger melatonin production at bedtime, helping you fall asleep. Green hues help you wake up in the morning. The Dreamlight mask also features four different embedded speakers, with timer options, for those who like to fall asleep to music or white noise or obscure BBC history podcasts. (Droning British historians are nature’s own built-in sleep remedy.)

The Dreamlight also includes infrared sensors, an optical heart rate monitor, and various gyroscopes and accelerometers designed to track how well you’re sleeping. The data are wirelessly beamed to the companion smartphone app, which offers analysis and suggestions. The company has also partnered with genomics company 23andMe to develop custom sleep profiles based on your genetic information.

Click around and you can find similar products online. Philips’ SmartSleep headband uses sensors and speakers to reinforce deep sleep via complementary audio tones. The Lumos sleep mask, developed at Stanford University, uses patterned light therapy to overcome jet lag and gradually reset your circadian rhythms.

Elsewhere, Bose is one of many companies now offering noise-canceling smart earbuds, which are essentially a future-facing iteration of sleep sound machines that have been around forever. (Ocean surf? Forest rain? Ambient dub?) These smart earbud kits go for around $100 to $250 and can include extras like heart monitoring, fitness tracking, and voice control.

The War on Snoring

If quality sleep has a recurring archvillain, it’s snoring — either your own or your partner’s. Happily, anti-snoring technology is moving past the traditional CPAP machines and dental appliances.

On the low-tech end, nasal dilators have proven effective for certain kinds of sleep apnea, and design advances are making chin straps an option for mouth-breathing snorers. Those dental appliances are getting better, too — more than 100 different designs have now received FDA clearance. This means more medical plans should cover costs in the future, according to the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine.

As for high-tech anti-snoring devices, one of the most successful solutions might be termed “artificial nudge technology.” If you share a bed with a snorer, you’re already proficient with the nudge. Elbow the snorer and they’ll usually (but not always!) shift position and stop snoring. (For a while! Maybe!)

There are now a dozen different products on the market that automate this process. These snort-prevention solutions — available in pillows, mattresses, and other devices — use sensors and microphones to listen for snoring, then automatically nudge, prod, or otherwise adjust the sleeper’s position. The industry veterans at Tempur Sealy recently announced a next-generation riff on the theme with an AI-powered bed that tracks the snorer’s sleep patterns and tries to anticipate snoring before it even occurs. Science!

Meanwhile, over in the Netherlands, a group of student entrepreneurs has developed what’s being billed as the world’s first “sleep robot.” A soft and “huggable” robotic pillow, the award-winning Somnox uses a technique called breathing regulation. Once you’re cuddled up, your body unconsciously synchronizes its breathing to the slow and steady rhythm of the sleepbot. It sounds crazy, but the Somnox team has published research to back up its claims.

In the Labs

Now that more people have an awareness of the serious health issues involved, sleep science labs around the world — both academic and commercial — are booming, busy, and expanding.

A major part of that expansion is taking sleep science into the home. According to a recent report by Johns Hopkins Medicine, future research will be increasingly reliant on technologies such as wearable tracking devices, portable sleep testing devices, and online doctor consultations in the home.

“The brick-and-mortar model of conducting sleep studies in a medical care center is really going to be fading into the sunset or will be minimal at best,” says Charlene Gamaldo, medical director of Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep, in the report.

This migration out of the labs is already underway. Sarah Ostadabbas, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern University, is working on a mobile sleep testing system that can be set up in any bedroom, combining artificial intelligence with different sensor systems to make at-home sleep testing more accurate.

Using pressure mats and infrared cameras attached to the ceiling or a light fixture, the system tracks the patient’s sleep positions throughout the night. “Thermal imaging allows the system to track body heat even when the sleeper is underneath sheets and blankets,” Ostadabbas says.

Those images are run through a set of machine learning algorithms to create a data set, which allows doctors to diagnose specific sleep behaviors and problems.

Sleepy Students for Science!

Ostadabbas’ team recently recruited more than 100 Northeastern student volunteers to create an initial data set of more than 14,000 sleep position samples. They’re sharing the data sets and algorithms online in an open-source effort to help other sleep researchers worldwide.

The data will help researchers identify abnormal sleep behavior, Ostadabbas says. “Are there specific poses we can see that lead to specific complications?”

Ostadabbas notes that while the system can help the majority of us who sleep 33 percent of the time, it could be a truly critical advance for those in bed closer to 100 percent of the time — infants, the elderly, and patients with severe injury or illness.

Thermal imaging. LED sleep masks. Smart mattresses. Cuddlebots. From retail shelves to university labs, modern science is mobilizing to help us get a better night’s sleep. It’s a delicious proposition for anyone who appreciates 21st-century irony: Technology may be the greatest single cause of our national sleep epidemic. Can it be the solution, too?

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / September 9-10, 2019

Glenn — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 22:00:33 +0000

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

90 – 82 Lihue, Kauai /
92 – 81 Honolulu, Oahu /
91 – 80 Molokai AP
93 – 78 Kahului AP, Maui
89 – 78 Kona AP, Hawaii
85 – 74 Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.31 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.59 Schofield East, Oahu
0.25 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.51 West Wailuaiki, Maui
1.29 Kealakekua, Big Island

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

31 Port Allen, Kauai
35 Kuaokala, Oahu
33 Molokai
32 Lanai
40 Kahoolawe
42 Maalaea Bay, Maui
36 PTA Keamuku, Big Island

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of our tallest mountain Mauna Kea (~13,800 feet high) on the Big Island of Hawaii. Here’s the webcam for the ~10,023 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.

There are no tropical cyclones in our central Pacific
(click on the images to enlarge or animate them)

Thunderstorms west…sending high clouds over parts of the state

Clear to partly cloudy…some cloudy areas

Showers locally…mostly windward and offshore
Looping image

Small Craft Advisory…pink color below

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

Broad Brush Overview: The trades will continue through Tuesday, then gradually soften through the rest of the week. Clouds and showers will favor windward and mountain locations as usual. The exception will be over the leeward areas of the Big Island, where afternoon and evening clouds and showers will fall locally. Warm and humid conditions will return Friday into the weekend as the winds ease.

Details: A moderately strong high is centered far north-northeast of Hawaii, while former Tropical Cyclone Akoni passes far southwest of the state. The tight pressure gradient between these two features is prompting gusty trades over our area. Meanwhile, clouds and showers are arriving with the breezy trades, and focusing over the windward sides, occasionally reaching leeward sides of the smaller islands.

The models show these active trades holding, as former Akoni passes to the southwest, and high pressure remains positioned to the north. Low clouds and off and on showers will favor windward and mountain locations, most often through the overnight and early morning hours. Afternoon clouds and showers are possible along the Kona coast and leeward Haleakala…as the sea breezes lift clouds into the upcountry areas.

Looking Further Ahead: Models go on to show the gradient relaxing over the area, as the ridge weakens to the north and former Akoni continues westward. Trades will respond and trend down into the moderate range through the second half of the week. A localized land and sea breeze pattern will become a possibility by the weekend, as remnants of former Hurricane Juliette pass by far north of the state. If this scenario materializes…warm and humid conditions can be 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 Environmental Conditions: High pressure far north of the state will maintain moderate to strong trades, then gradually weaken through mid-week. Moderate to locally strong trades are expected during the second half of the week. The trades are expected to drop to below small craft levels the near-shore waters by Wednesday.

A combination of south-southwest and southeast swells from former Akoni will continue to produce above average surf along south facing shores through Tuesday. There is also a small east swell, from the remnants of Juliette. Along with the breezy trades, surf along east facing shores will be just below advisory level…then gradually dropping through the week. Minimal swells are expected along north facing shores through the week…with a small northwest swell possible over the weekend.

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

>>> Here’s Tuesday’s Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering the eastern, central, and western Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea, covering retiring Tropical Cyclone 14W (Faxai), and a tropical disturbance in the western Pacific…and two in the eastern Pacific

>>> Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico…including Tropical Cyclone 08L (Gabrielle)…and two tropical disturbances

>>> Atlantic Ocean:

Tropical Cyclone 08L (Gabrielle)

Here’s what the computer models are showing

Maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph with higher gusts…according to advisory 28

According to the NHC, Gabrielle is moving toward the northeast near 25 mph, and this general motion with an increase in forward speed is expected over the next couple of days. Little change in strength is forecast this morning, but a weakening trend is likely to begin tonight or Tuesday. Gabrielle is expected to become an extratropical low this morning and dissipate over the far North Atlantic near the northern British Isles on Thursday. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 125 miles from the center.

1.) A weak area of low pressure, associated with a tropical wave located a little more than 900 miles east of the Lesser Antilles is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Although some slight development of this system is possible today or tomorrow, by Thursday, upper-level winds are forecast to become unfavorable for tropical cyclone formation. This disturbance is expected to move slowly westward across the tropical Atlantic Ocean for the next several days.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…20 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…20 percent

3.) A tropical wave located just off the west coast of Africa is expected to move quickly westward during the next several days. Some slow development is possible late this week and over the weekend when the system is several hundred miles east of the Lesser Antilles.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…20 percent

Latest satellite image of the Atlantic

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

2.) Shower activity associated with a surface trough interacting with an upper-level low near the north coast of Hispaniola northeastward over the southwestern Atlantic has increased a little since yesterday. Little, if any, development of this disturbance is expected during the next few days while it moves west-northwestward across the Bahamas and the Florida peninsula. However, environmental conditions could become a little more conducive for development when the system moves into the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend. Regardless of development, this disturbance will produce periods of locally heavy rainfall across the Bahamas through Thursday, and across Florida on Friday and continuing into the weekend.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…30 percent

Here’s a satellite image of the Caribbean Sea…and the Gulf of Mexico

>>> Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

Latest satellite image of the Gulf of Mexico

>>> Eastern Pacific:

1.) A large and disorganized area of showers and thunderstorms located several hundred miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico, is associated with a broad area of low pressure. Environmental conditions are expected to be conducive for development, and a tropical depression is likely to form within the next few days while the system moves west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…medium…60 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…high…90 percent

2.) An area of low pressure is expected to form more than 1000 miles to the southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula by late this week. Some additional slow development is possible as the system moves slowly westward.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…20 percent

Here’s an animated color enhanced satellite image of the central and eastern Pacific

Satellite image of this area

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s the link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean:

Tropical Cyclone 14W (Faxai) – Final Warning

Here’s what the computer models show

JTWC textual discussion
JTWC graphical track map

>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Interesting: The Voracious and Invasive Lionfish Is Taking Over the Atlantic. Here’s Why — One of the most notorious invasive species around, the lionfish, is known for its voracious appetite and can literally eat its competitors out of an ecosystem. And that’s what the striking fish is doing, feasting its way through waters that stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to the Eastern Seaboard.

Now, scientists and startups are crafting methods for capturing and killing the hungry invaders. But while these new ideas show promise, tried-and-true spearfishing seems to be the most effective way to eradicate lionfish.

“It’s actually hard to describe how a lionfish eats because they do it in a split second,” said Kristen Dahl, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florida. Lionfish use a complex series of tactics that no other fish in the world is known to employ. In the blink of an eye, a lionfish goes from silently hovering above its prey to flaring its fins, firing a disorienting jet of water from its mouth, unhinging its jaw and swallowing its meal whole, scientists reported in a study published in 2012 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series. The attacks happen so quickly that nearby fish don’t seem to notice.

“It’s actually nice when I’m looking at gut contents,” Dahl said, “because if something has been freshly eaten, it’s in immaculate condition.”

New fish on the block

Lionfish (Pterois volitans) are one of the most notorious invasive species in the United States. Their bold colors and frilly fins make lionfish popular in the aquarium trade; over the past 25 years or so, it seems aquarium fish owners have sometimes dumped unwanted lionfish — which are native to the Indo-Pacific region — into the Atlantic Ocean, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Their popularity in the aquarium trade has also spurred several breeding programs.

Lionfish are fast and powerful, but their biggest advantage is novelty. Atlantic prey fish simply don’t know what’s going on. Biologists call this phenomenon prey naivete, and they believe it is largely responsible for the lionfish’s dramatic success as an invader.

Since the first breeding populations were spotted off the coast of North Carolina in 2000, lionfish have rapidly overtaken coastal environments in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

“Sightings increased rapidly in 2004 along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States,” according to Pam Schofield, research fishery biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey.

“Lionfish sightings quickly spread throughout the Caribbean and then the Gulf of Mexico,” Schofield, who tracks non-native marine fish in U.S. waters. There are now breeding populations in the coastal waters of Venezuela, throughout the coastal Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. On the Eastern Seaboard, breeding populations extend into North Carolina, and stray individuals are seen as far north as Massachusetts, Schofield said. Reports of lionfish sightings have tapered off since their peak in 2010, but that’s probably not because their populations have decreased — lionfish are so pervasive that spotting one is no longer noteworthy.

Managing an invasion

Lionfish aren’t easily caught when traditional fishing techniques are used, so a number of research groups and startup companies are developing novel tools for managing the invasion. These include specially designed traps that lure in lionfish while sparing native species, remotely operated vehicles that allow a human pilot to remotely spear lionfish and autonomous hunting vehicles that use artificial intelligence to find the fish themselves. While some progress has been made in new technologies, spear guns used by scuba divers still seem to be the tool that’s most effective tool at killing them, Dahl said.

Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a leader in lionfish management, has a number of incentive programs to entice recreational and commercial scuba divers to harvest lionfish, according to the FWC. The lionfish derby is one of the most successful management tools being used today. At a derby, spearfishing divers spend a day working together to remove as many lionfish as they can. At the larger derbies, organizers award prizes to the teams or individuals who catch the biggest, smallest or most lionfish. “The derbies are a good opportunity to educate people about the lionfish and about the danger of releasing aquarium fish into the wild,” Dahl said. She’s worked and volunteered at dozens of derbies. “If enough people learn about this invasion, maybe there won’t be another ‘lionfish.'”

Culling lionfish one by one will never eliminate the species from the Atlantic, but it can help mitigate their effects. While a single lionfish can eat a lot of native fauna, lionfish wreak havoc on a reef only after their populations reach a certain density, researchers reported in 2014 in the journal Ecological Applications. And the incentives seem to be working. At a handful of popular dive sites in the Florida Keys, recreational divers are so diligent in culling invasive lionfish that it is unusual to see a single one, according to several dive tour operators.

Scientists knew from the start that population growth would eventually taper off as lionfish populations reach the point at which there’s no more food or habitat to support additional individuals. But the number of lionfish in parts of the Gulf of Mexico where Dahl and her colleagues have tracked their populations for several years have actually declined. It’s too early to say what’s behind the change, but Dahl points to a poorly understood parasitic skin lesion that “has put a dent in their population.”

Now, less than two decades since the invasion began, ecologists are still trying to learn enough about lionfish to manage the new invasion.

“We’re not sure if [the population decline] is going to last or if it’s a boom-bust population cycle,” Dahl said. “It could be a little bit of both. We aren’t really sure.”

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / July 17-18, 2019

Glenn — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 14:25:03 +0000

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

86 – 79 Lihue, Kauai
92 – 79 Honolulu, Oahu
90 – 76 Molokai AP
94 – 77 Kahului AP, Maui
88 – 82 Kona AP, Hawaii
87 – 71 Hilo, Hawaii

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

2.50 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.55 Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.22 Molokai
0.02 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
1.07 Puu Kukui, Maui
1.41 Saddle Quarry, Big Island

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

31 Port Allen, Kauai
35 Palehua, Oahu
35 Molokai
31 Lanai
42 Kahoolawe
35 Kahului AP, Maui
33 Waikoloa, Big Island

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of our tallest mountain Mauna Kea (13,803 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.

There are no tropical cyclones expected in the central Pacific
(click on the images to enlarge or animate them)

Active thunderstorms offshore in several directions

Variable clouds…most of the clouds will arrive along the windward sides

Showers locally – Looping image

Small Craft Advisory…pink color below

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

Broad Brush Overview: The current spell of trade wind weather conditions will continue through the remainder of the week into early next week…thanks to high pressure remaining anchored far north of the state. Clouds and passing showers will favor windward and mountain areas as usual, with the trade winds prevailing. The leeward sections of the Big Island will see clouds and showers, with those showers falling during the afternoon and evening hours for the most part.

Details: The upper level trough in the will move northwest, with the overlying atmosphere becoming more stable. Meanwhile, the high will persist far north through the rest of the week, and strengthen slightly through Thursday. The airmass may still be unstable enough for a slight chance of an upslope thunderstorm over the Big Island. The models suggest an increase in moisture for the islands Thursday…which may lead to a slight increase of passing clouds and showers then.

Looking Further Ahead: The high to our north is expected to slowly weaken by the weekend into early next week. This points to a slight downward trend in trade wind speeds then. An upper level trough may drop back southward, closer to the state. This may lead to a slight increase in shower activity, mainly for windward and mountain areas. Daytime heating will continue to allow for clouds and showers to form over the leeward Big Island slopes each afternoon and evening.

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: High pressure north of the state will keep moderate to strong trades in place through Friday. The trades are expected to decrease slightly over the weekend, as high pressure to the north weakens. A Small Craft Advisory (SCA) remains in effect for most waters between Oahu and the Big Island. Moderate trades are expected for the remaining waters not in the SCA.

The current south swell will continue to slowly lower, with only small south and southwest swells expected Thursday through the weekend. An increase in south shore surf is possible early next week, as a pair of overlapping southwest swells arrive. Locally strong trade winds will produce choppy waves along east facing shores into the weekend. East shore surf will rise Thursday and Friday, as the upstream fetch of trade winds increases. Surf is expected to remain below advisory levels along east facing shores Thursday and Friday…and slowly lower over the weekend as trades ease.

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

>>> Here’s Wednesday’s Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering the eastern, central, and western Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea…including Tropical Storm 06W (Danas), and two tropical disturbances being referred to as Invest 91W and Invest 99W

>>> Here’s Wednesday’s Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico, including Post–Tropical Cyclone 02L (Barry) which has moved well inland from the Gulf of Mexico.

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Latest satellite image of the Atlantic

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are 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

>>> Gulf of Mexico:

Post-Tropical Cyclone 02L (Barry) – Last Advisory

NHC textual forecast Advisory
NHC graphical track map

What the computer models are showing

According to the NHC advisory #29…The post-tropical cyclone is moving toward the east near 23 mph and this motion is expected to continue today.

The low pressure center and circulation with Barry is expected to become less distinct later today or tonight.

Maximum sustained winds are near 15 mph with higher gusts. Little change in strength is forecast during the next 48 hours.

Latest satellite image of the Gulf of Mexico

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

1.) A tropical wave located a few hundred miles southwest of the Gulf of Tehuantepec is producing a few disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Environmental conditions are forecast to become a little more conducive for gradual development late this week, and a tropical depression could form over the weekend or early next week. This disturbance is forecast to move westward to west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph, well south of the coast of Mexico.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…medium…40 percent

2.) A large but disorganized area of showers and thunderstorms centered a little more than 1000 miles southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula is associated with a tropical wave. Upper-level winds appear to be somewhat conducive for some slow development during the next few days while the disturbance moves west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…20 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…30 percent

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

No tropical cyclones are expected during the next 5 days.

Here’s the link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean:

Tropical Cyclone 06W (Danas)

JTWC textual advisory
JTWC graphical track map

>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>>North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Interesting: The Marshall Islands Are 10 Times More ‘Radioactive’ Than Chernobyl — Some of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean — such as the Bikini and Enewetak atolls — are still more radioactive than Chernobyl and Fukushima, even though more than 60 years have passed since the United States tested radioactive weapons there, a new study finds.

When testing the soil for plutonium-239+240, the researchers found that some of the islands had levels that were between 10 and 1,000 times higher than those on Fukushima (where an earthquake and tsunami led to the meltdown of nuclear reactors) and about 10 times higher than levels in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

The researchers took only a limited number of soil samples, meaning a more comprehensive survey is needed, they said. Regardless, they were surprised that neither national governments nor international organizations had “any further guidance on permissible plutonium levels in the soil,” even though levels in the Marshall Islands were high, the researchers wrote in the study.

Testing bombs

After dropping atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, effectively ending World War II, the United States decided to test more radioactive weapons. Some of these tests happened in the Marshall Islands, a chain of islands between Hawaii and the Philippines that was then a district of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands — run by the U.S. on behalf of the United Nations. The first two bombs — called Able and Baker — were tested on Bikini Atoll in 1946 and kicked off a 12-year period of nuclear testing on the Bikini and Enewetak atolls, during which the U.S. tested 67 nuclear weapons.

The first-ever hydrogen bomb test, with the code name Ivy Mike, was tested on Enewetak in 1951. The U.S. conducted its largest hydrogen bomb test on Bikini Atoll — the 1954 Castle Bravo bomb, which was more than 1,000 times more powerful than “Little Boy,” the uranium weapon that decimated Hiroshima.

In addition to contaminating the Bikini and Enewetak atolls, nuclear fallout from the tests also rained down on and sickened people living on Rongelap and Utirik atolls (also part of the Marshall Islands), the researchers said. In 2016, a team of researchers from Columbia University in New York published a study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on the background gamma radiation in three of the northern Marshall atolls: Enewetak, Bikini and Rongelap. They found that radiation levels on Bikini were higher than previously reported, so they decided to do more in-depth studies on radioactivity in the islands. (Gamma rays are like energetic X-rays that are released from nuclear weapons.)

More fallout

Now, that same team has written three new studies, published online yesterday (July 15) in the journal PNAS, on four of the atolls in the northern Marshall islands: Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap and Utirik.

External gamma radiation levels were significantly elevated on Bikini Atoll; on Enjebi Island in Enewetak Atoll; and on Naen Island in Rongelap Atoll, compared with an island in the southern Marshall Islands that the scientists used as a control, the researchers found.

The levels on Bikini and Naen islands were so high, they surpassed the maximum exposure limit that the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands agreed to, the researchers said. (On a side note, bikini swimsuits weren’t named after the island because of its tropicality, but because the French designer wanted the two-piece swimsuit to be “explosive,” just like the bomb tested there, said one of the study’s senior scientists Ivana Nikolic-Hughes, director of the K1 Project at the Center for Nuclear Studies and a senior lecturer of chemistry at Columbia University in New York City.)

The researchers also found that the islands of Runit and Enjebi in Enewetak Atoll, as well as on Bikini and Naen islands, had high concentrations of certain radioactive isotopes in the soil. (An isotope is an element with a different number of neutrons than usual in its nucleus.) These four islands had radioactive plutonium levels that were higher than Fukushima and Cherbobyl, the researchers found.

“What was surprising was just how high the external gamma radiation was for Naen, which is the outer island for Rongelap Atoll,” Nikolic-Hughes told Live Science. “It was populated during the Bravo test … [the people there] were then moved, moved back and moved again. It’s quite a dreadful history of what happened to Rongelapese people.”

In their second study, the researchers worked with professional divers, who collected 130 soil samples from the Castle Bravo crater at Bikini Atoll. The level of some of the isotopes — plutonium-239,240, americium-241 and bismuth-207 — was an order of magnitude higher than levels found on other Marshall Islands, the researchers found.

These findings are important because “measuring the radioactive contamination of the crater sediment is a first step in assessing the overall impact of nuclear weapons testing on the ocean ecosystems,” the researchers wrote in the study.

In the third study, the researchers tested more than 200 fruits — mostly coconuts and pandanus — on 11 of the islands from four different atolls in the northern Marshall Islands. Cesium-137 levels didn’t look good for a sizeable chunk of the fruits on Bikini and Rongelap atolls, which had radioactivity levels higher than those deemed safe by several countries and international organizations, the researchers found.

More work is needed to educate people living on the Marshall Islands about these dangers, including on any decisions to resettle some of these islands, the researchers said.

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / July 10-11, 2019

Glenn — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 14:56:56 +0000

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

87 – 79 Lihue, Kauai
91 – 78 Honolulu, Oahu
87 – 73 Molokai AP
90 – 72 Kahului AP, Maui
88 – 77 Kona AP, Hawaii
84 – 71 Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.33 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.20 Poamoho RG, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.03 Lanai
0.01 Kahoolawe
1.10 West Wailuaiki, Maui
1.14 Nene Cabin, Big Island

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

18 Port Allen, Kauai
27 Kuaokala, Oahu
24 Molokai
27 Lanai
35 Kahoolawe
33 Maalaea Bay, Maui
24 Pali 2, Big Island

No tropical storms are in the vicinity of the state
(click on the images to enlarge or animate them)

Thunderstorms remain offshore from the islands

Clear to partly cloudy…with localized cloudy areas

Showers locally…Looping image

Small Craft Advisory…pink color below

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

Broad Brush Overview: Trade wind weather conditions will continue into next week. Showers will fall generally over the windward and mountain areas…with passing clouds over the rest of the state. Increasing humidity and showers are possible over the weekend, as moisture increases across the island chain.

Details: A surface ridge north of the state will continue to produce easterly trade winds through the middle of next week. Drier and more stable air will filter in from the east, and shower activity will slowly trend lower now. A high pressure ridge aloft will produce more stable conditions Thursday through Saturday. Passing clouds and showers will favor windward areas…trending towards the overnight to early morning hours. Trade wind speeds will remain at moderate levels, as the ridge north of the islands weakens due to a passing surface trough.

As we reach Sunday, a developing disturbance in the tropics may bring deeper moisture up from the southeast into the Big Island. However, models differ a bit on the forecast for this time period, and the latest GFS model shows the deeper moisture reaching the southern and eastern sides of the Big Island…before drifting westward Sunday afternoon through Sunday night. Thus, confidence in more humid and wet weather on Sunday for the Big Island and Maui, remains only fair due to evolving model solutions.

Looking Further Ahead: As we push into the early part of next week, a stronger high pressure ridge north of the island chain will bring increasing trade winds. A weak surface trough, with embedded clouds and showers may drift into Kauai County Monday, enhancing shower activity then. Otherwise the weather action will be limited to passing windward and mountain showers in the easterly trade wind flow. Meanwhile, there are no tropical cyclones expected here in the central Pacific through the next 5-days…at least.

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: The northern end of a surface trough, which is the remnant of former East Pacific Tropical Cyclone Barbara, has been moving westward at around 15 knots, so its direct influence on weather across the state continues to diminish. The current forecast indicates the trade winds may briefly drop below the small craft advisory (SCA) level across these windier waters. However, a new surface high pressure system should build far north of the state later this week. Therefore, SCA winds may return to the typically windier waters again Thursday.

The locally strong trade winds continue to produce elevated rough surf along east facing shores. Surf is expected to gradually lower along east facing shores.

The combination of a declining south-southwest swell and a small southeast swell, generated by strong southeast trade winds in the South Pacific last week, will likely maintain surf heights near or slightly above the summer-time average along exposed south facing shores. New south-southwest swells arriving starting Friday are expected to cause surf to reach the high surf advisory criteria along south facing shores this weekend into next Monday.

Elsewhere, a small northwest swell is expected to arrive. This swell may produce a slight rise in surf along north and west facing shores of some of the smaller islands…tonight through Friday.

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

>>> Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering the eastern, central, and western Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea

>>> Here’s Thursday’s Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico…including Potential Tropical Cyclone 02L

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

A tropical wave located several hundred miles southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands is producing disorganized shower activity.

Some slight development of the wave is possible during the next day or two while it moves westward at 15 to 20 mph before environmental conditions become less favorable over the weekend.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…10 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…10 percent

Latest satellite image of the Atlantic

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are 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

>>> Gulf of Mexico:

Potential Tropical Cyclone 02L

NHC textual forecast Advisory
NHC graphical track map

According to the NHC advisory #4A…The system is moving toward the west near 5 mph, but a west-northwest motion is expected Friday, followed by a northwestward track by early Saturday. On the forecast track, the system is expected to approach the Louisiana coast this weekend.

Reports from a NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph with higher gusts. Strengthening is forecast during the next couple of days, and the disturbance is forecast to become a tropical depression or a tropical storm later today, and could become a hurricane by late Friday.

The associated thunderstorm activity is gradually becoming better organized, and the disturbance is expected to become a tropical depression or a tropical storm later today or Friday.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…high…100 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…high…100 percent

Latest satellite image of the Gulf of Mexico

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

However, A tropical wave and a weak area of low pressure, located a few hundred miles south of the southern coast of Mexico, is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms.

Environmental conditions are not forecast to be conducive for significant development during the next several days while the disturbance moves westward to west-northwestward well offshore the southern coast of Mexico.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…10 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…10 percent

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

No tropical cyclones are expected during the next 5 days.

Here’s the link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>>North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Interesting: A Drier Future Sets the Stage for More Wildfires — November 8, 2018 was a dry day in Butte County, California. The state was in its sixth consecutive year of drought, and the county had not had a rainfall event producing more than a half inch of rain for seven months. The dry summer had parched the spring vegetation, and the strong northeasterly winds of autumn were gusting at 35 miles per hour and rising, creating red flag conditions: Any planned or unplanned fires could quickly get out of control.

Sure enough, just before daybreak, strong winds whipped a stray spark from a power line into an inferno. The Camp Fire became the most destructive fire in California’s history, scorching approximately 240 square miles, destroying nearly 14,000 buildings, causing billions of dollars in damage and killing 88 people. Later the same day, the Woolsey Fire broke out in Los Angeles County, burning 150 square miles and killing three.

Droughts can create ideal conditions for wildfires. Lack of rain and low humidity dry out trees and vegetation, providing fuel. In these conditions, a spark from lightning, electrical failures, human error or planned fires can quickly get out of control.

Global climate change is predicted to change precipitation and evaporation patterns around the world, leading to wetter climate in some areas and drier in others. Areas that face increasingly severe droughts will also be at risk for more and larger fires. Several NASA missions collect valuable data to help scientists and emergency responders monitor droughts and fires. Some instruments monitor water in and below the soil, helping to assess whether areas are moving toward dangerous droughts. Others watch for heat and smoke from fires, supporting both research and active disaster recovery.

Understanding how fires behave in dry conditions can help firefighters, first responders and others prepare for a hotter, drier future.

Climate Change: Not Just Wet

Earth’s warming climate is forecasted to make global precipitation patterns more extreme: Wet areas will become wetter, and dry areas will become drier. Areas such as the American Southwest could see both reduced rainfall and increased soil moisture evaporation due to more intense heat, and in some cases, the resulting droughts could be more intense than any drought of the past millennium.

Ben Cook of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City researches “megadroughts” — droughts lasting more than three decades. Megadroughts have occurred in the past, like the decades-long North American droughts between 1100 and 1300, and the team used tree ring records to compare these droughts with future projections. He and his team examined soil moisture data sets and drought severity indices from 17 different future climate models, and they all predicted that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase at their present rate, the risk of a megadrought in the American Southwest could hit 80 percent by the end of the century. Additionally, these droughts will likely be even more severe than those seen in the last millennium.

Such severe droughts will affect the amount and dryness of fuel such as trees and grass, Cook said.

“Fire depends on two things: having enough fuel and drying that fuel out so it can catch fire. So in the short term, more droughts probably mean more fire as the vegetation dries out,” said Cook. “If those droughts continue for a long period, like a megadrought, however, it can actually mean less fire, because the vegetation will not grow back as vigorously, and you may run out of fuel to burn. It’s definitely complicated.”

Current and future NASA measurements of soil moisture and precipitation will help to evaluate climate models’ predictions, making them even more accurate and useful for understanding Earth’s changing climate.

Cook and his GISS colleague Kate Marvel were the first to provide evidence that human-generated greenhouse gas emissions were influencing observed drought patterns as long ago as the early 1900’s. By showing that human activities have already affected drought in the past, their research provides evidence that climate change from human-generated greenhouse gas emissions will likely influence drought in the future.

Staying Ahead of the Fire

If the future does hold megadroughts for the southwestern United States, what might this mean for its fire seasons?

“Once we change the climatology and get drier and drier fuels, we should expect more intense fires and higher fire severity,” said Adam Kochanski, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Utah, referring to the size and impact of the fires. If fuels are moist, the fire is more likely to stay close to the ground and be less destructive, he said. Dry trees and plants make it more likely that flames will reach the forest canopy, making the fire more destructive and harder to control.

Kochanski and Jan Mandel of the University of Colorado Denver used data from NASA and other sources to simulate the interactions between wildfires, soil moisture and local weather. They built on previous work by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and others to develop the SFIRE module for the widely used Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF).

This module uses data from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard its Aqua and Terra satellites, and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) spacecraft.

Weather influences fires, but fires also influence local weather by producing heat, water vapor and smoke, Kochanski said. The winds from large fires can alter local weather patterns, and in extreme conditions, generate firestorms and fire tornadoes.

“It’s not uncommon for people involved in wildland fires to report that although the wind is not very strong, the fires propagate very fast,” Kochanski said. “If it isn’t that windy, but your fire is intense and releases a lot of heat, it has the potential to generate its own winds. Even if the ambient winds are weak, this fire will start moving as if it were really windy.”

Better modeling of these interactions not only helps firefighters better predict where and how a wildfire might spread, but also helps forest managers know whether a planned burn is safe.

A Tale of Fire and Snow

Fires’ effects persist long after they are extinguished, and the availability or lack of fresh water plays an important role in vegetation regrowth and recovery. Dry conditions may prevent new seeds from germinating in the burned areas. Vegetation loss can lead to erosion and sediment blocking waterways, and firefighting chemicals may contaminate water sources.

Forest fires can have impacts on future winter snowpacks as well, said Kelly Gleason, a snow hydrologist and assistant professor at Portland State University. “Snowpack” refers to the snow that accumulates over an entire winter, rather than a single snowfall.

Here too, NASA data are key to understanding the processes involved. Gleason and her team used 16 years of data from NASA’s MODIS instrument to investigate wildfires’ effects on snow melt in forests in the American West. They discovered that soot and debris from fire makes snow darker and less reflective for up to 15 years after a fire.

“It’s like wearing a black T-shirt on a sunny day,” Gleason said. “It primes the snowpack to absorb more sunlight energy. And there’s more energy anyway, because the forest canopy was burned, so more sun comes through.”

Their survey of roughly 850 fires between 2000 and 2016 showed that snow in burned forests melted, on average, five days earlier than snow in unburned forests. In some areas the snow melted weeks or months earlier than normal, Gleason said.

“Every year we experience earlier snow melt, there are strong relationships with big, hot, long-lasting fires the following summer,” she said. “It creates this vicious cycle where snow melts earlier due to climate change, which extends the summer drought period where the soil dries out, and when the fuels dry out, you get these big fires. This further accelerates snowmelt, further extending the summer drought period and fire potential.”

Modeling a safer future

Mandel and Kochanski’s fire-atmosphere model is already in operational use in Israel and Greece. While the software requires computing expertise to use, it is available for free, consistent with NASA’s mission to freely provide its data and other products to the public.

Branko Kosovi?, program manager for Renewable Energy for the Research Applications Laboratory and director of the Weather Systems and Assessment Program at NCAR, also used WRF to develop the fire prediction system for the state of Colorado’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control. This model uses a related module called FIRE and produces a fire, weather and smoke forecast useful for both wildfires and planned fires.

Kosovi? is also using the WRF system for his research, which uses NASA remote sensing data and machine learning to estimate fuel moisture daily over the contiguous Unites States.

“Measuring live fuel moisture [currently] has to be done manually,” Kosovi? said. “People have to go out, take the live fuel, and essentially cure it in ovens to see how much moisture there is. It’s very labor intensive. And you can imagine that, because of that, the data is sparse, both in space and in frequency and time.”

Kosovi?, Mandel and Kochanski hope to build systems that will give forest managers better information to plan controlled fires and help improve resource allocation during wildfires, leading to better risk assessment and recovery.

NASA scientists monitor both freshwater and fires constantly, from space, the air and the ground, collecting short- and long-term data as Earth’s climate continues to change. Programs such as the NASA Earth Science Disasters Program use satellite data to track active fires, monitor their effects on air quality and perform research that helps communities be more prepared before disasters strike. And looking to the future, modeling plays a key role in preparing for changing drought and fire seasons around the world.

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / June 20-21, 2019

Glenn — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 14:57:45 +0000

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

85 – 76 Lihue, Kauai
90 – 77 Honolulu, Oahu
87 – 75 Molokai AP
87 – 73 Kahului AP, Maui
87 – 73 Kona AP, Hawaii
85 – 69 Hilo, Hawaii

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

0.04 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.04 Moanalua RG, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.01 Lanai
0.01 Kahoolawe
0.03 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.32 Puho CS, Big Island

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

24 Port Allen, Kauai
27 Kuaokala, Oahu
21 Molokai
23 Lanai
31 Kahoolawe
30 Maalaea Bay, Maui
27 Kealakomo, Big Island

Higher level clouds to our northwest and west…will move over the state at times
(click on the images to enlarge them)

Thunderstorms well offshore…to the southwest, southeast and northwest

Partly to mostly cloudy…clear areas locally

Just a few showers locally – Looping image

There are no watches, warnings, or advisories at this time

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

Broad Brush Overview: Moderately strong trade winds will carry clouds and passing showers across windward areas for the most part. These very late spring trade winds will weaken and shift southeast Friday through early next week, leading to daytime sea breezes, isolated upcountry showers…and increasingly muggy conditions.

>>> Maui News story on the recent heat

Details: Our winds will shift southeast and decrease Friday into the weekend. The trades will hold for the time being at moderate strength, then a sea and land breeze pattern will develop Friday through the weekend. The models go on to suggest lighter winds holding through the middle of next week…with land and sea breezes continuing in leeward areas.

As the trades diminish and the low level flow shifts southeast, showers will favor windward areas and locations near the coast tonight and Friday morning, and interior and leeward areas during the afternoon hours Friday. A fairly dry pattern should then hold in place Friday night through the weekend, with a few showers possible near the coast at night and a few showers developing over the island interiors each afternoon.

Looking Further Ahead: The weather outlook becomes a bit more uncertain next week, although with the lighter wind regime looking quite likely, showers should favor windward and mountain areas during the mornings, and interior and leeward areas during the afternoon and evening hours. No significant rainfall is expected through this extended period…nor any tropical cyclones.

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: Moderately strong trades will hold, then begin to weaken tonight through Friday, as the ridge shifts southward into the area. This transition will allow the low-level flow to shift to the southeast direction, likely giving way to localized land and sea breeze conditions near the coasts Friday through early next week.

Surf along south facing shores will remain small through early next week, with mainly a combination of southeast trade wind energy and overlapping southerly swells moving through.

A decent south swell will become a possibility at the end of the month through the first couple of days in July.

Small to moderate surf will hold along east facing shores, then trend down Friday as the trades ease. An upward trend, however, is anticipated over the weekend as a northeast swell, from over the northeast Pacific moves through. Heights should remain below the advisory level for east facing shores through the peak this weekend.

Fire weather: Fuel conditions are drier than normal, although we’re still not expected to reach all the Red Flag thresholds (wind will likely be the limiting factor), although conditions will be dry and somewhat gusty, resulting in increased fire danger. Decreasing winds and increasing relative humidity values Friday onward…will diminish these concerns a bit.

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

>>> Here’s the latest Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) Weather Wall Presentation covering the eastern, central, and western Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea

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

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days

>>> NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is predicting that a near-normal Atlantic hurricane season is most likely this year. This outlook forecasts a 40% chance of a near-normal season, a 30% chance of an above-normal season and a 30% chance of a below-normal season. The hurricane season officially extends from June 1 to November 30.

For 2019, NOAA predicts a likely range of 9 to 15 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which 4 to 8 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including 2 to 4 major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5; with winds of 111 mph or higher). NOAA provides these ranges with a 70% confidence. An average hurricane season produces 12 named storms, of which 6 become hurricanes, including 3 major hurricanes.

Latest satellite image of the Atlantic

>>> Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days

Latest satellite image of the Gulf of Mexico

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are 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

>>> Eastern Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days

A low pressure system is expected to form within the next few days several hundred miles south of the southwestern coast of Mexico. Environmental conditions could support gradual development of this system while it moves west-northwestward through the middle of next week.

* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days…low…30 percent

Here’s the link to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)

>>> Central Pacific: There are no active tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days

>>> The central Pacific outlook calls for a 70% probability of 5 to 8 tropical cyclones, which includes tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes.

Here’s the link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)

>>> Northwest Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>>North and South Indian Oceans / Arabian Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Interesting: Most of the World to Face Record-High Temperatures Every Year Without Serious Climate Action — When we say, “how about that heat wave,” perhaps you think of the western United States, where temperatures last week soared above 120 degrees Fahrenheit, smashing dozens of historical heat records from Oregon to Arizona.

Or maybe you think of India — where intense heat has scorched the country for more than a month, killing at least 36 people and forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate their villages — or perhaps Kuwait, where local media recently reported high temperatures of 145 F, potentially the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

The point is, the Northern Hemisphere is really, really hot right now and summer has barely begun. If it seems like these record heat waves are happening more often, that’s because they are — and, according to a new study published June 17 in the journal Nature Climate Change, this scorching trend will continue for most of the globe every single year as long as no action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In the new study, a team of Australian meteorologists analyzed the predictions in 22 separate climate reports to calculate one range of über predictions about our planet’s hot, hot future. The scientists found that, under current levels of greenhouse gas emissions, high monthly temperature records will be set in approximately 58% of the world (including 67% of the poorest nations) every single year until 2100. Nearly 10% of the world will also have at least one monthly temperature record “smashed” by more than 1.8 F every year.

That’s one possible future. However, the researchers found, if the world’s nations substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 (a scenario that the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calls RCP2.6), the percentage of places on the planet setting new heat records every year drops to 14%.

“The impact of emissions reductions on the total number of monthly records set is stark,” the authors wrote in the study.

For example, the team found, many nations near the equator can expect to see 24 monthly heat records surpassed every decade that emissions remain unchecked — in other words, roughly two months of every year will be hotter than in any year before it. Under the low-emissions model, that number drops to less than three records per decade.

“The benefits of reducing emissions, in terms of both reducing the pace at which high temperature records are set and restricting the magnitude by which records are broken, are very clear,” the researchers wrote.

However, they cautioned, under the best-case scenario, it could still take decades for the rate of these monthly temperature extremes to start dropping. There’s no way we’re meeting that 2020 goal — but still, the sooner the world starts taking meaningful action against climate change, the better.

Hawaii Weather Today

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / May 17-18, 2026

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

>>> Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall

>>> Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

>>> Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / April 29-30, 2020

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

>>> Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / March 20-21, 2020

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / January 1-2, 2020

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / November 2-3, 2019

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

The weekend’s here!

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall

>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / October 28-29, 2019

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Here’s a link to the latest Pacific Disaster Center’s Weather Wall

>>> South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / September 9-10, 2019

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / July 17-18, 2019

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / July 10-11, 2019

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

Hawaiian Islands Weather Details & Aloha Paragraphs / June 20-21, 2019

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

World-wide Tropical Cyclone Activity

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~

~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~