CAIRO Egypt's parliament on Wednesday backed plans to hand over two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia under an agreement that has attracted widespread public criticism.

House of Representatives Speaker Ali Abdelaal said the required majority of lawmakers had voted for the agreement, which the government signed last year, despite a court striking it down in March.

"I announce the House's final approval of the maritime demarcation agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed on April 8, 2016," Abdelaal said before adjourning the session.

The treaty must now be ratified by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, which is a formality.

The vote came very swiftly. The House Committee on Defence and National Security unanimously backed the plan earlier on Wednesday and referred it to the House for a final vote.

A majority approved it less than four hours later. Those opposed to the measure stood up in protest and chanted "Egyptian, Egyptian" in reference to the islands.

"Today is a terrible day for the Egyptian people, one in which the nation has lost part of its land," said lawmaker Haitham al-Hariri.

Several legislators opposed to the deal threatened to hold an open-ended sit-in. Some said they were considering resigning in protest.

Sisi's government last year announced the maritime demarcation agreement with Saudi Arabia, which has given billions of dollars of aid to Egypt, ceding control of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir.

The plan triggered street protests last year from many Egyptians, who say their country's sovereignty over the islands dates back to a treaty from 1906, before Saudi Arabia was founded.

Dozens of protesters gathered in downtown Cairo outside the press union on Tuesday evening. Eight were arrested, including three journalists, and are being held for 24 hours to be questioned on accusations of illegally protesting and insulting the president, according to state news agency MENA.

The Egyptian and Saudi governments say the islands are Saudi but have been subject to Egyptian protection since 1950 at the request of Saudi Arabia.

JURISDICTION SPAT

The treaty has been referred to the courts, irritating Riyadh and raising tensions between two Arab allies.

Egypt's highest administrative court blocked the deal but parliament insisted the matter was constitutionally within its domain.

Parliamentary leaders and government lawyers say the House of Representatives is the only entity allowed to rule on matters of sovereignty while the Supreme Administrative Court insists it is within its jurisdiction to scrap the deal.

The Supreme Constitutional Court will rule on who has jurisdiction but has not set a date or even started discussing the issue. It was not immediately clear what the legal situation of the treaty was following Wednesday's vote.

A government report advising parliament on the terms of the agreement said Egypt would keep administrative control over the islands and Egyptians would not need visas to visit them if they were transferred to Saudi Arabia.

Opposition groups accuse Sisi of handing over the islands to please his Saudi backers and in return for continued aid.

Saudi Arabia was Sisi's biggest international supporter when he led the military in ousting an elected but unpopular Islamist president in 2013 following mass protests.

(Reporting by Nashat Hamdy and Mahmoud Mourad; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Giles Elgood and Tom Heneghan, Larry King)

LONDON Iranian forces killed two members of a Sunni Muslim jihadist group in the city of Chabahar on Wednesday and arrested five others, the intelligence minister said, as security forces stepped up measures to prevent militant attacks.

ANKARA/DOHA Turkey sent its foreign minister to Qatar on Wednesday as part of a drive to repair Qatar's rift with fellow Gulf Arab states.

Originally posted here:

Egypt's parliament approves Red Sea islands transfer to Saudi Arabia - Reuters

This storyoriginally appeared on High Country News and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

If heat is the enemy, Marcela Herrera thought she was ready for battle last summer at her familys north Los Angeles apartment.

Old air conditioner units chugged away on windows in three rooms. Extension cords snaked into box fans on the floor, positioned along a hallway to push cooler air towards warmer spots. Bamboo shades, bent blinds and curtains beat back the sun.

But none of that prevented her eldest son, Edwin Daz, from getting a nosebleed each time a heat wave crested over the familys dense working-class neighborhood. And as outdoor temperatures climbed into the 90s, the 17-year-old suffered painful, debilitating migraines. The family doctor recommended that he try to stay cooler for the sake of his health.

Western communities, including Los Angeles, are aware that urban heat is a serious and growing threat to public health, and the warming climate only increases the problem. Its not as visible as other catastrophes, but the implications can be far reaching, says Elizabeth Rhoades, who works on climate issues in Los Angeles Countys Department of Public Health.

Predictions are for longer, more frequent, and more severe heat events throughout the Southwest, especially in Los Angeles and Phoenix. Studies in the last decade suggest that heat especially impacts very old and very young city dwellers, poor neighborhoods, and those without central air conditioning: people like Edwin Daz and Marcela Herrera. But researchers are still learning about how people are affected by excessive heat in the places where they spend most of their timeinside their homes. Few policies exist to protect the most vulnerable, and doctors say the conditions are poorly tracked.

Heat is sneaky. It worsens pre-existing conditions, such as heart and lung disease, kidney problems, diabetes and asthma, more often than it kills directly. People end up going to the hospital because heat affects their health, makes their asthma worse or something worse, says David Eisenman, a professor of medicine and public health at UCLA. But its not technically coded as that in the records. Its coded as worsening asthma. So we really undercount the number of cases where heat is a factor.

Michael Slezak

Marine Heatwaves Are Spawning Unprecedented Climate Chaos

Oliver Milman

Here Are All the Climate Records Earth Shattered Last Year

Damian Carrington

2016 Was the Hottest Year on Record, and Humans Are to Blame

And urban heat is layered. Los Angeles is as much as 6 degrees hotter than surrounding areas because of whats called the heat island effect. Sprawl defines not just heat islands but what some call an archipelago of high temperatures across modern urban areas. Geography, wind patterns, tree cover and concrete all work to create hotspots where temperatures are higher and air pollution is worse. In fact, climate models suggest that Herreras San Fernando Valley neighborhood, far from ocean breezes, will warm 10 to 20 percent faster than the rest of Los Angeles.

Theres been this assumption that we can all cool off somehow. And in some ways that might have been true 100 years ago, Eisenman says. We dont have access to the natural cooling environment like we did before.

The landscapes cooling elements disappeared long before Edwin Daz and his mother arrived in the valley. Their Pacoima neighborhood derives its name from the Native Tongva word for a place of running water. (These days, the now concrete-locked Pacoima Wash, a flood-control channel, is often dry.) After World War II, the neighborhood boomed when developers marketed boxy homes to African-Americans shut out of other parts of the valley by racial covenants.

Today, Pacoima is overwhelmingly Latino. And its single-family homes have produced a complex urban density, says Max Podemski, planning director for the community advocacy group Pacoima Beautiful. Lawns have given way to paved-over yards. Second-dwelling units, divisions within ranch homes, and modified garages can house several families together.

Thats just totally ubiquitous here, Podemski says. And these converted dwellings, uncounted and unpermitted, may or may not have insulation or air conditioners or windows to catch a breeze: The city just doesnt have data about it.

To understand more about how heat moves through Pacoima housing, last summer I built small electronic sensors to record dozens of heat and humidity measurements an hour, during parts of August, September and October: the hottest months in Los Angeles. One sensor went in Edwins bedroom.

In early afternoon, that sensor recorded temperatures equal to those recorded outside, at the weather station at Van Nuys Airport. Evening temperatures in Edwins room were up to 9 degrees higher than outside.

Those results tell a similar story to what a group of researchers, community activists and scientists found in about 30 homes equipped with similar sensors in New Yorks Harlem last year. Buildings have a memory for heat, says Adam Glenn, the founder of AdaptNY and a member of the community climate change observation project, ISeeChange. In New York, old stone buildings hold onto thermal radiation, especially on higher floors, late into the night. So the danger to people continues even when the heat wave is over.

But the ways buildings respond to climate vary. In Herreras apartment, a lack of insulation, common in older California houses, may be the key factor. In the evening, she says, We can feel the warmth in the walls.

The blanket of heat smothering LA hasnt escaped City Halls notice. Mayor Eric Garcetti has set an ambitious goal to lower the citys overall temperature 3 degrees in 20 years. LAs Office of Sustainability is studying where and how to deploy landscape-level cooling strategies, such as planting trees and developing cooler pavements. But it will take years to even know whether the goal is achievable.

In the meantime, renters like Herreras family battle excessive heat mostly alone. According to the Census Bureaus National Housing Survey, half as many rental properties in Los Angeles have central air as do owner-occupied units. Coping costs money. In summer, Herreras power bill can be as high as $200 a month.

As temperatures rise in the Southwest, so do the stakes for city dwellers. In Phoenix, the Maricopa County Health Department has closely tracked heat-related death for more than a decade, producing an exhaustive report each year breaking down cases by age, ethnicity, economic background and other risk factors.

Arizona State University researchers are working with Maricopa and Los Angeles counties to better understand how heat causes sickness and death, and how to counteract it.

Many of us believe that no one should die prematurely because of heat, and there are significant public costs associated with heat just in the health-care sector alone, says David Hondula, an ASU climatologist who studies heat impacts. Heat-associated deaths are climbing in Phoenix, but the reasons remain unclear. If we cant even answer that question, figuring out the best strategy to keep Phoenicians safe, or residents of Los Angeles safe, in a future that is expected to be warmer than it is today, would seem almost impossible, Hondula says.

With summer coming, the Daz-Herrera family has made some changes, insulating the ceiling of Edwins room and adding more air conditioners.

Paying for this has meant skimping elsewhere: fewer outings, no new clothes. Herrera worries that tight finances will force them to turn the air conditioners off. Still, all the changes weve made are helping us, she says. Its better to invest a bit more because health comes first.

Molly Peterson has been covering the environment with a focus on water and climate change since 2002. Formerly with NPR and Southern California Public Radio, she now writes for all kinds of public media outlets, and contributes to Laws and Nature, which tracks environmental policy. Shes based in Los Angeles.

This story was made possible with support from the Center for Health Journalism at The University of Southern California, while iSeeChange contributed heat sensor data.

Continue reading here:

Urban Heat Islands Can Be Deadly, and They're Only Getting Hotter - WIRED

Egypt Parliament Cedes Islands to Saudi Arabia Risking Backlash Wall Street Journal (subscription) CAIROEgypt's parliament on Wednesday approved a controversial deal to cede two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, an agreement backed by President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi but widely criticized by people in the North African country. After days of ...

Read this article:

Egypt Parliament Cedes Islands to Saudi Arabia Risking Backlash - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

To mark 90 years since the death of Jerome K Jerome, author of Three Men in a Boat, we've unearthed 21 of the most fascinating islands and eyots on the Thames.

This estuary island - whose named means "Isle of Sheep" in ancient Saxon - has the distinction of being one of the few parts of Britain to have been occupied by an overseas power since the Norman invasion. A Dutch fleet captured it in 1667, before clearing off after a few days with supplies, ammunition and guns.

It played an important role in the early history of British aviation, being home to Lord Brabazon's Royal Aero Club and the Shellbeach Aerodrome, and possesses Britain's only established scorpion population, brought to the island on board a ship in the 19th century.

Inhabitants of the island (there's around 40,000) call themselves "Swampies".

Recognisable to regular viewers of the Boat Race, Chiswick Eyot is accessible by foot at low tide, almost fully submerged at high tide (tree branches excepted), and like many islands in the Thames was used in the 19th century for the growing of osiers, used by basket and furniture makers.

The island was in the headlines in 2010after a pensioner claimed he had been living a Robinson Crusoe lifestyle on the island for six months, while sleeping in a net to avoid the incoming tide.

Known as Strand Ayt until the English Civil War, this islands current name was inspired by the myth that Oliver Cromwell took refuge there. A secret tunnel supposedly linked the island to the Bulls Head pub in Chiswick, though no evidence of it has ever been found.

A tollbooth was set up on the island in 1777, and a smithy was built there in the 1865, surviving until the 1990s. The island's only inhabitants now are birds, such as herons, Canada geese and cormorants.

Now uninhabited, with no buildings, Brentford Ait was once home to the notorious Three Swans pub. Fred S. Thackers The Thames Highway Locks and Weirs, published in 1920, explains: In March 1811 one Robert Hunter of Kew Green described the island to the city as a great Nuisance to this parish and the Neighbourhood on both sides of the River. It contained a House of Entertainment, which has long been a Harbour for Men and women of the worst description, where riotous and indecent Scenes were often exhibited during the Summer Months on Sundays.

It is now covered with willows, planted to obscure the Brentford gasworks from the view of Kew Gardens. A gap in the middle of the island, apparent at low tide, is known as Hog Hole.

Once called Petersham Ait, this island made news way back in 1898 when its owner Joseph Glover considered selling it to Pears soap so the firm could erect an enormous advertising hoarding.

This Twickenham mudbanks louche heyday was in the 1960s, when the Eel Pie Island Hotel became a surprisingly popular music venue, hosting the likes of Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones. The island developed into something of a hippie commune, and is now home to around 120 inhabitants, a couple of boatyards and a handful of artists' studios, which can be visited on occasional open days.

In 2005, the comedian and writer Danny Wallace attempted to invade it, declaring himself leader of Eel Pie Island, until the Metropolitan Police negotiated a peaceful handover of power back to the Queen.

Located above Molesey Lock, Taggs Island - previously known as Walnut Tree Ait - was once home to the Thames Hotel, a venue frequented by well-to-do Londoners including the future Edward VII. The hotel was rebuilt by Fred Karno a man credited with two great deeds: discovering Charlie Chaplin and inventing the custard-pie-in-the-face gag but was eventually demolished in 1971.

The island is now occupied by houseboat residents, including Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour.

Known as Folly Island until 1890, when the hotelier and opera impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte, founder of theSavoy, bought it and had a house built there. He intended to use it as a secluded annex of the luxury hotel, but was refused an alcohol license. Nevertheless, W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan were regular visitors. A footbridge was added in 1964, and there is a small marina.

In 1798, Horatio Nelson, still smarting from losing an arm the year before, foiled Napoleon's planned invasion of Egypt during the Battle of the Nile. His reward among other things was this 280-metre island near Shepperton Lock, which he used as a fishing retreat. It is now occupied by a couple of dozen houses, with Egyptian names such as The Sphinx and Memphis.

A few hundred metres downstream from Runnymede Bridge, and connected to the north bank of the Thames with a footbridge, Holm Island was once used as a romantic hideaway by Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson (they is the largest house on the island, known as 'The Nest').

One of several sites that lays claim to being where King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215,this 3.72-acre chunk of Berkshire was put up for sale in 2014(the asking price? 3.95million). The Telegraphs Christopher Middleton described it as the perfect chance to become a custodian of history.

Inside the islands main house there is a Charter Room and an octagonal piece of stone where the parchment itself was supposedly spread out. The island served as a meeting place for Henry III and the future Louis VIII of France two years later, while far more recently - in 1974 - Queen Elizabeth II paid a visit and planted a tree in the garden.

Located in Old Windsor, Friday Island is so called because its shape supposedly resembles the footprint of Man Friday from Daniel Defoes novel Robinson Crusoe. It was for 30 years, until his death in 1991 the home of forensics expert Dr Julius Grant, renowned for proving that the Hitler Diaries were forged.

Referenced in Jerome K Jeromes Three Men in a Boat (passing through the lock here was when they first spot Windsor Castle), Ham Island contains 37 luxurious homes, many of which were badly hit by flooding in 2014. It is also home to the Blueacre Horse Rescue Centre.

Owned by Eton College since 1923, and located just upstream of the Oakley Court (the location of Dr Frank N Furters residence in The Rocky Horror Picture Show),Queens Eyot contains a handsome clubhouse and can be hired out for functions and weddings.

Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, acquiredthis islandnear the gastronomic enclave of Bray in 1738 for use as a fishing retreat. He hired architect Robert Morris to build a lodge and a temple, and commissioned Andieu de Clermont, a French artist, to fill the former with unusual depictions of monkeys involved in humanlike activities, such as shooting, rowing and smoking (a forerunner to the PG Tips ads?).

The lodge became a hotel in the 19th century, and over the years has welcomed Edward VII, Edward Elgar, Nellie Melba and H.G. Wells, among others. It is currently closed for major renovation and will reopen in late 2017.

Close to Maidenhead, Berkshire, Boulters Island was the home of Richard Dimbleby, the late BBC broadcaster and father of David and Jonathan.

Found just north of Henley-on-Thames, Temple Island lies at the start of the course for the towns annual regatta. Its main feature is James Wyatts folly, built in 1771 and with an interior based on recently discovered designs from Pompeii. It is now owned by the stewards of theHenley Royal Regatta, who have carried out restoration work to the temple, made it available for hire, and retained part of the island as a nature reserve.

An (almost) heart-shaped island, Sonning Eye is utterly idyllic, possessing an 18th-century watermill and 12 other Grade II-listed buildings. It has been a favoured location of many artists, including George Price Boyce, the Pre-Raphaelite painter, but more recently attracted the attention ofUS film starGeorge Clooneyand his new wife, the human rights lawyerAmal Alamuddin. They bought the island's Mill House for a cool 10m in 2014.

Located near Caversham Lock, close to Reading, View Island was once a boatyard but has been a public park since 1998 and is notable for the carved wooden sculptures found scattered on it. It can be reached from the Thames Path at Hills Meadow, to the east of Reading Bridge.

This island accessible only by boat is best known as the location of a duel in 1163 between Robert de Montfort and Henry of Essex, the standard bearer to Henry II. According to W.M. Childs's The Story of the Town of Reading (1905), the quarrel arose when during a battle with the Welsh Henry of Essex allegedly dropped the standard and cried out falsely that the King has been slain a cowards act, declared de Montford. Essex and Montfort were ferried to the island, where Robert of Montfort "thundered on him manfully with hard and frequent strokes." Henry fell, was presumed dead, and was taken away by the monks of Reading for burial. But the monks found that he was still very much alive, and under their care he recovered from his wounds, and became a monk himself.

The island is now home to a private residence, a boatyard and a bowling club.

A thickly-wooded island near Abingdon Lock, this was once according to D.S. MacColls The Thames from Source to Sea (1890) - a popular spot for picnickers. Visitors included Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Carrolls Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Here is the original post:

21 fascinating islands on the Thames you (probably) didn't know about - Telegraph.co.uk

One is a 7,300-person tropical paradise. Another is a Danish territory roughly twice the size of Manhattan situated in the icy waters off Northern Europe. They might sound like polar opposites, but Molokai, Hawaii, and Samso, Denmark, have one very important thing in common: Both islands are at the forefront of a global push to use remote, energy-constrained territories as a petri dish for fossil-fuel-free societies.

From the European Union to Australia, Asia and the Caribbean, the number of islands targeting a transition to 100 percent renewable energy has swelled in recent years as climate change models forecast increasingly dire fallout for geographically vulnerable outlying areas.

"What we are looking to create is a proactive instead of a reactive model for how communities decide where they want to go," said Emillia Noordhoek, director of renewable resources for the seven-year-old nonprofit Sustinable Molokai. "Were at this perfect moment where we need to do this because of climate change, and we want to do this because of all the policies weve set in play."

As Hawaii targets a statewide 100 percent renewable energy goal by 2045, the 260-square-mile island of Molokai has been fast-tracked for a transition as soon as 2020. The island's challenge in going from ambitious goals to a vision of community-owned clean energy infrastructure and navigating thorny political, economic and social obstacles likely to arise in the process in many ways underscores broader sustainable development challenges both on islands and on "the mainland."

In this quest, Molokai also has joined with other islands with similar ambitions, including Samso, in a nascent knowledge-sharing effort called the Tentou Project. Also in Europe, dozens of islands in Croatia, France, Italy, Greece and Portugal have come together under the Smart Island Initiative to launch and study "living labs" for alternatives to incumbent oil and coal-powered infrastructure.

We are looking to create a proactive instead of a reactive model.

The case for focusing on islands first, as summed up by the Smart Islands Initiative, is, "They are among the first to experience the devastating impacts [climate change] has on local ecosystems and livelihoods. Meanwhile, insularity implies energy dependency on fossil fuels, high transportation costs, limited economic diversification and access to markets."

Still, asNoordhoek and her peers are learning, hammering out new models for ownership, funding and even neighborhood debates about aesthetics isn't easy. That's especially true, she said, when you add in utility providers who profit from existing systems and the mistrust of outsiders that can accompany life in remote corners of the world.

One very prominent outsider that has retained a very strong presence in places such as Hawaii and American Samoa is the U.S. military an increasingly strong force for expediting clean energy adoption in its own right.

In addition to harnessing the budgetary benefits of plentiful sun, wind and rain instead of expensive imported oil, Army Reservesenergy specialist Christina Vicari said military installations for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and other branches also increasingly look to renewable energy projects and energy efficiency upgrades for a more existential reason.

"Theyre starting to look at it from a broader perspective, which is mission security," said Vicari, officially an energy coordinator and environmental project specialist with military consulting firm Dawson Enterprises. "We dont have a back-up plan right now."

For Noordhoek, the economic case for changing Molokai's energy status quo became evident when she was working to build affordable housing on the island with Habitat for Humanity. Around 2010, when consumer energy rates hovered around 49 cents per kilowatt-hour, the nonprofit helped to build two of Molokai's first off-grid homes as a way to reduce the financial burden of utility bills.

"Its still the highest in the nation,"Noordhoek said, noting that current electricity rates are closer to 36 cents per kilowatt-hour. "The way that you use energy is a big part of what you need to look at in affordable housing, because its the hidden cost of housing."

That perspective has helped inform Sustinable Molokai's vision for focusing on social equity in the island's vision for renewable energy. Although Hawaii has struggled statewide with how best to balance the 100 percent renewable energy goal with the objectives of publicly traded power utility Hawaiian Electric, Noordhoek said Molokai aims to cultivate community-owned power.

In a state filing earlier this year, Hawaiian Electric officially stated a goal to transition Molokai to 100 percent renewable power by 2020 through a mix of solar, wind, battery storage and biofuels. Now, Noordhoek said she hopes the plan, which follows years of advocacy from groups such as Sustinable Molokai, will allow enough time to build community input into the process.

That would be a shift from the past, she said, when major proposals for wind developments and other large-scale energy projects have at times triggered sensitivities to outsiders imposing a top-down business plan.

"It was developers and development coming from the outside in and telling the community how they were going to develop renewable energy projects and who was going to benefit," Noordhoek said. You have to tread lightly."

More broadly, there's also the matter of extrapolating lessons learned from one island to others or even back to the mainland.

One recent report by European energy industry association Eurelectric, for instance, pinpointed the difficulty in tailoring solutions to individual islands while also establishing frameworks for legal or technical models that can be applied in multiple places.

"Designing innovative cooperation mechanisms and financing instruments should be part of this process," the report authors wrote.

While groups such as Sustinable Molokai work to shore up clean energy assets for island residents, the military is one institution working in parallel to scale renewable power for its own purposes.

With the Army Reserves, priorities include a 325-kW solar project underway in American Samoa and implementing several other net-zero road maps created for installations on the islands of Guam, Maui and Saipan.

"Theres a lot of momentum," Vicari said. "Day to day, its keeping up to date with the progress of projects. It takes so long for these projects to start moving forward."

From scoping out where to actually build new solar installations to adjusting metering systems, a range of logistical challenges can arise. And then there are tight budgets to keep in mind.

"Not just with energy but all construction projects youll hear, 'Oh, we need more money,'" Vicari said. "Its not as cost-effective as when you went into it."

Looking ahead, Vicari said the goal is to widen net-zero efforts to water conservation and waste reduction. (Across the board, Vicari said that her budget and mandate have not changed since U.S. President Donald Trump moved to withdraw the country from the Paris Climate Agreement.)

For Sustinable Molokai, too, ramping up renewable energy is a prospect with significance that extends beyond how islands are powered day to day.

"The goal is to create a sustainable island, not just with energy but with food and economic development and conservation," Noordhoek said.

Go here to see the original:

Fossil-free islands: A blueprint for sustainable development? - GreenBiz

Click here for a link to the KHON2 Weather Radar.

Our next weather maker is here, an unstable airmass is over the islands through Thursday, resulting in a chance of thunderstorms and the potential for heavy rainfall, according to the National Weather Service.

Although much of the clouds and showers will remain focused over windward and mauka areas, occasional showers will manage to spill over to leeward sections as well.

A few thunderstorms and locally heavy showers are possible Wednesday into Thursday as an upper low moves over the state.

The instability is associated with with swirl of clouds to the north. Higher up in the atmosphere the air is bitterly colder than usual and that can trigger heavy rain and thunderstorms which we already have seen Tuesday.

These types of disturbances are common during our winter months, but not unheard of in the late spring and early summer.

All in all, heavy rain and a chance of thunderstorms are possible through Thursday, with the worst being Wednesday afternoon.

Thunderstorms might not be widespread but spotty through Thursday and winds remain trades to 15 mph.

A drier more stable airmass will then build into the islands Friday through early next week, with showers favoring windward and mauka areas.

Excerpt from:

Chance of thunderstorms, heavy rainfall for the islands through Thursday - KHON2