December 2-3 2008
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 78
Honolulu, Oahu – 80
Kaneohe, Oahu – 82
Kahului, Maui – 88
Hilo, Hawaii – 84
Kailua-kona – 83
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the highest mountains…at 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon:
Kailua-kona – 82F
Molokai airport – 78F
Haleakala Crater – 55 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 39 (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Tuesday afternoon:
0.41 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.75 Wheeler airfield, Oahu
0.49 Molokai
1.12 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.52 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.30 Kapapala Ranch, Big Island
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a high pressure system far northeast of the islands, which will be nearly stationary. A ridge extending southwestward from the high will be over the islands through today. The ridge will move to a position just north of Kauai tomorrow and Friday. A strong low passing well northwest of the islands over the weekend will push the ridge south over the islands.
Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with the Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around the state during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the
Aloha Paragraphs
High surf on the north and west shores
Photo Credit: Flikr.com
Our winds remain on the light side, and from the kona direction Tuesday, which will likely continue into Wednesday. We’ll see locally hazy conditions at times into Wednesday, with better visibilities Thursday into Friday, as the trade winds return. The air flow at the moment will generally be light, with a high pressure ridge stationed right over the islands. As the trade winds return briefly later this week, blowing in the light to moderately strong realms…our atmosphere will have better visibilities. The latest model runs show more light southeast winds forecast for this coming weekend, which may very well bring the volcanic haze right back again then.
There have been some showers around, concentrating on Lanai, Molokai, and Maui…which will shift during the day to Oahu and Kauai. Tuesday will remain somewhat hazy at times, and typically a bit warmer than it would otherwise be…coming up from the south. There will be those showers, although with a ridge of high pressure aloft, no major downpours are expected. As the trade winds return, the bias for showers will shift back over to the windward sides. The breezes return to the southeast this weekend, when we may see some new showers arriving along our leeward coasts and slopes again.
We will find large to extra large waves breaking along our north and west facing beaches this week. The NWS office in
It’s early Tuesday morning here in Kula, Maui. Recapping, generally light winds, locally marginal air visibilites, a few showers…along with larger than normal surf along our north and west facing shores. Looking at this looping radar image, we have some showers coming up from the southwest direction…carried our way on the Kona breezes. At the time of this writing, I spot most of the showers falling over Oahu, which will spread to Kauai during the day. The Big Island may see a few stray showers, but nothing organized is expected. It looks like, besides the localized showers, and the hazy air, that our weather will generally be at least ok, most of the time…through the rest of this week. ~~~ As I drove home to Kula this evening, after being in Wailuku for an appointment, I found some very thick volcanic haze…some of the thickest I’ve seen in quite some time! I’ll be back online again very early Wednesday morning with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Tuesday night, either here in Hawaii, or someplace else in this large round globe of ours! Aloha, Glenn
TV weather show news: With almost 18 years under my belt, I’ve decided to discontinue the TV weather program. This decision wasn’t an easy one, one that I deliberated over for quite a while. In the end though, it seems like the right thing to do. As many of you know, I’ve been carrying a very heavy work load…with this website, having the weather show, and working as the senior weather analyst at the Pacific Disaster Center in Kihei, Maui. That has made for three weather related jobs, keeping me very busy. ~~~ I needed to find some relief from my 14 hour work days. I know that many people count on, and have enjoyed this 15 minute, live broadcast morning weather show. I’ve greatly enjoyed doing it myself! The last day of viewing on Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island will be December 19th, while the islands of Maui County will be on the air until December 24th. I will speak more of this as we move through the month, but just wanted to let you know. I will absolutely continue this website, and recommend that my TV viewers transfer over to this web site as their source for weather news. Please use the reply box below for your feedback, and I will respond to them individually. Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: What we eat can say a lot about us – where we live, how we live and eventually even when we lived. From the analysis of the intestinal contents of the 5,200-year-old Iceman from the Eastern Alps, Professor James Dickson from the University of Glasgow in the UK and his team have shed some light on the mummy’s lifestyle and some of the events leading up to his death. By identifying six different mosses in his alimentary tract, they suggest that the Iceman may have travelled, injured himself and dressed his wounds. The Iceman is the first glacier mummy to have fragments of mosses in his intestine. This is surprising as mosses are neither palatable nor nutritious and there are few reports of mosses used for internal medical treatments. Rather, mosses recovered from archaeological sites tend to have been used for stuffing, wiping and wrapping.
Dickson and colleagues studied the moss remains from the intestines of the Iceman on microscope slides, to find out more about his lifestyle and events during the last few days of his life. Their paper describes in detail the six different mosses identified and seeks to provide answers to two key questions in each case. Firstly, where did the Iceman come in contact with each species; secondly, how did each come to enter his alimentary tract. In particular, the authors of the new article in Vegetation History and Archaeobotany suggest that one type of moss is likely to have been used to wrap food, another is likely to have been swallowed when the Iceman drank water during the last few days of his life, and yet another would have been used as a wound dressing. One type of moss in the Iceman’s gut is not known in the region where the mummy was found, implying that the Iceman must have travelled.
Interesting2:
For the first time, seismic signals that precede a volcanic eruption have been simulated and visualized in 3-D under controlled pressure conditions in a laboratory. The ability to conduct such simulations will better equip municipal authorities in volcanic hot spots around the world in knowing when to alert people who live near volcanoes of an impending eruption. The international research team that conducted the experiments at the
"The holy grail of volcano research is to be able to predict with complete accuracy when and how exactly a volcano will erupt," said Philip Benson, Marie-Curie Research Fellow in Earth Sciences at University College London (UCL), who conducted the experiments in U of T’s Rock Fracture Dynamics Facility. "We are not there yet and, frankly, we may never be able to achieve that level of detail. However, being able to simulate the pressure conditions and events in volcanoes greatly assists geophysicists in exploring the scientific basis for volcanic unrest, ultimately helping cities and towns near volcanoes know whether to evacuate or not." Benson noted that nearly 500 million people live near enough to the Earth’s 600 active volcanoes to endure physical and economic harm should a serious eruption occur. "That is why improved understanding of volcanic mechanisms is a central goal in volcano-tectonic research and hazard mitigation."
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