Air Temperatures The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday afternoon:

Lihue, Kauai –                       82  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –         80  
Molokai airport –                  82

Kahului airport, Maui –        82
 

Kona airport     –                  82  

Hilo airport, Hawaii –               81

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 810pm Thursday evening:   

Kailua-kona – 76
Hana airport, Maui
– 68

Haleakala Summit
   43       (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 32        (near 13,800 feet on the Big Island)

Hawaii’s MountainsHere’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. This web cam is available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon shining down during the night at times. Plus, during the nights you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise and sunset too…depending upon weather conditions. Here's the Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui.

Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here.

 

Aloha Paragraphs


http://ih3.redbubble.net/image.6544752.6669/flat,550x550,075,f.jpg
Hawaiian Turkeys

  Winds light from the southeast,
locally voggy at times

 Showers falling at times into
Sunday…some locally heavy

Happy Thanksgiving!





As this weather map shows…we find a near 1026 millibar high pressure system now located far to the east-northeast of our islands, just offshore from the southern California coast. At the same time, a low pressure system has formed not far to the north-northwest of Kauai. Our local winds will remain from the southeast and even south through the rest of this week…and be quite light in general.

The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Thursday evening:

08            Makaha Ridge, Kauai – SE

13            Waianae Valley, Oahu – SE
05            Molokai – SE    
08            Kahoolawe – NNE
10            Lipoa, Maui – SE
08            Lanai – E

15            Kaloko-Honokohau, Big Island – NE

We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean
.  Here's the latest NOAA satellite picture – the latest looping satellite imageand finally the latest looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands.

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

0.04               Anahola, Kauai
0.15               Luluku
, Oahu
0.00
              Molokai
0.00               Lanai
0.00               Kahoolawe

2.10               Kepuni, Maui
2.15               Kealakomo, Big Island
  

                                                       ~~ Hawaii evening commentary ~~ 

Pressure configurations in our area are bringing generally light southeast winds across the islands, which will remain in place through Sunday…with strengthening trade winds arriving later Monday onwards. We currently find a near 1026 millibar high pressure system (weather map), located far to the east-northeast of the islands…near the west coast. Our atmosphere will remain showery, at least locally at times, with some heavy downpours leading to flooding possible here and there. This off and on showery weather pattern will remain active into the weekend. An approaching cold front from the northwest late this weekend, may get driven down close to the state Sunday evening…with returning trade winds filling in behind it later Monday through next Wednesday.  

As we look at this satellite image, we see fewer clouds over the islands tonight…with the Big Island being the one exception at the time of this writing.  We'll find lots of available moisture in our overlying atmosphere the next couple of days, which will help to fuel shower activity in places. The combination of this moisture, lighter winds, daytime heating of the islands, and low pressure over our area…will lead to an increase in showers at times into the weekend.  As the winds have shifted to the southeast, we'll see hazy conditions locally too, consisting of volcanic haze (vog). 

We'll find low pressure aloft over and around the islands, and near the surface too, setting the stage for unsettled weather at times through Sunday. Our winds have become noticeably lighter, and will remain light from the southeast through the weekend. This will lead to periods of volcanic haze in some parts of the island chain. The unsettled weather, as mentioned above, will bring showers to the islands at times too, although this isn't expected to be a constant rain by any means. Later on Sunday we may see the remnants of a weak cold front move down close to the state, which may bring a brief period of showery weather near Kauai and perhaps Oahu. Our trade winds finally return later Monday onwards for several days.

I puttered around most of the day, and ended up texting everyone I know practically…with Thanksgiving well wishes. My neighbor Jeff and I went down to lower Kula, to join some good friends of mine for our annual Thanksgiving get together. I'll take Jeff down to the airport after that, where he'll fly off to Amsterdam to meet his girlfriend for the rest of the holidays. Then, some other friends have invited me to join them for some dancing in lower Kula as well, which seems to fit nicely into my day. There will be a DJ playing music at this next place, and remembering these particular dance party's in the past…they are lots of fun. Here on Maui, its very voggy this evening, no doubt about it…with some afternoon sprinkles too. I'll meet you back here in the morning on Friday, at which point I'll bring you up to speed on what's happened, and what will be happening, plus any unexpected changes. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving wherever you're spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Thanksgiving ~ I want to take a minute to thank you for visiting my website, perhaps for the first time…or perhaps many, many times since I began it way back in 1996. I'm thankful that Hawaii Weather Today has continued, and has risen to some degree of popularity over these last 17 years. I'm also thankful that I'm part of the James family, with my mom Dorothy, my sisters Judy and Janet, and my brother Steve. My father Ed passed away earlier this year, although I still hold him near in my heart. I'm thankful too, to have so many friends, many of them being long term close friends, some of whom I still relate to from my elementary school days. I made many friends in my college days as well, and many more while living here in Hawaii since 1975. I'm blessed to have good health, a good frame of mind, and having succeeded in my career of weather work.

Bringing this full circle, it revolves back around to you and I. I write about the weather each day, and you read about it in turn. I love this weather related friendship of ours, even though in most cases we haven't met in person…and likely never will. Nonetheless, it's very special to me, special enough that I have kept watching the weather, and sharing that awareness with you over all these many years. I do this alone, and it brings me a deep sense of completion and satisfaction somehow…and is largely what my life is about in many ways. My focus is centered on the sky, the winds and waves, and how it changes from day to day. I'm so very thankful to have these natural elements as my friends and companions through this wonderful life that I call my own. Thank you! Yes, that heart felt thanks is going out to you sitting there at your computer reading these words right now, wherever you are, on this day in our lives that we remember to be thankful. Aloha, Glenn
 

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea:
  There are no active tropical cyclones

Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones

Eastern Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Central Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Western Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

South Pacific Ocean:
  There are no active tropical cyclones

North and South Indian Oceans:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Interesting:  As we get ready for a great traditional Thanksgiving feast, its interesting to wonder if this meal is really what the pilgrims and Native Americans would have eaten. Most likely our traditions have nothing to do with what really went down. We cannot even be sure that the first Thanksgiving had a turkey, and even if they did, according to a new study, this main dish would be genetically different than the bird present at the first Thanksgiving.

"Ancient turkeys weren't your Butterball," said Rob Fleischer, head of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics. "We set out to compare the genetic diversity of the domestic turkeys we eat today with that of the ancestral wild turkey from South Mexico.

Some of what we found surprised us." First to note is that all commercial turkey lines have descended from the South Mexican turkey that was first domesticated in 800 BC. To obtain the turkeys' genetic code, researchers sequenced the genomes of domestic turkeys from seven commercial lines and compared the genomes to those of three museum specimens of the South Mexican turkeys collected in 1899 from Chihuahua, Mexico.

What researchers found was that the domestic turkey exhibits less genetic variation than not only its ancestral wild counterparts, but the species has less diversity compared to other livestock breeds, like domestic pigs or chickens.

"It is often the case that selection in domestication reduces the level of variation," Fleischer said. "What did surprise us, however, is how well the ancient DNA from the three museum specimens worked to generate the genome sequences needed to determine the genetic variation and structure.

These data and this approach show great promise for determining what genes were involved in the process of turkey domestication." Turkey is the second largest contributor of poultry meat consumed worldwide and the production per bird doubled between 1970 and 2008 as breeders started selecting traits that would appeal to consumers.

However, this genetic "improvement" of farm animals has resulted in a loss of genetic diversity. The research is important in order to discover the differences between ancient and modern domesticated turkeys, which can predict any unforeseen problems that may threaten the stability of the commercial turkey lines. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans consume more than 45 million turkeys every Thanksgiving. So gobble up and enjoy your turkey day!

Interesting2:   Americans will dine on white and dark turkey meat this Thanksgiving, with some using the giblets for stuffing. Still, even on turkey day, most people will start their morning with chicken eggs. Why are turkey eggs so unpopular? Because they’re expensive. Chicken hens are egg-laying dynamos, dropping one almost every day, while a turkey produces only about two per week.

Chickens begin laying eggs at about five months of age, but turkeys don’t have their first cycle until more than two months later. Commercial egg producers typically, although controversially, allocate less than 50 square inches of space to a hen. Turkeys are given more than 3 square feet, enough to accommodate eight chicken hens. Turkeys also require more food than chickens.

These factors combine to make turkey eggs far more expensive than chicken eggs. A dozen chicken eggs currently cost approximately $1.61. (Cage-free eggs cost twice as much.) There’s no nationwide data on the cost of turkey eggs—the USDA doesn’t even have grading regulation for turkey eggs—but many producers sell them for $2 to $3 per egg. Turkey eggs used to be a menu staple in North America.

Wild turkeys roamed the continent before the arrival of humans, and archaeologists have found turkey-egg shells at the encampments of pre-Columbian Americans. Hopi Indians consider the eggs a delicacy. (The Navajo ate only the flesh of turkeys, however, European settlers noted.)

Europeans took domesticated turkeys across the Atlantic in the 16th century, and turkey eggs were soon a part of Old-World cuisine, particularly in England. Americans also served them until fairly recently. Turkey egg omelettes were a regular offering at New York’s legendary Delmonico’s restaurant in the late 19th century.

The easiest and most traditional preparation method for turkey eggs is boiling (six minutes in simmering liquid) or poaching (four minutes). Nineteenth-century chefs also believed that turkey eggs made better sauces than did the eggs of other fowl. A full recipe can be found here, but the basic process is to boil and dice the eggs, then fold them into a Béchamel sauce.

Alexis Soyer, the most celebrated culinary professional in Victorian England and arguably the English-speaking world’s first celebrity chef, claimed that turkey eggs were better in baked goods than chicken eggs. (You have to adjust for their size, of course.) Turkey eggs have been the subject of slander on the continent—French commentators in the 1500s and 1600s claimed that the eggs caused leprosy. (In fact, the microbe Mycobacterium leprae causes the disease.

Armadillos transmit the pathogen to humans, but turkey eggs do not.) Turkey eggs contain most of the same nutrients as chicken eggs but are richer. The average turkey egg is 50 percent larger than a chicken egg, but contains nearly twice as many calories and grams of fat and four times as much cholesterol. Duck and goose eggs also contain more fat and protein than chicken eggs do, which is one reason why most people find “exotic” eggs more flavorful than the ubiquitous chicken egg.