Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / March 3-4, 2015

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

81 – 72  Lihue, Kauai
84 – 72  Honolulu, Oahu
78 – 68  Molokai AP
83 – 71  Kahului, Maui
84 – 71  Kailua Kona
82 – 67  Hilo, Hawaii

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

3.39  Kilohana, Kauai
1.13  Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.10  Molokai
0.00  Lanai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.17  Kahakuloa, Maui
1.13  Pohakuloa Kipuka Alala, Big Island

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph)…as of Tuesday evening:

24  Lihue, Kauai – NE
33  Waianae Valley – NE
24  Molokai – NNE
35  Lanai – NE
29  Kahoolawe – NNE
25  Kapalua, Maui – NNE
32  Kealakomo, Big Island – ENE

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’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.

Aloha Paragraphs

Multi-layered clouds over and surrounding the islands


Partly to mostly cloudy in all directions

Showers increasing, some locally heavy with thunderstorms along
the windward coasts and slopes, elsewhere at times…most
actively from Maui County down through the Big Island

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

>The Mauna Kea Summit…on the Big Island of Hawaii<
Winter Storm Warning…Big Island Summits

Flash Flood Watch…through tonight over both the
Big Island and Maui / Flood Advisory…parts of Maui

Small Craft Advisory…strong trade winds across
windiest coasts and channel waters

Trade winds lasting through the week, turning cooler from a more northerly direction Thursday into the weekend…strong and gusty at times locally. Here’s the latest weather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean, along with a real-time wind profiler of the central Pacific. We find high pressure systems far to the northwest and northeast of the islands. At the same time, we have a surface low pressure system just to the north of the islands, which is moving slowly towards the northeast. This weak low has a trailing trough just offshore just to the east of the Big Island. The trades will prevail through the rest of this week, becoming stronger during the mid-week period…turning more northerly later in the week, with a subtle tropical cool down into the weekend.

We’ll see an increase in rainfall, some very generous…particularly on the Big Island and Maui County into Thursday. Here’s the looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands. The atmosphere is becoming much more shower prone again now, and will remain that way through Thursday morning, with some localized heavy showers…and even another round of thunderstorms. The trade winds will bring most of these showers to our windward sides, although not exclusively. The extended outlook has changed now, with the prospect of heavy rains and more thunderstorms over the eastern side of the state…stay tuned.  I’ll be back with more updates on all of the above, I hope you have a great Tuesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui: The skies are mostly clear to partly cloudy here on Maui before sunrise. The winds are generally quite light early this morning, with a low temperature of 51 degrees here at my weather tower in Kula. It was 73 degrees down at the Kahului airport near the ocean, with 70 degrees at the Hana airport, and 37 degrees atop the Haleakala Crater. The warmest temperatures around the state were 73 degrees at Kailua Kona on the Big Island, Lihue AP on Kauai, and Honolulu on Oahu. There should be enough high cirrus cloud coverage this morning, to prompt some nice colors in our skies at sunrise.

~~~ We’re into the middle afternoon hours here in upcountry Kula, under partly cloudy skies, much of which consist of the high cirrus. Despite the cloud cover, the air temperature is a warm 77.7 degrees, with light winds at best.  There are quite a few lower level clouds down in the central valley, and it looks like some showers are falling from their bases. Looking at the radar, Maui isn’t the only island getting a few showers, with Oahu and the Big Island picking up some moisture this afternoon as well.

~~~ Now at 605pm Tuesday evening, the winds are coming up, and clouds are increasing markedly. Looking around the island via satellite and radar, it’s looking ominous to say the least. An area of low pressure is drawing a very moist and shower prone atmosphere over the eastern side of the island chain. It certainly looks like heavy rains and even rumbling thunderstorms are in the offing, concentrating their efforts over the windward sides…although not exclusively. / Now at 615pm, light drizzle has just arrived, being blown over from the wetter windward side of east Maui.

>>> Atlantic Ocean: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

>>> Caribbean Sea: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

>>> Gulf of Mexico: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

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

>>> Eastern Pacific: The last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2014 North Pacific hurricane season…has occurred. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2015. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

Here’s a wide satellite image that covers the entire area between Mexico, out through the central Pacific…to the International Dateline.

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

>>> Central Pacific: The central north Pacific hurricane season has officially ended. Routine issuance of the tropical weather outlook will resume on June 1, 2015. During the off-season, special tropical weather outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.

Here’s a 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: There are no active tropical cyclones

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

Interesting: An Organic Future – The words ‘organic’ and ‘sustainability’ are bandied around quite a bit. While some won’t eat anything but organic, others deny that there’s any future in organic farming. After all, with a population that’s seven billion-strong and growing, how can we possibly expect organics to feed the world? Or so the critics ask. In their view, feeding the masses simply can’t be done without strong chemicals and genetic modification.

However, organic farming has far more capacity than many people imagine. It goes way, way beyond growing a few tomato plants on your back verandah. Besides, if we want to live on a clean, healthy planet, going organic is the only way forward – not only for gardeners and farmers, but also for all businesses related to agriculture, from your local café to your nearest supermarket, from your preferred beautician to your favorite clothing boutique. In fact, when you think about just how many industries depend on agriculture, it’s clear that a shift towards sustainable, chemical-free practices is essential.

Worker and consumer health

The first and most pressing argument for organics is human health. Current intensive agricultural practices expose people — especially farmworkers — to toxic pesticides. In 2002, a Californian study revealed that, between 1997 and 2000, an average of 475 farmworkers suffered pesticide poisoning annually. As the study suggests, the total figure was probably much higher, given that many cases go unreported each year. What’s more? Increasingly, studies are demonstrating links between pesticides and cancer, as well as disruption of the endocrine system.

Meanwhile, those at the other end of organic farming – consumers – also face health risks. Food grown using intensive techniques can contain pesticide residues, which consumers ingest when they eat. Plus, some studies show that organic products are more nutritious than their conventionally farmed counterparts. For example, a study (PDF) conducted by the (admittedly biased) Organic Center showed that organic food performs much better when it comes to antioxidant power, polyphenol levels and flavonoid levels. And the same goes for animal products. Dairy products from animals raised on organic farms, which haven’t been fed antibiotics, tend to be higher in antioxidants and omega-3.

Environmental health

If we’re serious about keeping our planet healthy, and make it available for future generations, there’s no way that we can continue to support intensive agriculture. When pesticides and other strong chemicals are sprayed on our crops, they end up not only in our soil, but also in our waterways. Over time, this causes our soil to become severely depleted of nutrients, and eventually completely unable to support life. For our waterways, it can mean extreme pollution. Given that we rely on our rivers for our very survival, there’s no question that our future depends on us turning to organic farming.

But can organic farming produce enough food and materials?

Some people believe that organic strategies are only suitable for private or small-scale farming. But numerous studies have illustrated that organic strategies can produce just as much output – if not more – than regular methods. For example, back in 1989, the U.S. National Research Council studied eight organic farms across the United States – from an Ohio-based farm of 400 acres specializing in grain and livestock, to a California-based farm where 1,400 acres of grapes were growing. When compared with nearby farms, where intensive practices were being exercised, the organic farms yielded just as much, if not more, produce on average.

Economics

Finally, one argument often put forward in favor of conventional methods is economics. Supporters of the status quo believe that intensive farming is superior because it means we can produce plenty of food at much cheaper rates than organics can. But this is an exceptionally short-sighted view. For a start, the amount of disease being caused by the chemicals in the environment is already weighing on our health system – and this is only going to become a more and more expensive problem.

Secondly, the more organics are used, the cheaper they’ll become. Running an organic farm actually requires less expensive equipment and chemicals than a conventional one does – plus, once organics become more widespread, operating costs will decrease significantly.

The future

So, if we want to assure ourselves of a happy, healthy, safe future, the only way forward is organics. By reducing the number and intensity of toxic chemicals in our world, we can look forward to living in a planet where disease is reduced and our environment stays pristine for generations to come.