May 28-29, 2009 

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

Lihue, Kauai – 82
Honolulu, Oahu – 87
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Kahului, Maui – 85

Hilo, Hawaii – 85
Kailua-kona – 84


Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountains…at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 84F
Kaneohe, Oahu – 74

Haleakala Crater    – 55  (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 43  (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)

Precipitation TotalsThe following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of
Thursday afternoon:

1.16 Hanalei River, Kauai
1.73 Bellows AFS, Oahu

0.50 Molokai
1.42 Lanai
0.20 Kahoolawe
0.53 Kaupo Gap, Maui
0.02 South Point, Big Island


Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map shows a 998 millibar low pressure system to the northeast of Hawaii, with its associated front and trough extending southwest across the central portion of the island chain. This pressure configuration will keep light breezes in place, generally from the southeast to southwest…with localized sea breezes through Saturday.

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 Pacific Ocean. Finally, here’s a looping IR satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two webcams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon weather conditions.

 

 Aloha Paragraphs
http://www.hawaiipictures.com/pictures/gallery/beaches/k-12-b-lumahai-beach-lowweb.jpg
Lumahi Beach…Kauai
 

 

Our local winds will remain light and generally variable in direction, locking in the sultry conditions…along with the hazy atmosphere.  Looking at this weather map Thursday evening, we see a weak low pressure system to the northeast, with its trailing front and trough, extending southwest into the Kauai Channel…between Kauai and Oahu. The weather map shows the isobars widely spaced around, and well offshore from our islands, ensuring continued light winds through the rest of this week, likely into next week. This leaves us in a stagnant air mass, with uncomfortably muggy conditions prevailing during the heat of the day...even into the nights.

The presence of a low to our northeast, and its associated front/trough extending southward into the Aloha state…will keep our atmosphere locally shower prone. The low pressure areas in the vicinity of the islands will keep the threat of showers in the forecast…some of which will be locally heavy. The greatest chance for the most generous showers will focus on the area around and to the east of the trough. This suggests that from Oahu to the islands of Maui County should have the greatest rainfall…perhaps stretching down over the Big Island during the afternoon hours Friday. Here’s a looping radar image, so we can keep track of where those showers are falling. 

The lack of wind, coupled with the high humidity, will bear down on us, making for uncomfortable conditions into the weekend…and perhaps beyond.
One of the reasons why it’s felt so humid, is that we’ve had very unusual Kona winds, for this time of year, coming up from the south…bringing deep tropical moisture into our area. As the winds have been so light, there’s been no relief from these moist conditions. This reality will continue until the trade winds return, which won’t likely happen until we move into next week

We’re in for yet another day of near calm winds Friday, with lots of moisture laden air surrounding us. The presence of the trough of low pressure Oahu and eastward, will keep the threat of showers alive, some of which could be locally heavy at times. It’s difficult to put a positive spin on this reality, what with the muggy weather around now. Our hope for relief continues to be the return of the trade winds, which aren’t expected until next week. As a matter of fact, the computer forecast models are now suggesting that we might have to wait until the middle of next week before they arrive!

Friday afternoon between 3-5pm, the Pacific Disaster Center in Kihei, Maui, is hosting a NWS hurricane workshop…which will be free to the public. You would need to call the PDC at 891-0525 in order to reserve a seat, which are limited to around 87 people. This will be a golden opportunity to ask all the questions you have about hurricanes…directed to experts in the field. The meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service office in Honolulu, along with one of his top guns, will be available to field your best inquires. I’ll be there too, and would enjoy meeting you during this workshop. The purpose of this meeting is to describe what’s expected in terms of hurricanes this season…which starts June 1st here in the central Pacific. I see that the first tropical cyclone of the season has formed just off the east coast of the United States!

It’s Thursday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I begin writing this last section of today’s narrative.  Cloudy, and then more cloudy skies are covering many areas of the state, as we head into Thursday night. Looking out the window here in Kihei, before I head upcountry to Kula, it’s majorly cloudy, which I’m quite sure, that some of those dark cumulus clouds are dropping showers here and there. Yesterday when I got home, I had to put my serious rain jacket on before taking my evening walk. I’m pretty sure that that will be the case this evening too, as I expect foggy and wet conditions to exist up there. ~~~ I’ve been super busy the last several days, as I’m in charge of running a hurricane exercise, called Makani Pahili (big storm in Hawaiian), for the Pacific Disaster Center…my day job. Meanwhile, I’m also in charge of a large gathering, where the National Weather Service is coming to our office, to have a joint hurricane awareness meeting. I speak of this meeting in one of the paragraphs above. Here’s a link to more information about that meeting Friday afternoon here in Kihei. ~~~ Ok, it’s been a long day, starting at 435am this morning, as I head home at around 530pm. If I see something unusual on the drive home, I’ll come back online and tell you about it. Otherwise, I’ll meet you here again early Friday morning, with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Thursday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting:
 
Despite the well-known benefits of having a lifestyle that includes physical activity, eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, moderate alcohol use and not smoking, only a small proportion of adults follow this healthy lifestyle pattern, and in fact, the numbers are declining, according to an article published in the June 2009 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

Lifestyle choices are associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease as well as diabetes. Investigators from the Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston compared the results of two large-scale studies of the US population in 1988-1994 and in 2001-2006.

In the intervening 18 years, the percentage of adults aged 40-74 years with a body mass index greater than 30 has increased from 28% to 36%; physical activity 12 times a month or more has decreased from 53% to 43%; smoking rates have not changed (26.9% to 26.1%); eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables a day has decreased from 42% to 26%; and moderate alcohol use has increased from 40% to 51%. The number of people adhering to all 5 healthy habits has decreased from 15% to 8%.

Interesting2:  Conservationists fear that rapid climate change could see animals and plants "trapped" in homes that become too hot or dry for them, raising the possibility of extinction. But now for the first time experts have been evaluating ways to help species adapt to rapid climate change. They are considering a controversial strategy called "managed relocation"

The project, partly funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), involves humans stepping in to move species into more accommodating habitats. Managed relocation has been rejected by some scientists who fear the relocated species could overpopulate a new area and cause local organisms to become extinct.

Interesting3: A recent study by Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies reports that if humans commit to the restoration effort, most ecosystems can recover from very major disruption within decades to half-centuries. The study was written by Holly P. Jones and Oswald J. Schmitz and will appear in the June edition of the journal PLoS ONE.

According to the study, researchers compiled information from 240 independent studies conducted since 1910 that examined large, human-scale ecosystems recovery following the termination of both human and naturally imposed disruption.

Researchers grouped the data into seven broad aquatic and terrestrial types of ecosystems, and disruptions such as deforestation, hurricane, invasive species, oil spoils, power plant and sea trawling.

Most of the studies measured multiple response variables, which researched grouped into three categories: ecosystem function, animal community, and plant community.

The researchers evaluated the recovery of each of the variables in terms of the time it took for them to return to their original state as determined by each study’s author.

The study also assessed whether recovery times were related to the magnitude of the disturbance. Reportedly, 83 studies demonstrated recovery for all variables; 90 demonstrated a mixture of recovered and non-recovered variables; 67 demonstrated no recovery for any variable; and 15 percent of all the ecosystems in the analysis are beyond recovery.

The average recovery time was 20 years or less, and reportedly did not exceed more than 56 years. It was found that recovery from human disturbances was slower than natural disturbances, such as hurricanes. Recovery following agricultural, logging, and multiple stressors was significantly slower than all of other disturbance types.

The results of the study showed a positive relationship between the degree of disturbance and the recovery time. However, this was entirely determined by the type of ecosystem. For instance, the study states that aquatic system recovered much faster than terrestrial.

Researchers noted that aquatic systems may recover more quickly because species and organisms that inhabit them turn over more rapidly. For instance, forests took the longest to recover due to the fact that forest inhabitants take longer to regenerate after logging or clear-cutting.

One potential pitfall of the study is that the uncertainty of the systems original state. The study explains that major disturbances such mass extinction combined with lower level disturbances such as pollution or climate change could create a baseline far removed from the historical natural state.

Jones and Schmitz concluded that "recovery is possible and can be rapid for many ecosystems, giving much hope for humankind to transition to sustainable management of global ecosystems."

Interesting4: The first tropical depression of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season formed off the coast of the eastern United States, forecasters said Thursday, but was not expected to threaten land. Tropical Depression One was about 310 miles south of Providence, Rhode Island, and about 635 miles southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Thursday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The depression, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, was moving northeast at near 17 mph — away from the U.S. coastline, forecasters said. Officials believe it will become a tropical storm over the next day or so, but will weaken or dissipate over colder waters by Saturday. The Atlantic hurricane season officially begins Monday and runs through November.

Interesting5:  Elephants are used to living in dry conditions in this part of western Africa, but the extreme drought is being blamed for the death of six young elephants. Four adult elephants also died after falling into a well on the intrepid search for water in the region. This is the worst drought the country has seen in 26 years, cattle are also dying this part of the world due to the lack of watering holes.

"Save the Elephants" distributed this photo on Monday to depict and educate on the devastating drought that is affecting Mali. The number of desert elephants is starting to dwindle, the animals now numbering between 300 and 450 are being hailed "The last elephants of Timbuktu."

Each year the elephants are being forced to trek farther to the fringes of the Sahara to find water. Their migration route is the longest of any continent they travel around 435 miles in search of water. The young children of Mali are also affected by the drought.

The World Food Program claims the majority die from malnutrition. The drought combined with soaring temperatures is leading to the death of other cattle in the region, as the locals say there is a stench of rotten cattle lingering in the air. The hope is that the rains will start soon and once again allow the elephants to find water with the cooler conditions. Crops will once again start to improve and the cruel cycle of season starts again for the people of Mali.

Interesting6: The Pacific Ocean, occupying a third of the planet’s area, faces threats that will render some coastal areas uninhabitable. Pollution such as sewage, runoff from land and toxic waste; habitat destruction; over-fishing; and climate change leading to sea level rise, ocean acidification and warming will all interact to damage the ocean’s ecology and coastal economies.

These are among the findings of ‘Pacific Ocean Synthesis’, a report by the US-based Center for Ocean Solutions (COS) that reviewed more than 3,400 scientific articles and reports from 50 countries in the Pacific basin. COS presented the report at the World Ocean Conference in Manado, Indonesia, this month (11—15 May).

The study divided the Pacific Ocean into seven regions, revealing threats and potential solutions for each.Widely applicable solutions include capacity building in ocean management, efforts to adapt to climate change and reduce overfishing, and using information technologies to monitor and share information, says Noah Idechong, a COS researcher from the Pacific Island of Palau. All should be high priority, he adds.

"Synthesizing information gives us a good idea of what is happening [in the Pacific Ocean]. I think one of the most important findings is that so much [research] has been done," he says. The report also summarizes various gaps in research, such as insufficient information about different pollution effects, the need for standardized biodiversity and water quality monitoring and poor information about the socioeconomic effects of sea surface temperature rises.

The capacity to analyze and communicate information, and to make use of monitoring systems to network and share solutions, is one of the gaps that nations should work on, says Idechong. Meg Caldwell, COS executive director, told SciDev.Net the report is an important tool for policymakers.

"This [report] represents a vast information resource about what is occurring in the individual countries," she says. Hundreds of scientists have already signed a consensus statement, ‘Ecosystems and people of the Pacific Ocean — Threats and opportunities for action’. It warns that, left unchecked, the threats could have "devastating consequences for coastal economies, food supplies, public health and political stability".