Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs

Sea cliffs at South Point , on the Big Island…
the southernmost part of the state of Hawaii
Photo Credit: Flickr.com

Mild trade winds will continue to grace the Hawaiian Islands through the weekend. Our trade wind producing ridge of high pressure is located a distance north of Kauai now, allowing easterly breezes to remain over the entire state. There will be little change in the direction or strength of these breezes for the time being. There looks to be some changes that will happen around the middle of the new week ahead though, when high pressure strengthens to our north and northeast…potentially ushering in a stronger and more well established trade wind regime after mid-week. 
 
Little change is expected in the generally dry and stable conditions over Hawaii through the weekend. A few showers will get carried into the windward sides, although they won’t amount to much. There will be the usual clouds that stack-up over and around the mountains too. These cumulus buildups may look threatening…but won’t be able to drop many showers either. The one exception may be on the Big Island, where an upper trough of low pressure edging in from the east, may trigger some increase in showers. Showers may increase during the second half of the upcoming week, focused primarily over the windward sides.

It’s Friday evening as I begin updating this last paragraph of today’s narrative.  The long lasting period of fine late winter weather will continue, providing good conditions for all outdoor activities. As mentioned in the paragraphs above, most areas will have mild mannered trade winds blowing, along with just a few showers falling here and there. The Big Island, and perhaps east Maui would have the best chance of somewhat more showers than the rest of the state. ~~~ Looking into next week, we finally see some changes occurring, the most meaningful of which would happen during the second half of the week. The computer models show a cold front approaching the state from the northwest early in the week, although now show it stalling before getting into our area. It may hang to our north for a few days, pushing our high pressure ridge down over Hawaii again, with lighter winds in general Monday or Tuesday into Wednesday. As we pass mid-week, high pressure systems to the north and northeast are expected to strengthen, boosting the trade winds as they move back into the islands. This surge of trade winds may push the leftover moisture from the expired cold front, which is often called a shearline, into the windward sides of the islands. We sometimes refer to this type of situation as wet trade winds. ~~~ I’m about ready to leave Kihei, taking the drive into Kahului. I had planned on seeing the new film called 10,000 B.C. this evening, although considering its the opening night, I thought I’d wait until next week instead. During the day, one of my fellow workers told me to see Penelope (2008). As soon as I saw that it was a comedy, I said to myself, no way. However, I seem to have changed my mind, and will see something of a different nature than normal. Penelope stars Christina Ricci, Reese Witherspoon, James McAvoy, Catherine O’Hara, among others. I’m going to give this film a try, although I must say, going in, I have some considerations. I’ll let you know what I think Saturday morning when I get back online. Until then, here’s a trailer, so you can begin to form your own impression. See ya tomorrow. Aloha for now…Glenn. 

Interesting: Sea levels are set to fall over millions of years, making the current rise blamed on climate change a brief interruption of an ancient geological trend, scientists said on Thursday.  They said oceans were getting deeper and sea levels had fallen by about 170 meters (560 ft) since the Cretaceous period 80 million years ago when dinosaurs lived. Previously, the little-understood fall had been estimated at 40 to 250 meters.  "The ocean floor has got on average older and gone down and so the sea level has also fallen," said Bernhard Steinberger at the Geological Survey of Norway, one of five authors of a report in the journal Science.  "The trend will continue," he told Reuters.  A computer model based on improved understanding of shifts of continent-sized tectonic plates in the earth’s crust projects more deepening of the ocean floor and a further sea level decline of 120 meters in 80 million years’ time.  If sea levels were to fall that much now, Russia would be connected to Alaska by land over what is now the Bering Strait, Britain would be part of mainland Europe and Australia and Papua island would be the same landmass.  The study aids understanding of sea levels by showing that geology has played a big role alongside ice ages, which can suck vast amounts of water from the oceans onto land. "If we humans still exist in 10, 20 or 50 million years, irrespective of how ice caps are waxing and waning, the long term … is that sea level will drop, not rise," said lead author Dietmar Muller of the University of Sydney.  Over time, Muller told Science in a podcast interview there would be fewer mid-ocean ridges and a shift to more deep plains in the oceans as continents shifted. The Atlantic would widen and the Pacific shrink.

Interesting2: New Flash: Biological anthropologist endorses presidential candidate. The wait is over. After months of speculation, and controversy, biological anthropologist, Dr. Earnest A. Hooton, of Harvard, has finally weighed in on his choice of presidential candidate. The endorsement goes to … a woman, any woman. "As a professional student of man [surely that’s a misquote and he meant ‘humankind’], I judge that females of our species have certain qualities that ought to render them superior to males in statesmanship," Hooton said, The New York Times reports. Since there is only one woman candidate currently running, we have to assume that Hooton is throwing his weight behind Hillary Clinton, or would be backing her if he weren’t long dead. Earnest Hooton’s call for a female president ran in the newspaper on October 17, 1944, (that would be during the presidential race between Franklin Roosevelt and Thomas Dewey, neither of whom were women). At that time, women were considered high-strung hysterics incapable of logical thought, let alone the guts to run a war room. Hooten probably wanted to be provocative, even outlandish in suggesting those silly little creatures might be able to do more than cook dinner. "If human behavior, even on subjects they really knew nothing about. Readers may have laughed out loud when they read the column, but they probably read it. 

Interesting3: The latest flow from Kilauea Volcano reached the ocean overnight, according to scientists with the Hawaii Volcano Observatory.  A scientist flew over the flow with Hawaii County officials on Thursday morning.  "On a general basis, it is a real strong tube that leads to the ocean and is quite a healthy flow at this time," Big Island Mayor Harry Kim said.  Access to Kilauea’s eruption was cut off Wednesday after the current lava flow crossed the last Big Island access road to the site.  Kim warned that people should stay out of the area at this time because of the potential for part of the flow to break off and surround them. County officials said they know there are people sneaking into the site at night, but police and state park officials are out advising people the area is restricted.  County and state highway personnel are working to cut a road to a new lava-viewing site. The road would cut the 2.5- to 3-mile walk that people would otherwise have to face.  Kim said he hopes to have the new road for people to view the flow up by 2 p.m. on Saturday. The area will be accessible from 2 p.m.-10 p.m. each day. That is subject to change, depending on any potential dangers.  Hawaii County and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park workers will man the site to inform and educate the people who go to the area, Kim said. Kim said that based on past experience, he expects more than 1,000 sightseers per day.  The National Park’s flow has continued to hit the water, but people are kept at least a quarter-mile from the flow because of the direction of the wind and the potential for fumes.