April 25-26 2008

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday: 

Lihue, Kauai – 81
Honolulu, Oahu – 83
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Kahului, Maui – 84
Hilo, Hawaii – 84
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii – 84

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon:

Kailua-kona – 81F
Lihue, Kauai – 69   

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

1.55  MOLOAA DAIRY, KAUAI
1.29 OLOMANA FIRE STATION, OAHU
0.51 MOLOKAI
0.01 LANAI
0.00 KAHOOLAWE
0.05 KULA, MAUI
0.10 WAIAKEA UKA, BIG ISLAND

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a high pressure system located far to the NE of the islands, with its ridge in the process of moving north of Kauai. Our winds will remain light…becoming trade winds Saturday into Sunday.

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…out from the islands. 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 cloud conditions.

Aloha Paragraphs

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A different kind of surfer!

The trade winds will be taking over the controls now, kicking the light wind convective weather pattern out of Dodge. Our high pressure ridge will be bouncing northward this weekend, bringing back the refreshing trade winds. These refreshing tropical breezes will help to ventilate the volcanic haze away from the smaller islands…although the Big Island will remain hazy in places unfortunately. The strengthening trades are expected to remain active into the new week ahead.

The trade winds will bring back a few passing showers to the windward sides of the islands. The leeward sides will remain mostly dry, and without any intrusions of high clouds at the moment, we’ll find lots of warm sunshine beaming down. The emphasis for showers Friday was over and around the interior sections, but that will shift back over to the windward sides now into the new week ahead. Our days will be nice and balmy, with air temperatures at night seasonably cool.

It’s Friday evening as I begin writing this last section of today’s narrative. We’ve been locked into a stagnant air mass the last several days, which has kept warm and muggy weather over us…along with copious volcanic haze as well. This sultry reality will be taking a hike now, booted out by the easterly trade winds. This puts us back into a more normal weather pattern for the spring month of April. The long range computer forecast models suggest that we’ll see a long spell of these cooling trade winds unrolling well into the future.

~~~ Since it’s Friday, I’m going to see a new film this evening after work. This time around I’ll try out Shine a Light (2008)…starring Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and the rest of the boys, of course. This is a documentary on the Rolling Stones’ concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York in 2006. I’ve always loved the Stones, haven’t you!? The film is directed by the famous producer Martin Scorsese. A movie reviewing website called rottentomatoes is giving Shine a Light a grade of 87 points out of a possible 100. I’m sure that I’ll be enjoying this film, and will certainly let you know what I think early Saturday morning, when I come back online with your next new weather narrative from paradise. Here’s the trailer for Shine a Light for your entertainment. I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Earlier this week, on a spring day in April, John Stubblefield walked past the blue tanks of striped bass, Atlantic sea bream, and cobia stored inside a Baltimore, Maryland, laboratory. "In this tank, it’s spring in May. This tank it’s spring in September," he said.  At the University of Maryland‘s Center for Marine Biotechnology, Stubblefield and his fellow researchers are not only altering nature, they are creating what may be the next generation of seafood. The experiment uses city-supplied water and a complex microbial filtration system to raise a few hundred fish completely indoors. Yonathan Zohar, the center’s director and the study’s leader, said it is the first indoor marine aquaculture system that can re-circulate nearly all of its water and expel zero waste. "I’m a strong believer that in 20 years from now, most seafood will be grown on land," Zohar said. "It can go to the Midwest, it can go into the inner city, it can go wherever."  If Zohar’s team proves the system could become economically competitive with current marine fish farming techniques, Zohar says he may have found a sustainable answer to the world’s growing fishery crisis.

Interesting2: Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests. The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday. The report notes that a separate study by researchers at StanfordUniversity estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age. "This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species’ history," Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence, said in a statement. "Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA." Wells is director of the Genographic Project, launched in 2005 to study anthropology using genetics. The report was published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Interesting3: Elevated levels of sulfur dioxide pouring from Kilauea volcano Wednesday forced the evacuation of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for the second time this month. About 2,000 people were forced to leave the park when a lack of wind kept the noxious gas from Halemaumau Crater lingering over the Big Island volcano, park spokeswoman Mardie Lane said. "Right now we have little to no wind," Lane said. The plume from the volcano’s main crater was lingering over the area rather than getting blown away by trade winds the way it had been earlier in the week. "When you step outside, definitely your eyes tear, you have that feeling that you’d like to cough or clear your throat," Lane said.  A rare two-day park closure earlier this month was caused by a shift in wind direction that prevented the gas from being blown out to sea.  "Our primary concern is for the health and safety of visitors and employees," said Joe Molhoek, the park’s incident commander. "We’re in close contact with the National Weather Service and look forward to favorable winds by week’s end."