Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs

The beach at Wailea, Maui
Photo Credit: flickr.com

The trade winds may ease up a touch Friday, as an upper level low pressure trough moves by overhead.  The computer forecast models suggest that this trade wind flow will prevail through the rest of this week, right on into next week. This is the time of year the trade winds blow very steadily, really hitting their stride. The month of June, on average, find the trade winds blowing 91% of the time here in Hawaii.

The upper level trough, referred to above, will increase windward showers over the next several days. This trough, with its associated cold pool of air aloft, will destabilize our atmosphere enough…that we could find more generous rainfall arriving along our windward coasts and slopes into the weekend. There may be a few nice showers along the leeward slopes on Maui and the Big Island during the afternoon hours too. This won’t however be a widespread rain event, rather of the hit and miss variety for the most part.

~~~  We have a golden opportunity here, in regards to wringing-out some showers from the clouds that will be passing through our area now. The well advertised trough of low pressure, which will be moving over us now, should trigger some localized heavy windward biased showers. This hasn’t happened yet, but we’ll know soon, whether this will unfold as expected. All the ingredients for this to happen are in place now, and all we need at this point is to hear those raindrops falling on our roofs!

~~~  Conditions are becoming more ripe for localized showers now, with even some fairly generous ones at that in the offing. This looping satellite image shows the high clouds associated with this trough of low pressure, as it spins in a counterclockwise fashion across the state now. This trough will end up to the west of Hawaii by Saturday, although a lobe of the trough will remain back over the islands, keeping localized showers in the forecast into Sunday. Here’s an animated radar image as well, so you can keep an eye on where the showers are falling. Looking out the window here from Kihei, Maui, before I leave on the drive upcountry to Kula, there are lots of high clouds around, and some fairly showery looking cumulus clouds around the edges as well. Those icy cirrus clouds up high, could very easily make for a colorful sunset this evening…keep an eye out. I’ll be back very early Friday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope to have news about some nice rains that hopefully fell during the night. The wild card seems to be whether there will be ample moisture being carried our way on the somewhat weaker trade winds that are around now. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Chronic pollution in Mexico City, which stains the sky yellow and can trigger government warnings to stay indoors, could be killing off residents’ sense of smell, scientists say. Tests showed people in Mexico City — a sprawling metropolis crammed with around 20 million people and 4 million cars — struggled to sniff out everyday odors like coffee and orange juice compared to residents of a nearby town. Their noses are so badly damaged from a life inhaling toxic particles that they also find it harder to detect the scent of rotten food, said researcher Robyn Hudson who ran the study. "We added a substance (to powdered milk) that is a common contaminant of food, something that smells disgusting basically — like a sour, rotting cabbage," said Hudson. "We were able to see at what point … they would start to reject the contaminated sample, say ‘ew yuck! no! take it away please,’" said Hudson, an Australian and a senior research scientist at Mexico‘s National Autonomous University (UNAM). Mexico City is one of the world’s most polluted capitals, along with Beijing, blighted by its thin high-altitude air and a ring of surrounding mountains that trap exhaust fumes belched from smoky buses and factories on the city outskirts. Contamination levels are better now than two decades ago, but from a high-story window it’s still hard most days to make out the snow-capped peaks that surround the city through the murky shroud of brownish smog. Mexico City‘s ozone levels exceed World Health Organization standards on approximately 300 days of the year.

Interesting2: Mexico City, one of the world’s most polluted capitals, is planting rooftop gardens on public buildings as part of a program launched on Thursday to combat global warming. The smog-choked metropolis plans to replace gas tanks, clothes lines and heat-reflecting asphalt on 100,000 square feet (9,300 square metres) of publicly owned roof space each year with grass and bushes that will absorb carbon dioxide. The city also plans to offer tax breaks for businesses or individuals who put gardens on top of their offices and apartment buildings. Left-wing Mayor Marcelo Ebrard has pledged $5.5 billion over five years to reduce greenhouse gases in Mexico City, home to some 20 million people and 4 million cars. "These are not generic objectives or wishes — we have a clear goal," Ebrard said at an event to inaugurate the environmental plan. The aim is to cut carbon emissions by 4.4 million tonnes a year, still a fraction of the 643 million tonnes of gas Mexico produces nationwide each year, ranking it among the world’s top polluters. The mayor has encouraged cycling by providing bicycle paths and some car-free roads on weekends. His program also aims to capture gas that bubbles up from overflowing landfills and calls for a new subway line and more express bus routes.  Putting plants on roofs soaks up some of the carbon dioxide belched out by cars and factories, one of the main causes of climate change, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says.

Interesting3: Better insulation at home, less use of the car and even giving up an electric toothbrush can help people in rich nations halve emissions of greenhouse gases, a U.N. report said on Thursday. "Adopting a climate-friendly lifestyle needn’t require drastic changes or major sacrifices," according to the 202-page U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) book entitled "Kick the CO2 Habit: the U.N. Guide to Climate Neutrality". Issued to mark the U.N.’s annual World Environment Day on June 5, it outlines ways for people to combat global warming with measures such as packing lighter suitcases when flying or going jogging in a park rather than on an electric treadmill. World emissions of greenhouse gases, is blamed by the U.N. Climate Panel, for heating the globe total about 4.5 tonnes per person for all of the world’s 6.7 billion population. Most efforts to slow climate change focus on the role of governments — such as in rules for emissions from cars or power plants or building codes to help avert projected impacts such as droughts, heat waves, more powerful storms or rising seas. Fewer look at how individuals can do it themselves. "Multiplied across the world and acted upon by 6.7 billion people, the public have the power to change the future, have the power to personally and collectively influence economies to ‘Kick the CO2 Habit’," said Achim Steiner, head of UNEP.