Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs

Aloha Paragraphs



The end of another perfect day!
Photo Credit: Flickr.com

Trade winds, with a more northeast orientation than usual, will continue to blow across the tropical latitudes of Hawaii. The latest weather map shows a far away 1027 high pressure systems located to the northeast of Hawaii Wednesday night. The trade winds will continue blowing in the light to near moderately strong realms through the rest of this week. The computer models are suggesting that by next week, our trade winds will increase in strength, into the moderate to fresh range. The one thing for sure, or at least pretty sure, is that almost everyday this month will have the trade winds blowing.

Showers will fall locally along the windward sides at night, while afternoon showers will occur over the leeward areas locally. The heaviest showers in this pattern will likely focus their efforts best along the leeward upcountry areas…where locally heavy afternoon downpours will take place. There’s a chance that the remnant moisture from former eastern Pacific tropical cyclone Boris, may bring an increase in clouds and windward showers to the Big Island Thursday, but it won’t amount to much…perhaps justing clipping South Point. 



~~~  We find somewhat lighter than normal trade winds, coming in from a more northerly direction than usual now. These northeast trades continue to bring some fairly minor showers to the windward coasts and slopes. At the same time, where the trade winds are converging along the leeward sides, after splitting around the islands…afternoon cloud build ups are dropping afternoon locally heavy convective showers. This pattern will continue over the next several days, with lots of morning sunshine.

~~~ There was some excitement the last few days, over the prospect of some showers arriving, the source of which would have been from an old hurricane, which formed in the eastern Pacific. This retired system lost all of its wind, or at least all the strong winds a long time ago. The remnant moisture, along with its very weak counterclockwise rotating vortex, is now several hundred miles to the lower right (southeast) of the Big Island. Here’s a looping satellite image of what’s left of former tropical cyclone Boris. The bulk of whatever showers that remain in that area will pass south of the Big Island. The northernmost fringe might clip the windward side of that island at some point Thursday.

~~~ It’s early Wednesday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I begin updating this last paragraph of today’s narrative. The skies began the day in a mostly clear fashion, although it didn’t take long, aided by the daytime heating of the islands…for thick clouds to form over the interior sections. Each island in the chain took its turn in being on the receiving end of locally heavy showers. Here in Kihei, it was no exception, with an hour or so of generous rainfall. I could see up the slopes of the Haleakala Crater, that in Kula, Keokea, and Ulupalakua it was raining even more heavily. The showers spread down to Wailea and Makena as well. This was two afternoons in a row with lots of afternoon showers falling, which is a good thing, in regards to the exceptionally dry conditions of late. At just past 5pm, the Big Island was still under a flood advisory…where heavy rains were falling in the Kohala area. I see no reason to think that Thursday afternoon might not have another dose of rain along those parched leeward sides. I’m about ready to leave for Kula, for home, tucking into what looks like a cloudy and cool reality. I’m quite sure that the clouds will part just enough by sunset, to see some nice colors. I hope you have a great Wednesday night, and that you will meet me here again on Thursday, for your next new weather narrative from paradise. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting:  Torrential rain during the second half of last week and early this week instigated flooding and mudslides in South Africa‘s province of Western Cape. Around Cape Town, the floodwaters forced hundreds of people to be evacuated as water inundated thousands of buildings. Also, bridges were washed away and mudslides blocked roads.



Downpours continued to plague parts of southeastern China early this week. In Shantou, Guangdong, rainfall was 11 inches within 72 hours as of Wednesday evening, local time. In southern Guangxi, Beihai was soaked by 8.7 inches of rain from Monday morning to Wednesday afternoon.



Very heavy rain swamped parts of Mexico during the first half of this week. In the east, 72-hour rainfall ending Wednesday morning, local time, was 11.5 inches at Matlapa. In the south and on the Pacific coast, 9.8 inches of rain soaked Puerto Angel during the same period.

Interesting2: Scientists have made an important advance in their efforts to predict earthquakes, the journal Nature says. A team of US researchers has detected stress-induced changes in rocks that occurred hours before two small tremors in California‘s San Andreas Fault. The observations used sensors lowered down holes drilled into the quake zone. The team says we are a long way from routine tremor forecasts but the latest findings hold out hope that such services might be possible one day. "If you had 10 hours’ warning, from a practical point of view, you could evacuate populations, you could certainly get people out of buildings, you could get the fire department ready," said co-author Paul Silver of the Carnegie Institution of Science, Washington. "Hurricane [warnings] give you an idea of what could be done," he told BBC News.

Interesting3: The Seattle City Council will hold a public hearing today on Mayor Greg Nickels’ proposal to ban foam containers and impose a plastic/paper bag fee at local stores, reports the Seattle Times. It is expected the proposal will gain approval. If passed, all restaurants and grocery stores would have to find a non-foam container alternative, and a 20-cent fee would be imposed on each plastic or paper bag used in the checkout line at all grocery, convenience and drugstores. The foam ban would take effect in two stages. Beginning in January, foam products would be banned, but restaurants and grocery stores could switch to plastic products if they had not yet found a biodegradable alternative. By July of 2010, plastics would also be banned and only biodegradables allowed. Some members of the city council question the financial impact of the bans, especially to low-income families. The city plans to supply some homes with reusable bags for free. 

Interesting4: Scientists have announced the discovery of reef structures they believe doubles the size of the Southern Atlantic Ocean’s largest and richest reef system, the Abrolhos Bank, off the southern coast of Brazil’s Bahia state. The newly discovered area is also far more abundant in marine life than the previously known Abrolhos reef system, one of the world’s most unique and important reefs. Researchers from Conservation International (CI), Federal University of Esprito Santo and Federal University of Bahia announced their discovery in a paper presented today at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale. "We had some clues from local fishermen that other reefs existed, but not at the scale of what we discovered," says Rodrigo de Moura, Conservation International Brazil marine specialist and co-author of the paper. "It is very exciting and highly unusual to discover a reef structure this large and harboring such an abundance of fish," he adds.

Interesting5: Water has been found conclusively for the first time inside ancient moon samples brought back by Apollo astronauts. The discovery may force scientists to rethink the lunar past and future, although uncertainty remains about how much water exists and whether future explorers could extract it. The water was found inside volcanic glass beads, which represent solidified magma from the early moon’s interior. The news swept through much of the scientific community even before being detailed in the journal Nature this week. "This really appears to have changed the rules of the game," said Robin Canup, astrophysicist and director of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., who was not part of the team that made the discovery. "The assumption has been that the moon is dry."