July 23-24 2008
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 85
Honolulu, Oahu – 88
Kaneohe, Oahu – 84
Kahului, Maui – 86
Hilo, Hawaii – 83
Kailua-kona – 85
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the taller mountains at 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 86F
Princeville, Kauai – 79
Haleakala Crater- 54F (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 36 (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Wednesday afternoon:
0.45 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.06 South Fork Kaukonahua, Oahu
0.13 Molokai
0.10 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
6.34 Puu kukui, Maui
4.01 Glenwood, Big Island
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing high pressure systems far to the north-northwest through northeast of Hawaii. Our local trade winds will remain rather gusty…although blowing generally in the moderately strong category through Friday.
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. 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
The sheer walls of Mount Waialeale, Kauai…
one of the wettest places on Earth
Photo Credit: Flickr.com
The trade winds will remain rather strong and gusty for another day…then mellow out some Friday. An old tropical cyclone from the eastern Pacific (Elida) is now to the southwest of the Hawaiian Islands. This retired tropical cyclone, now simply a vortex, or a counterclockwise swirling area of low pressure…will keep our local trade winds enhanced for a little while longer. These locally blustery winds will begin to relax Friday, and remain at the more or less normal moderately strong realms through the weekend, into early next week.
The strong and gusty trade winds have carried lots of showers our way, some of which were the northern fringe of former Elida. The Big Island and Maui received the most generous showers…with over 4.00" on the Big Island, and over 6.00" on Maui in the wettest spots! The island of Oahu picked up a bit of the moisture, being carried along the gusty trade winds, while Kauai was too far north to catch many. There will be more showers arriving along the windward sides, although satellite imagery shows drier conditions heading our way soon.
~~~ The tropical disturbance, which passed by to our south, continues to move away towards the west. If you click on this looping satellite image, you will see what’s left of Elida to the lower left of the Hawaiian Islands. This area of low pressure will continue its journey westward, leaving a drier atmosphere in its wake. As the old tropical system moves away, the pressure gradient over the islands will relax, which simply means that our local trade wind speeds will return to more normal realms soon.
~~~ It’s early Wednesday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I begin updating this last section of today’s narrative. The rich tropical moisture brought into the islands, with its higher than normal atmospheric water content, has made for hot and sultry conditions. The high temperatures haven’t broken any records, but it sure has felt hot and muggy during the days…especially right down near the coasts, and in particular where the trade winds haven’t been able to reach! My car thermometer during my lunch break, here in Kihei, was reading 96F degrees again early this afternoon!
~~~ The bulk of the high clouds streaming up from the departing tropical disturbance, which provided a great sunrise Wednesday morning, have mostly thinned out and are located to the west of Kauai. There may still be a few thin strands left behind, which could provide a few nice colors here and there. All and all, we’re heading back towards a normal summertime trade wind weather pattern. The next thing of interest will be the rising surf along our south and west facing leeward beaches. I’ll be back very early Thursday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have a great Wednesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting:
A tiny Canadian satellite is gearing up for a mission to hunt wayward space rocks that may pose a threat to Earth. Only the size of a suitcase, the Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) has a 5.9-inch (15-cm) telescope and weighs about 143 pounds (65 kg). But it’s designed to hunt for threatening space rocks from Earth orbit, where the telescope can avoid interference from the planet’s atmosphere. “That’s why a small telescope in space can be a lot more comparable to a large telescope on the ground,” said Alan Hildebrand, planetary scientist at the
The Canadian microsatellite would also keep an eye on Earth’s satellite traffic for both
Interesting2:
Like humans with a nose for the best restaurants, roundworms also use their senses of taste and smell to navigate. And now, researchers may have found how a worm’s brain does this: It performs calculus. Worms calculate how much the strength of different tastes is changing — equivalent to the process of taking a derivative in calculus — to figure out if they are on their way toward food or should change direction and look elsewhere, says
"The more we know about how taste and smell function — not just at the level of primary sensory neurons, but downstream in the brain — the better prepared we will be to understand when the system is broken," Lockery says. With the aid of salt and chili peppers, Lockery reached the calculating-worms conclusion by studying two anatomically identical neurons from the worm’s brain that collectively regulate behavior. These two neurons function like "on" and "off" gates in a computer in response to changes in salt concentration levels. This dubiously delicious discovery, detailed in the July 3 issue of the journal Nature, hints at the method for smelling and tasting that is thought to be common among a wide variety of species, including humans.
Interesting3: Within a decade, most new cars will be equipped with clean-drive technology and a host of easy to serve technical gadgets that will make driving much more comfortable and safer than today. Engineers are currently working on several technologies that were still fiction in the 1980s American television series Knight Rider in which David Hasselhoff is partnered by an autonomous car called KITT with artificial intelligence. Like KITT, the car of the future recognises its owner with a mini iris-recognition camera. The front-mounted "scan bar" in KITT is similar to the mini cameras currently being tested that perceive the car surroundings, informing the driver of possible danger zones. It even brakes automatically if the driver does not react. Some of the gadgets such as night vision and brake-assist are already available in premium cars such as the new BMW 7-Series but will become the norm in a few years time.
Once the driver sits into the car, the vehicle automatically adjusts the seat and steering wheel settings to the ideal position. The car entertainment system meanwhile plays his/her favourite music while the navigation system begins to choose the best route. Like KITT, the car could theoretically drive itself, drop its driver outside the office and choose the next available parking space. Cars will be in contact with other cars and traffic information centers picking up information on accidents, traffic jams or parking areas. Many of the functions presently in use have complicated menu programs, switches or buttons. In future you will be able to speak to your car like Hasselhoff to KITT, telling it what to do.
Volkswagen has just released a new website on www.Volkswagen2028.com showing its vision of the car in the year 2028, which according to VW’s Dr Wolfgang Steiger, will be entirely emission-free and built with sustainable materials. VW’s head of future research and trend transfer Wolfgang Mueller-Pietralla says that the car of the future will be a "lot more fun, evolving from purely a vehicle to a living space" where we can do most of the things we do at home or in the office like phoning, shopping, watching television or surfing the internet. Car assistance systems will eliminate most of the risks we have on the road today. Camera-assisted fatigue recognition systems tell the driver when to rest. The mini cameras with night vision monitor the vehicle surroundings by 180 degrees, picking up possible dangers from any angle, informing the vehicle information system on what action to take.
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