Hawaiian Island weather details & Aloha paragraphs / August 29-30, 2008

August 29-30 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 84
Honolulu, Oahu – 89
Kaneohe, Oahu – 85
Kahului, Maui – 88
Hilo, Hawaii – 86
Kailua-kona – 84

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the taller mountains…at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon:

Port Allen, Kauai – 88F  
Kaneohe, Oahu – 82

Haleakala Crater- 50 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 39 (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 Friday afternoon:

0.40 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.50 Poamoho 2, Oahu
0.03 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.31 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.45 Pahala, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing high pressure system located far to the north of Hawaii. This pressure configuration will keep our trade winds blowing generally in the moderately strong range…although stronger and gusty in those windiest locations.

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

Bodyboarding the north shore of Oahu
Photo Credit: flickr.com

A fairly dynamic high pressure center to our north, will keep brisk trades blowing across our area well into the future. These typical late summer winds will remain fixed on our Hawaiian Islands, with no end in sight through at least the next week. The winds aren’t quite strong enough to trigger a small craft wind advisory at the moment, but they are close in those windiest areas around Maui and the Big Island. The daytime hours will have the strongest winds, easing off some during the nights as usual. In general, light to moderately strong trade winds will prevail…with those typically windier places having somewhat higher gusts.

There will be periodic bouts of showers along the windward sides, punctuated by less showery times over the next several days. The rainfall pattern continues to be one with occasional passing showers…and then returning to drier conditions. There may be some enhancement (locally heavy) to our windward biased showers at times, as cooler air aloft, associated with troughs of low pressure, edge in our direction. The upcountry leeward sides may see an afternoon shower at times through the Labor Day holiday weekend as well. 

Strengthening hurricane Gustav continues to take aim on the vulnerable Gulf of Mexico coast. This soon to be major hurricane will do some shifting around in its path over the very warm waters of the Gulf, so that there remains some uncertainty about exactly where it will strike. As this track map from the National Hurricane Center in Miami shows…at the moment, it’s heading towards the Louisiana coast, just slightly to the west of the New Orleans metropolitan area. The northeast quadrant (upper right portion) of a forward moving hurricane harbors the most severe weather conditions. This most violent part of the storm remains a distinct threat to the New Orleans area.

As mentioned in the paragraphs above, the trade winds will continue to blow, carrying areas of showery clouds towards the windward north and east facing parts of the state at times. The most likely occurrences for these moisture laden clouds to arrive, would be Friday evening into the night, and then again around Labor Day. The predictability of these incoming showers is difficult, especially the further out into the future one tries to nail down these showery increases in moisture. Probably the best way to think about it, or plan on it, would be knowing that there will be periods of windward showers at times, which as anyone living on the windward side knows…can happen pretty much anytime the trade winds are blowing! As this satellite image shows, there are those cloud elements upstream, in relation to the trade winds, which will bring their showers with them in an off and on manner.

It’s early Friday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I begin writing this last paragraph of today’s tropical weather narrative from Hawaii.  I’m about ready to head out for the three day long, Labor Day holiday weekend. It’s always a great feeling to have all that free time to fill with anything that catches my fancy. The beginning of this weekend will begin as I take in the new action/adventure film called Traitor (2008), starring Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce among others. This film is being described as a taut international thriller, set against a jigsaw puzzle of covert counter-espionage operations. One critic described it as "a smarter movie about terrorism." Another person says this, "promising premise devolves into a by-the-numbers espionage thriller."  It seems to be getting generally a B grade, which seems good enough to get this Maui weatherman in the theater for the opening night. I’m a bit put off by the violent nature of this film, and am hesistant to provide a trailer, so please be forewarned that the trailer, and the film itself, are definitely not for the faint of heart! I’ll be back early Saturday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Friday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting1:

The Indonesian government is to double the size of a national park that is one of the last havens for endangered Sumatran elephants and tigers. Tesso NiloNational Park was created in 2004 with 38,000 hectares of forest. Today’s declaration will see that figure increase to 86,000 by the end of this year. "This is an important milestone toward securing a future for the Sumatran elephant and tiger," said Dr. Mubariq Ahmad, WWF-Indonesia’s Chief Executive. “To ensure the commitment is effectively implemented we must redouble our efforts to eliminate poaching and illegal settlements within this special forest.” With more than 4,000 plant species recorded so far, the forest of Tesso Nilo has the highest lowland forest plant biodiversity known to science, with many species yet to be discovered.  

WWF has been supporting the government effort to extend and protect the park as the last block of lowland forest in central Sumatra large enough to support a viable elephant population. About 60 to 80 elephants are estimated to live there, along with 50 tigers. Tesso Nilo forest is also an important watershed for more than 40,000 people living in the surrounding 22 villages.  “Tesso Nilo is still under serious threat from illegal activities, but if we can protect the forests there it will give some of Sumatra’s most endangered wildlife the breathing room they need to survive,” Dr Ahmad said. “And while we greatly appreciate this precedent for more protection from the Indonesian government, there are other areas on Sumatra that need safeguarding for the sake of its wildlife, its threatened indigenous peoples and to reduce the climate impacts of clearing.”

Interesting2:

A solution to the world’s worst case of ongoing mass poisoning, linked to rising cancer rates in Southern Asia, has been developed by researchers from Queen’s University Belfast. It is estimated that over 70 million people in Eastern India and Bangladesh, experience involuntary arsenic exposure from consuming water and rice; the main staple food in the region. This includes farmers who have to use contaminated groundwater from minor irrigation schemes. It is estimated that for every random sample of 100 people in the Bengal Delta, at least one person will be near death as a result of arsenic poisoning, while five in 100 will be experiencing other symptoms.

Now, researchers have created new low-cost technology to provide arsenic-free water to millions of people in South Asia currently exposed to high levels of the poison in groundwater. Leading an international team, Queen’s researchers have developed a trial plant in Kasimpore, near Calcutta, which offers chemical-free groundwater treatment technology to rural communities for all their drinking and farming needs. The technology is based on recharging a part of the groundwater, after aeration, into a subterranean aquifer (permeable rock) able to hold water. Increased levels of oxygen in the groundwater slow down the arsenic release from the soil. At higher dissolved oxygen levels, soil micro organisms, as well as iron and manganese, reduce the dissolved arsenic level significantly.

Interesting3:

New research strongly suggests that a mix of preventative agents, such as those found in concentrated black raspberries, may more effectively inhibit cancer development than single agents aimed at shutting down a particular gene. Researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center examined the effect of freeze-dried black raspberries on genes altered by a chemical carcinogen in an animal model of esophageal cancer. The carcinogen affected the activity of some 2,200 genes in the animals’ esophagus in only one week, but 460 of those genes were restored to normal activity in animals that consumed freeze-dried black raspberry powder as part of their diet during the exposure. These findings, published in recent issue of the journal Cancer Research, also helped identify 53 genes that may play a fundamental role in early cancer development and may therefore be important targets for chemoprevention agents.

“We have clearly shown that berries, which contain a variety of anticancer compounds, have a genome-wide effect on the expression of genes involved in cancer development,” says principal investigator Gary D. Stoner, a professor of pathology, human nutrition and medicine who studies dietary agents for the prevention of esophageal cancer. “This suggests to us that a mixture of preventative agents, which berries provide, may more effectively prevent cancer than a single agent that targets only one or a few genes.” Stoner notes that black raspberries have vitamins, minerals, phenols and phytosterols, many of which individually are known to prevent cancer in animals.