August 14-15 2008
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 86
Honolulu, Oahu – 85
Kaneohe, Oahu – 82
Kahului, Maui – 90
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
Kailua-kona – 85
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the taller mountains…at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon:
Kahului, Maui – 88F
Hilo, Hawaii – 77
Haleakala Crater- 55 (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 Thursday afternoon:
0.16 Kapahi, Kauai
0.56 Wilson Tunnel, Oahu
0.17 Molokai
0.07 Lanai
0.82 Kahoolawe
2.35 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.82 Mountain View, Big Island
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a high pressure system located to the northeast of Hawaii. Trade winds will pick up some as we move into the weekend, blowing generally in the moderately strong realms.
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
Aloha Paragraphs
Sky mirror on the
Photo Credit: flickr.com
Our local trade winds will be lighter Thursday, then rebound Friday into the weekend. These winds will be lighter in strength due to the presence of an out of season winter-like storm far north of
A trough of low pressure moving through the islands is bringing somewhat unusual summer rains. As the trade winds are lighter now too, we’ll find some increase in our afternoon convective cumulus cloudiness, with a good chance of showers breaking out locally along the leeward coasts and slopes Thursday. This trough, which extends northward from a tropical disturbance moving by to the south of the state, is bringing this much welcomed increase in showers to our islands. The bulk of the showers will be over Oahu Thursday, gradually moving on to Kauai…while Maui and the Big Island will find clearing skies. There’s a chance too, that former eastern Pacific tropical cyclone Hernan, will bring a second dose of tropical moisture towards the Big Island later this weekend into Monday.
As this area of tropical showers passes westward, we will return to a normal trade wind weather pattern into the weekend. As noted above, we have one more batch of showers, now out to the east, that will move through later Sunday into Monday. Then it appears, that a normal summertime trade wind weather pattern will take us through most of next week. The storm, which is now in the Gulf of Alaska, which is causing our temporary lull, or softening of the trade winds…generated an out of season north-northwest swell. This swell train of waves will arrive along our north shores later in the day Thursday. These waves won’t be near as large as what we would expect during our winter season, but nonetheless, the surfing community will find some nice waves to ride!
It’s early Thursday morning here in my hotel room in Waikiki Beach, on the island of Oahu. It’s so warm, at least compared to my home in the upcountry area of Kula, on Maui. I can hear the waves lapping on the beach down below, and am looking forward to having an early swim, before heading over to the climate conferenece at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I’ll be able, more than likely, to come back online for some further updates later Thursday, that is if I don’t get too swept up in the activity of the conference…or social engagements with the participants afterwards. If that happens, I will be able to come back early Friday morning for more updates. I don’t know which way it will go at this point. At any rate, I’d like to wish you a great Thursday wherever you happen to be reading from! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Note: I’m here in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, attending a Climate Conference at the East West Center, on the campus of the University of Hawaii, Thursday and Friday. Friends on Oahu, who live on the windward side in Kailua, have invited me to spend some time with them Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. I will fly back to Maui late Sunday afternoon. This means that I will not be doing my tv weather show on Thursday, and then again not on Friday…which is a local state holiday. I will not be updating this website as regularly as usual, although I will have a laptop computer with me, and I will do my best to come back online as often as I can. The daily forecasts, in the upper left hand column on this, and all the other pages, will continue to have the latest Hawaiian weather information available. Glenn
Interesting: The first scientific mission with Sentry, a newly developed robot capable of diving as deep as 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) into the ocean, has been successfully completed by scientists and engineers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of Washington (UW). The vehicle surveyed and helped pinpoint several proposed deep-water sites for seafloor instruments that will be deployed in the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s planned Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). Sentry is a state-of-the-art, free-swimming underwater robot that can operate independently, without tethers or other connections to a research ship. The autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV, is pre-programmed with guidance for deep-water surveying, but it can also make its own decisions about navigation on the terrain of the seafloor. "This investment into emerging technologies is paying off in delivering state-of-the-art science support," said Julie Morris, director of NSF’s Division of Ocean Sciences. "In the near future, Sentry will conduct high-resolution oceanographic surveys that would be otherwise impossible.
Interesting2: Park benches of the future could be made from computers of the past. Scientists in China have developed a new recycling method that makes a strong construction material out of printed circuit boards (PCBs), which had been thought to be worthless. As more electrical and electronic equipment has become obsolete, the issue of electronic-waste removal has intensified, say Zhenming Xu at ShanghaiJiaoTongUniversity and colleagues. PCBs account for about 3 percent by weight of all electronic waste, Xu says. Although metals from the circuit boards, such as copper and aluminum, are recycled, landfill disposal has been the primary method for treating their nonmetallic materials, which have been difficult to recycle, the paper says. The new process pulverizes the non-metallic parts of the circuit boards, adds a little resin, then hot presses them into useable plates. Being almost as strong as reinforced concrete, the recycled material makes a good substitute for wood the researchers write in the July 15 issue of Environmental Science & Technology. It could be used to make sewer grates, fences and park benches. "There is no doubt that the technique has potential in the industry for recycling nonmetallic materials of PCBs," Xu said.
Interesting3: The US Navy has agreed to further limit use of low-frequency active sonar to prevent possible harm to whales and other creatures, reports said Wednesday. The new limits were included in a federal court-approved settlement with environmental groups and would ban the use of the low-frequency active sonar in areas in the Pacific Ocean that are known to be whale breeding grounds and key habitat, such as the Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary off Hawaii. The Navy must also limit testing seasonally and in coastal areas. The settlement brings to an end a protracted battle between the sides over the risk to whales and other marine life posed by underwater noise from sonar exercises. Navy officials insist that the sonar exercises are essential for sailors to train to detect ultra-quiet submarines being developed by nations such as Iran and North Korea. Scientists say sonar damages the hearing organs of sea mammals, disrupts their lives and has caused many whale species to beach themselves on shores. Environmentalists urged the Navy to conduct the training in areas spots where whales are not common.
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