August 15-17 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 7 a.m. Friday morning:
Lihue, Kauai – 80F
Hilo, Hawaii – 70
Haleakala Crater- 43 (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 Friday morning:
0.70 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.44 Wilson Tunnel, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.07 Lanai
0.01 Kahoolawe
0.78 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.71 Mountain View, Big Island
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a high pressure system located to the north of Hawaii. Trade winds will pick up some this weekend, blowing generally in the moderately strong realms…locally stronger and gusty.
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
The windward side of Oahu
Photo Credit: flickr.com
Our local trade winds will increase in strength Friday into the weekend. The trades will bounce back into the moderately strong category now, after being quite light over the last few days.The computer models show the trade winds continuing into next week, with no end in sight to our trade winds from this vantage point.
We’re moving back into a normal summertime trade wind weather pattern, with just a few windward showers. The leeward sides will be nice and sunny for the most part, with generally dry conditions prevailing. There’s a chance too, that former eastern Pacific tropical cyclone Hernan, will bring an increase of tropical moisture towards the Big Island later this weekend into Monday.
A storm far to the north of Hawaii…generated an out of season north-northwest swell earlier this week. This swell train of waves will arrive along our north shores later Friday. 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! At the same time, we’re find a rise in surf along our east shores too, which was generated by former hurricane Hernan while it was in the eastern Pacific.
It’s early Friday morning here in my hotel room in Waikiki Beach, on the island of Oahu. Several friends and I went out last evening for a drink, and ended up walking to a place in Waikiki…it was fun to be out on the town! The climate conference that I’m attending is going very well. I’m impressed with the caliber of people who are attending, including several nobel laureates. The Pacific Disaster Center, where I work in Kihei, Maui, is putting on this conference, with invited guests…many of whom are the top climate change people in the world. The conference ends Friday afternoon, at which point I’ll be picked up by friends who live over on the windward side of Oahu. I’ll be spending the weekend over at their house, and visiting with many of my other Oahu friends until Sunday afternoon, when I’ll fly back to Maui. During this time, my website updates will be irregular, although I’ll try and jump back online a couple of times and let you know how much fun I’m having! I hope you’re having fun yourself, wherever you happen to be at the moment. Aloha for now…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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