Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / August 26-27, 2008

August 26-27 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 87
Honolulu, Oahu – 89
Kaneohe, Oahu – 84
Kahului, Maui – 87
Hilo, Hawaii – 86
Kailua-kona – 86

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

Port Allen, Kauai – 88F  
Molokai airport – 77

Haleakala Crater- 52 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 43 (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 Tuesday afternoon:

0.05 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.45 Manoa Valley, Oahu
0.03 Molokai
0.01 Lanai
0.19 Kahoolawe
1.05 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.31 Hilo airport, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing high pressure systems located to the north through northeast of Hawaii…with an associated ridge extending west to the north of our islands. This pressure configuration will keep our trade winds blowing generally in the light to moderately strong range, locally stronger in those windiest areas.

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

Blue Hawaii…Hilo Bay
   Photo Credit: flickr.com

Trade winds will continue to grace our Hawaiian Islands well into the future. This weather map, shows high pressure systems located to the north through northeast of Hawaii. This pressure configuration will keep moderately strong winds blowing, locally stronger and gusty. The trades have eased enough now that the NWS forecast office in Honolulu has cancelled the small craft wind advisory active over for the windiest spots around Maui County, down through the Big Island. 

Showers will be carried our way on the brisk trade winds, favoring the windward sides of the islands. The leeward sides will remain mostly sunny to partly cloudy during the days, with some localized cloudy periods…and an isolated shower here and there during afternoon hours. The overall weather pattern will remain favorably inclined for the time being, with no organized areas of showers taking aim on the islands into the foreseeable future. Conditions are dry enough now, so that we need to be very careful about brush fires.

It’s that time of year when we can see tropical cyclones here in the central Pacific, although there are none at the moment, thank goodness. Glancing over into the western Pacific though, we have a storm (14W) about ready to move across the northern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines. Looking in the other direction, over towards Mexico, we have dissipating tropical depression Julio bringing rain to northwest Mexico, into the southwest United States. The Caribbean Sea is very active with hurricane Gustav…which looks like it will cause big trouble along some coastline in the Gulf of Mexico this coming weekend!

It’s early Tuesday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I begin writing this last paragraph of today’s tropical weather narrative from Hawaii. Tuesday started off a bit wetter than expected, at least here on Maui, where morning showers got wetter than they were "suppose to." Those showers headed up to Oahu during the day, where showers fell in places too…and may progress up the chain to Kauai tonight. As this batch of showers moved off, the islands of Maui become sunnier, and ended the day in a dry way. The trade winds are still with us, and will be through the rest of this week, and likely through much of the rest of the summer season into September. Looking out the window here in Kihei, I see mostly sunny skies out there, which should set the stage for a nice sunset, leading into another great sunrise on Wednesday! I hope you enjoy your Tuesday night, and that you will meet me here again Wednesday, when I’ll have your next new weather narrative from paradise waiting for you! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting:

An investigation by the Associated Press (AP) has revealed that the drinking water of at least 41 million people in the United States is contaminated with pharmaceutical drugs. It has long been known that drugs are not wholly absorbed or broken down by the human body. Significant amounts of any medication taken eventually pass out of the body, primarily through the urine.  "People think that if they take a medication, their body absorbs it and it disappears, but of course that’s not the case," EPA scientist Christian Daughton said. While sewage is treated before being released back into the environment, and water from reservoirs or rivers is also treated before being funneled back into the drinking water supply, these treatments are not able to remove all traces of medications.

And so far, the EPA has not regulated the presence of pharmaceuticals in drinking water, meaning that there are no laws in existence today that protect consumers from this increasingly dangerous chemical contaminant of the water supply. Medications for animals also contaminating the water supply Drugs given to animals are also entering the water supply. One study found that 10 percent of the steroids given to cattle pass directly through their bodies, while another study found that steroid concentrations in the water downstream of a Nebraska feedlot were four times as high as the water upstream. Male fish downstream of the feedlot were found to have depressed levels of testosterone and smaller than normal heads, most likely due to the pharmaceutical contamination in their water.

Interesting2:

The probability is growing that the global economy—not just the United States—will experience a serious recession. Recent developments suggest that all G7 economies are already in recession or close to tipping into one. Other advanced economies or emerging markets (the rest of the euro zone; New Zealand, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, and some Southeast European economies) are also nearing a recessionary hard landing. When they reach it, there will be a sharp slowdown in the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) and other emerging markets. This looming global recession is being fed by several factors: the collapse of housing bubbles in the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, and other euro-zone members; punctured credit bubbles where money and credit was too easy for too long; the severe credit and liquidity crunch following the U.S. mortgage crisis; the negative wealth and investment effects of falling stock markets (already down by more than 20 percent globally); the global effects via trade links of the recession in the United States (which still counts for about 30 percent of global GDP); the U.S. dollar’s weakness, which reduces American trading partners’ competitiveness; and the stagflationary effects of high oil and commodity prices, which are forcing central banks to increase interest rates to fight inflation at a time when there are severe downside risks to growth and financial stability. Official data suggest that the U.S. economy entered into a recession in the first quarter of this year. The economy rebounded—in a double-dip, W-shaped recession—in the second quarter, boosted by the temporary effects on consumption of $100 billion in tax rebates. But those effects will fade by late summer.

Interesting3: Alternative fishing technology has been shown to save turtles while not affecting fish catches, according to a report released by WWF and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC). The report demonstrates how changing from the classic J hook to circular hooks, providing adequate training and tools to release turtles accidentally hooked and enhancing sustainable fishing practices, can dramatically reduce incidental catch (bycatch) of marine turtles without impacting fishing activity. “The results keep demonstrating that changing to circular hooks is the right choice, since it favours turtle conservation without having an impact on the economy of artisanal fisheries," said Moises Mug, Coordinator of the WWF Bycatch Initiative for the Eastern Pacific. "Together with fishermen we are building a culture for sustainable fishing practices that will guarantee fish stocks in the long term.”  

The report – Bycatch Initiative: Eastern Pacific Program, A Vehicle Towards Sustainable Fisheries – is a comprehensive analysis of data collected during four years of work in eight different countries in the Eastern Pacific – Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.  “Our goal is to reduce the incidental catch of marine turtles from the long-line fishing operations without affecting the fisheries activity which is a main source of food and income for local communities,” explained Martin Hall, Principal Researcher for the IATTC. Data gathered showed an overall significant trend of bycatch reduction, with a reduction of up to 89 per cent in the marine turtle bycatch per thousand hooks. Ninety-five per cent of all turtles caught in long-line fishing were recovered alive, while circle hooks performed as well as J hooks in the catch rates of tuna, billfishes and sharks fishery.

Interesting4: The race to go green has taken to the high seas with two Japanese companies saying they would begin work on the world’s first ship to have propulsion engines partially powered by solar energy. Japan’s biggest shipping line Nippon Yusen KK and Nippon Oil Corp said solar panels capable of generating 40 kilowatts of electricity would be placed on top of a 60,000 tonne car carrier to be used by Toyota Motor Corp. The solar panels would help conserve up to 6.5 percent of fuel oil used in powering diesel engines that generate electricity at any given moment. Solar panels for an average home usually generate 3.5 kilowatts of electricity.

The system is expected to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1-2 percent, or about 20 tonnes per year, said Hideyuki Dohi, general manager at Nippon Oil’s energy system development department. Nippon Yusen will invest about 150 million yen ($1.4 million) in the solar panel system to be designed by Nippon Oil. Solar panels capable of generating several kilowatts of electricity have been used on large vessels before but their use has been limited to power for the crew’s living quarters. Damage to the panels from salt and vibration remain hurdles to be overcome. The ship is scheduled to be completed in December.

Interesting 5: Traces of a chemical once used by power plants leave birds looking fit, but singing another tune altogether. Wild chickadees exposed to permitted levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can’t keep a tune as well as other birds. Because females go for males with the best songs, PCB-exposed birds might lose out on mates, says Sara DeLeon, an ecologist at CornellUniversity in Ithaca, New York, who presented her research at a recent conference at the university. "The birds are living, not dying, but [PCBs] are affecting some part of their life cycle," she says. Researchers have long known that some chemicals, such DDT, can throw off a bird’s song, but none have determined whether exposure to trace amounts in the wild can influence songs and mating.

Interesting6:

The Zephyr solar plane has sailed to what may be a record for sun-powered unmanned flight. The 66-pound craft was aloft for 83 hours and 7 minutes. The plane makes use of ultra-lightweight carbon-fiber to save on weight. It flies on solar power generated by paper-thin silicon solar arrays on its wings. The Zephyr solar-powered plane is able to fly autonomously, using GPS to keep on track. Launched by hand, Zephyr charges its batteries during the day for night flying. Initially, the plane was flown remotely to an altitude of 60,000 feet; the plane was able to fly by itself for the remaining time. [The flight is unlikely to be an official record, however, because the company did not meet criteria laid down by the world’s air sports federation.] Other solar-powered surveillance planes are under development, like the Helios craft that has already flown a number of successful test flights. The Zephyr is considered a possible predecessor to the planned DARPA Vulture Five Year Flying Wing. The "five years" part refers to the length of proposed continuous flight time.