Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / August 28-29, 2008

August 28-29 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 86
Honolulu, Oahu – 88
Kaneohe, Oahu – 82
Kahului, Maui – 88
Hilo, Hawaii – 83
Kailua-kona – 84

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

Barking Sands, Kauai – 86F  
Hilo, Hawaii – 80

Haleakala Crater- 52 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 41 (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:

0.06 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.58 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.05 Kahoolawe
1.10 Ulupalakua, Maui
1.18 Piihonua, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing high pressure systems located far to the north, and northeast 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

The lush tropical green of Hawaii 
Photo Credit: flickr.com

 

Broadly speaking, our local trade winds will continue to be moderately strong…with day to day variations in strength through the next week. These cooling and refreshing winds will shift between light to moderate, to fully moderately strong depending upon the day. As is common, the north and east facing windward areas will see the strongest winds. In contrast, the south and west facing leeward sections will be more protected from the easterly trade wind flow. At those times when the trade winds slip a bit, our atmosphere will begin to feel slightly muggy during the days. 

There will be a mix of showers falling, sometimes along the windward coasts and slopes, and along the leeward slopes during the afternoons as well. The rainfall pattern continues to be one with occasional passing showers…and then returning to clear skies with no rain. As an upper level trough moves close through the rest of this week, we may see some enhancement to our local showers at times. There aren’t any cold fronts coming our way from the northwest, nor slugs of tropical moisture taking aim on our islands from the east or southeast.

Tropical storm Gustav is a storm that the computer hurricane models bring into the Gulf of Mexico as a strong category 3 hurricane. This hurricane will do some shifting around in its path over the very warm waters of the Gulf. As this track map from the National Hurricane Center in Miami shows…at the moment, it’s heading towards the Louisiana coast, just to the west of New Orleans. Everyone living along the Gulf coast, and in those areas further inland too, should be paying close attention to this dangerous tropical cyclone as it will be strengthening going forward.

It’s early Thursday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I begin writing this last paragraph of today’s tropical weather narrative from Hawaii.  As we move into Thursday night, we find almost completely clear skies in most parts of the state of Hawaii, which a few scattered clouds around the edges. The winds remained quite strong today, and even later in the afternoon, the winds were still gusting to 37 mph at that windy bay in Maalaea, here on Maui. As this satellite image shows, there are more clouds just to the east of our islands, what we call upstream in relation to the trade winds, which will carry the next batch of windward biased showers to us tonight into early Friday morning…especially from Maui up through Oahu, and to a lesser degree to Kauai and the Big island. Otherwise, looking well into the future, we find more of the generally fine weather conditions, which are expected to carry forth through the entirety of the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend. I’ll be back very early Friday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise, I hope you have a great Thursday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting:

A strong earthquake struck off Canada‘s west coast early Thursday near Vancouver Island. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries. The epicenter of the magnitude-6.1 quake was 97 miles west of Port Hardy and 293 miles west northwest of Vancouver, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck at a depth of about 6 miles. Geological Survey of Canada scientist Garry Rogers said there were no reports of injuries or damages and said it occurred too far off land for there to be any. He said it’s normal activity for the region and there’s nothing to be alarmed about. The quake was the latest in a series of coastal tremors since Monday.

Two quakes rattled the area Wednesday, both with magnitudes of around 5. There have been 18 quakes with a magnitude greater than four in the region this week. Seismologists said the tremors are occurring in a "seismically active" region, and they are too far offshore to be felt on land and too small to generate a tsunami. "Rarely a day goes by where we don’t have an earthquake. Once a year we have a swarm in the high fours, maybe a five. Once a decade we have a six," Rogers said. "It’s one of the most busiest earthquake areas in the world." Rogers said new ocean crust is forming in the area and that’s why it’s so active geologically.

Interesting2:

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.”

Interesting3:

It seems to happen with depressing frequency – sunny skies turn to rain just as the weekend arrives. Now Spanish researchers say they have evidence that in some parts of Europe the weather really does follow a weekly cycle, although not in the straightforward way that the anecdote might suggest. Evidence has been mounting over the years that the weather in certain parts of the world, including the US, Japan and China, can be driven by the weekly cycle of human activity. This is because we tend to produce more air pollution during the week and less at the weekend. Evidence that such an effect occurs in Europe is controversial and has been harder to come by. Arturo Sanchez-Lorenzo of the University of Barcelona, Spain, and his colleagues examined data gathered between 1961 and 2004 from weather stations across Spain to see whether such a pattern existed. They claim to have found it in Spain, as well as hints of weekly changes in air circulation more broadly over western Europe.

Interesting4:

Giant clams two feet long might have helped feed prehistoric humans as they first migrated out of Africa, new research reveals. The species, Tridacna costata, once accounted for more than 80 percent of giant clams in the Red Sea, researcher now say. Today, these mollusks, the first new living species of giant clam found in two decades, represent less than 1 percent of giant clams living there. This novel clam, whose shell has a distinctive scalloped edge, was discovered while scientists were attempting to develop a breeding program for another giant clam species, Tridacna maxima, which is prized in the aquarium trade. The new species appears to live only in the shallowest waters, which makes it particularly vulnerable to overfishing.

 "These are all strong indications that T. costata may be the earliest example of marine overexploitation," said researcher Claudio Richter, a marine ecologist at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany.  Fossil evidence that the researchers uncovered suggests the stocks of these giant clams began crashing some 125,000 years ago, during the last interval between glacial periods. During that time, scientists think modern humans first emerged out of Africa, Richter said. These mollusks could have played a key role in feeding people during that crucial era, serving as a prime target due to their large size, the scientists added. Indeed, competition for these clams and other valuable sea resources "may have been an important driver for human expansion.