January 30-31, 2009
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 76
Honolulu, Oahu – 81
Kaneohe, Oahu – 77
Kahului, Maui – 81
Hilo, Hawaii – 79
Kailua-kona – 81
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the highest mountains…at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon:
Honolulu, Oahu – 80F
Kaneohe, Oahu – 74
Haleakala Crater – 45 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 34 (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:
2.01 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.26 Waihee Pump, Oahu
0.02 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.02 Hana airport, Maui
0.10 Kealakekua, Big Island
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing high pressure systems far to the north and northeast of the Hawaiian Islands Friday. Our winds will remain out of the trade wind direction into the weekend.
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
A Pristine beach on Maui
Photo Credit: flickr.com
The Hawaiian Islands have moved into what will be a prolonged period of winter trade winds. A trade wind producing ridge of high pressure will remain nearly stationary to the north of the islands. This ridge will ensure that our trades stick around through the next week. Wind speeds will remain in the light to moderately strong category through the weekend. A surge in the trade winds will bring stronger gusts, and cooler weather to the state after the weekend for several days.
Other than a few passing showers along the windward sides, our weather will be fine through the weekend…especially along the leeward beaches. Our weather will remain favorably inclined through both Saturday and Sunday. The tail-end of a cold front, or what we call a shear line cloud band, will bring an increase in cool showers right after the weekend for a couple of days. The windward sides will see the bulk of these showers, although with the stronger trade winds blowing, the leeward sides may see a few flying over there locally on the smaller islands
It’s Friday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I just finished the work week. Friday was a terrific day, with lots and lots of warm sunshine beaming down just about everywhere. The trade winds blew, but not overly strong, providing just the right amount of ventilation. I see no reason to believe that this fine weather won’t carry forward right into the upcoming weekend. Looking out through the windows here in Kihei, at 530pm or so, the skies are nearly cloud free! ~~~ I’m about to head over to Kahului, and try once again to see the new film Slumdog Millionaire…which was sold out for me last Friday evening. If I get turned away from this film again, which is getting rave reviews by the way, I’ll likely turn to another film called Notorious. I’ll come back again early Saturday morning with your next new weather narrative, and let you know which I saw, and what I thought of it. I hope you have a great Friday night from wherever you happen to be reading from! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: Wintry conditions are set to dominate the UK weather in the coming week, bringing heavy snow for many parts. On Friday and Saturday, temperatures across eastern parts of the UK will gradually fall, but it is not until Sunday that the cold weather really takes hold. Temperatures in Birmingham on Sunday are set to peak at just 34F. Wintry showers are set for eastern parts of the UK on Sunday, with anywhere from Aberdeenshire to Kent receiving around half an inch of snow. On Monday and Tuesday, this snow risk extends further west, with significant accumulations possible for much of England, Wales, and southern Scotland. Up to 8 inches of snow is possible over higher ground in the east by the end of Tuesday. The return to colder weather across the UK is due to the influence of an area of high pressure centered over Scandinavia. This high pressure system will remain slow moving into next week, and will draw in very cold air from continental Europe and western Russia. As this cold air moves across the North Sea, it will pick up moisture, which is then deposited as snow showers over the UK. So far, this winter has been the coldest in the UK for over a decade. Forecasters from the Met Office expect temperatures for the whole of winter to be average or below average.
Interesting2: A searing heat wave worsened on Friday in Melbourne, Australia, as the temperature soared to 113 degrees F, or 35 degrees above average. Wednesday and Thursday set respective highs of 110 and 112 degrees F. This was the first time since record-keeping began in 1855 that three consecutive days surpassed 109 degrees F in the city. Friday’s high came close to Melbourne’s all-time highest temperature, 114 degrees F, which was reached on Jan. 13, 1939. The high heat played a role in a massive blackout late on Friday as demand for electricity surged. Furthermore, brushfires instigated by the hot, dry weather burned at least 10 homes.
Interesting3: China needs more rational policies to make the most of its wind power, says an editorial in Nature. Despite doubling their capacity every year for the past three years, China’s wind turbines are less efficient at producing energy and break down more often than those in other countries. China’s bidding system favors developers that promise cheap supplies of electricity — even if such promises make the projects unprofitable, says the editorial. International companies with more efficient turbines don’t even bother to bid. And many appointed projects fail to get off the ground. China could learn from countries with more experience of wind energy, says the editorial. It suggests the first thing to do is focus on producing power, rather than building turbines. The editorial also recommends that China adopts more reasonable targets. Operating at international standards of efficiency, China’s turbines could produce five per cent of the nation’s energy needs by 2020 and could make China the biggest producer of wind energy in the world.
Interesting4: Villagers in the Kamchatka peninsula are reliant on poaching salmon as almost their sole source of income, according to a new report launched today by WWF-Russia and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network. The report assesses the level of poaching in Kamchatka (so-called illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) catch) of five species of salmon – pink, chum, sockeye, Coho and Chinook – and analyses the importation of these species by countries in the region. “Salmon is an integral part of Kamchatka’s economy, but stocks are threatened by unsustainable illegal off-take,” says Natalia Dronova, WWF-TRAFFIC co-ordinator and an author of the report. She adds: “The future security of this vital economic resource depends on how we treat it today.” Salmon are mainly poached for their roe (eggs), which are sold as a cheaper alternative to caviar.
According to the report, poaching of salmon on the spawning grounds has increased significantly, driven by a combination of factors including easier access because of better roads, Russia’s economic situation, and an easing of the country’s salmon trade regulations. For example, in 2003-2006 the actual catch of chum salmon was an average 1.5 times more than officially reported. “Combating the poachers is complicated by technical difficulties, corruption, and because the illegal salmon catch is almost the sole source of income for villagers in Kamchatka,” says Dronova. Currently on rivers where legal fisheries exist, poaching provides income to about 30% of households. However, on rivers not used by legal fishing entities, up to 90% or even 100% of families live through poaching. The report says that improving the options for legal processing of fish, plus providing other forms of employment, for example through increased tourism to the region, would reduce the levels of illegally fished salmon. Improved local and federal law enforcement would also help in preserving salmon and salmon-based livelihoods for the people of Kamchatka.
Intersting5: The oceans have long buffered the effects of climate change by absorbing a substantial portion of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. But this benefit has a catch: as the gas dissolves, it makes seawater more acidic. Now an international panel of marine scientists says this acidity is accelerating so fast it threatens the survival of coral reefs, shellfish and the marine food web generally. The panel, comprising 155 scientists from 26 countries and organized by the United Nations and other international groups, is not the first to point to growing ocean acidity as an environmental threat, but its blunt language and international credentials give its assessment unusual force. It called for “urgent action” to sharply reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. “Severe damages are imminent,” the group said Friday in a statement summing up its deliberations at a symposium in Monaco last October. The statement, called the Monaco Declaration, said increasing acidity is interfering with the growth and health of shellfish and eating away at coral reefs, processes that would eventually affect marine food webs generally. Already, the group said, there have been detectable decreases in shellfish, shell weights and interference with the growth of coral skeletons.
Interesting6: A new way of making LEDs could see household lighting bills reduced by up to 75% within five years. Gallium Nitride (GaN), a man-made semiconductor used to make LEDs (light emitting diodes), emits brilliant light but uses very little electricity. Until now high production costs have made GaN lighting too expensive for wide spread use in homes and offices. However the Cambridge University based Centre for Gallium Nitride has developed a new way of making GaN which could produce LEDs for a tenth of current prices. GaN, grown in labs on expensive sapphire wafers since the 1990s, can now be grown on silicon wafers. This lower cost method could mean cheap mass produced LEDs become widely available for lighting homes and offices in the next five years. Based on current results, GaN LED lights in every home and office could cut the proportion of UK electricity used for lights from 20% to 5%. That means we could close or not need to replace eight power stations. A GaN LED can burn for 100,000 hours so, on average, it only needs replacing after 60 years. And, unlike currently available energy-saving bulbs GaN LEDs do not contain mercury so disposal is less damaging to the environment.
GaN LEDs also have the advantage of turning on instantly and being dimmable. Professor Colin Humphreys, lead scientist on the project said: “This could well be the holy grail in terms of providing our lighting needs for the future. We are very close to achieving highly efficient, low cost white LEDs that can take the place of both traditional and currently available low energy light bulbs. That won’t just be good news for the environment. It will also benefit consumers by cutting their electricity bills.” GaN LEDs, used to illuminate landmarks like Buckingham Palace and the Severn Bridge, are also appearing in camera flashes, mobile phones, torches, bicycle lights and interior bus, train and plane lighting. Parallel research is also being carried out into how GaN lights could mimic sunlight to help 3m people in the UK with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Ultraviolet rays made from GaN lighting could also aid water purification and disease control in developing countries, identify the spread of cancer tumors and help fight hospital super bugs’.
Interesting7: A researcher from the University of the West of England was inspired by her own nightmares and a chance encounter at a lecture to examine more closely the stuff that dreams are made of. Her PhD study has focused on an astounding discovery that women suffer more nightmares then men. As a mature student Dr Jennie Parker was interested in looking at some aspect of psychology for her PhD study and it was at a lecture about dreams, given by former UWE researcher Dr Susan Blackmore that she had a moment of epiphany. Dr Parker explains, “My own nightmares had two reoccurring themes, one concerned standing on the beach at Weston Super Mare, my home town, when the tide suddenly goes out very fast and returns as a huge tidal wave that is about to engulf me. The other dream includes a dinosaur roaming the streets at night and looking in at my window.
I wondered if my experience was common amongst women. “Several years on and Dr Parker has completed a study that looks set to turn Dream Research on its head and expand its potential as a subject with multi faceted possibilities hitherto unrealized. In the course of her work she found that research into sleep and dreams had used data collection techniques that discounted entirely the role of emotions in dreams. She believes that this ‘discovery’ opens up a whole new raft of research possibilities into the psychology of dreaming. Dr Parker explains, “My most significant finding is that women in general do experience more nightmares than men. An early study into dreams lead to my discovering that normative research procedures into Dream Research often considered the structure of dreams but that there is a gaping hole in terms of academic study that investigates emotional significance in the analysis of dreams.
Interesting8: Older Americans have experienced huge, negative financial shifts that now make it more difficult to enter retirement with sustainable economic security, a new study finds. Seventy-eight percent of all senior households are financially vulnerable when it comes to their ability to meet essential expenses and cover projected costs over their lifetimes. This is according to the Senior Economic Security Index (SESI), a new research project developed by The Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University and Demos, a national public policy and research organization. Single households, African-American households, and Latino households are the most likely groups of seniors to be financially vulnerable. These sobering stats serve as a wakeup call for younger and middle-aged Americans. Though they are financially vulnerable, today’s seniors represent a best-case scenario of having reached retirement under stronger Social Security, better employer-based benefits, and greater opportunities to avoid debt and build assets than future generations will experience.
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