April 30-May 1, 2009
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 75
Honolulu, Oahu – 83
Kaneohe, Oahu – 78
Kahului, Maui – 79
Hilo, Hawaii – 77
Kailua-kona – 84
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountains…at 5 p.m. Thursday evening:
Honolulu, Oahu – 82F
Lihue, Kauai – 70
Haleakala Crater – 55 (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:
0.01 Omao, Kauai
0.06 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.04 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.43 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.16 Waiakea Uka, Big Island
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map shows high pressure systems located far to the WNW and ENE of the islands now. Both of these high’s are weak, and with a connecting ridge between the two, to the north of Hawaii…our winds will be generally light trade winds through Saturday.
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. Finally, here’s a looping IR satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. 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
Baldwin Beach…near Paia, Maui
Our winds are still coming in from the northeast Thursday evening, but will shift around to the east…then the southeast later this weekend. Winds coming out of the northeast will still have a slight coolness to them. As they veer around to the true easterly trade wind direction on Friday, they will warm up. Then, speaking of warm winds, they will swing around the compass to the southeast later this coming weekend, which will bring sultry conditions. These southeast winds may bring up some hazy conditions too, with a volcanic origin. Moving into next week, an approaching cold front will stall before arriving, but could turn our local winds around to the south…before the trade winds return by mid-week.
It’s early Thursday evening as I begin writing this last section of today’s weather narrative. Thursday was a dry day, as will be Friday, and Saturday…with not much change into Sunday. I’m sure this is what a lot of folks have been waiting for, especially those that have seen showers falling at times through the last month and more…along the windward sides. Not only will it be drier, it will finally be warmer too. We should see normal air temperatures, with many of the coastal areas being able to rise up to 80F+ degrees, or several degrees above that by the weekend. This is good news, as many people have been exclaiming what a cool winter/spring it has been. The one down side of this is that we may see some volcanic haze being drawn up over the state, coming up from the vents on the Big Island. The daytime heating, coupled with the warm temperatures this weekend too, should promote fairly cloudy skies around the mountains during the afternoons…which could slide down towards the coasts during the afternoon hours.
~~~ I’m about ready to head upcountry, after another good work day down here in Kihei, Maui. Looking out the window before I go get in my car, I see quite a few clouds out there, but they aren’t the rain producing kind. Just to make sure, lets take a quick look at this looping radar image, just to make double sure. There are a few very light, and very widely spaced showers falling, but our very dry weather pattern is already kicking in now. I’ll be back early Friday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have an exceptional Thursday night, and that you might be inclined to check back in again in soon. By the way, the last two evenings when I got home to Kula, I found foggy, and drizzly weather for my evening walk, which is fine with me. Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: Drinking up to half a glass of wine a day may boost life expectancy by five years—at least in men, suggests research published ahead of print in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The Dutch authors base their findings on a total of 1,373 randomly selected men whose cardiovascular health and life expectancy at age 50 were repeatedly monitored between 1960 and 2000.
The researchers looked into how much alcohol the men drank, what type it was, and over what period, in a bid to assess whether this had any impact on the risks of their dying from cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and from all causes.
They also tracked weight and diet, whether the men smoked, and for how long, and checked for the presence of serious illness. During the 40 years of monitoring, 1,130 of the men died. Over half the deaths were caused by cardiovascular disease.
The proportion of men who drank alcohol almost doubled from 45% in 1960 to 86% in 2000, with the proportion of those drinking wine soaring from 2% to 44% during that period.
The researchers found that light long term alcohol consumption of all types—up to 20 g a day— extended life by around two extra years compared with no alcohol at all. Extended life expectancy was slightly less for those who drank more than 20 g.
And men who drank only wine, and less than half a glass of it a day, lived around 2.5 years longer than those who drank beer and spirits, and almost five years longer than those who drank no alcohol at all.
Drinking wine was strongly associated with a lower risk of dying from coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and death from all causes. These results held true, irrespective of socioeconomic status, dietary and other lifestyle habits, factors long thought to influence the association between wine drinking and better health.
Interesting2: Researchers have detected common plant toxins that affect human health and ecosystems in smoke from forest fires. The results from the new study also suggest that smoldering fires may produce more toxins than wildfires – a reason to keep human exposures to a minimum during controlled burns. Finding these toxins — known as alkaloids — helps researchers understand how they cycle through earth and air.
Smoke-related alkaloids in the environment can change aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as where and when clouds form. The study, which was of Ponderosa pines, by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will appear June 1 in Environmental Science and Technology.
"Ponderosa pines are widespread in areas that are prone to forest fires," said PNNL physical chemist Julia Laskin, one of the coauthors. "This study shows us which molecules are in smoke so we can better understand smoke’s environmental impact."
As trees and underbrush burn, billowing smoke made up of tiny particles drifts away. The tiny particles contain a variety of natural compounds released from the plant matter.
Researchers have long suspected the presence of alkaloids in smoke or detected them in air during fire season, but no one had directly measured them coming off a fire.
The PNNL researchers had recently developed the technology to pick out alkaloids from the background of similar molecules. To investigate chemicals given off by fires, the team captured some smoke from test fires organized by Colorado State University researchers.
These researchers were doing controlled burns of ponderosa pines, underbrush and other fuels at the Forest Service Fire Science Laboratory in Missoula, Mont. The scientists collected smoke samples in a device that corrals small particles.
Using high-resolution spectrometry instruments in EMSL, DOE’s Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory on the PNNL campus, they then determined which molecules the smoke contained. At EMSL, the researchers used the new methods to glean highly detailed information about the smoke’s composition. The team found a wide variety of molecules.
When they compared their results to other studies, they found that 70 percent of these molecules had not been previously reported in smoke. "The research significantly expanded the previous observations," said aerosol chemist and coauthor Alexander Laskin.
Interesting3: The National Marine Fisheries Service has ordered a six-month emergency closure of the bottom longline fishery in the Gulf of Mexico to protect imperiled sea turtles from capture and death. During the closure, which will go into effect May 16, the agency will determine whether and how the fishery can operate while ensuring the survival of the turtles over the long term.
The Service is closing the fishery because its data indicate the fishery had captured more than eight times the number of sea turtles it authorized in its 2005 biological opinion. A Federal Register notice that will be published May 1 explains that further bottom long line fishing could jeopardize the existence of loggerhead sea turtles "unless action is taken to reduce the fishery’s impact on this threatened species."
Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, and a coalition of other conservation groups — Caribbean Conservation Corporation, Florida Wildlife Federation, Gulf Restoration Network and Sea Turtle Restoration Project — had sued the agency in mid-April to seek protection for these imperiled animals and requested the emergency closure implemented today.
"Today is a great day for all who believe in protecting vulnerable sea turtles from unnecessary and illegal harm and ensuring their continued survival in the wild," said Steve Roady, an attorney with Earthjustice. "We commend NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco for setting a new course for NMFS that relies on sound science to manage our oceans for the great benefit of our nation and local communities."
"This temporary closure gives sea turtles a much-needed reprieve and gives the agency time to make scientifically sound decisions regarding the long-term operation of the fishery," said Andrea Treece, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. "More sea turtles will now have a chance to make it back to their nesting beaches — and even just look for food — without getting caught up in long lines."
Interesting4: Over the next 20 years, the number of new cancer cases diagnosed annually in the United States will increase by 45 percent, from 1.6 million in 2010 to 2.3 million in 2030, with a dramatic spike in incidence predicted in the elderly and minority populations, according to research from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. The study, published online April 29 in Journal of Clinical Oncology, is the first to determine such specific long-term cancer incidence projections.
It predicts a 67 percent increase in the number of adults age-65-or-older diagnosed with cancer, from 1 million in 2010 to 1.6 million in 2030. In non-white individuals over the same 20-year span, the incidence is expected to increase by 100 percent, from 330,000 to 660,000. According to Ben Smith, M.D., adjunct assistant professor in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Radiation Oncology, the study underscores cancer’s growing stress on the U.S. health care system.
"In 2030, 70 percent of all cancers will be diagnosed in the elderly and 28 percent in minorities, and the number of older adults diagnosed with cancer will be the same as the total number of Americans diagnosed with cancer in 2010," said Smith, the study’s senior author.
"Also alarming is that a number of the types of cancers that are expected to increase, such as liver, stomach and pancreas, still have tremendously high mortality rates."
Unless specific prevention and/or treatment strategies are discovered, cancer death rates also will increase dramatically, said Smith, who is currently on active military duty and is stationed at Lackland Air Force Base.
Interesting5: Repeatedly going to work when ill significantly boosts the chances of having to take long term sick leave later on, reveals research published ahead of print in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Going to work when ill is an increasingly recognized phenomenon known as "sickness presence," but relatively little is known about the long term impact of this behavior.
The researchers randomly selected almost 12,000 Danes of working age, who had been in continuous employment for at least a year, to answer questions on their attitudes to work, preparedness to take time off when ill, and general health. They were asked how many times in the preceding year they had gone to work ill when it would have been reasonable to have stayed at home.
Their responses were married up with official records detailing periods of sick leave taken, and lasting at least a fortnight, over the next 18 months. Poor general health, a heavy workload, work-family life conflicts, a good level of social support, holding a senior post, and obesity featured most often among those who repeatedly came to work, despite being ill.
Workers who had done this at least half a dozen times were 53% more likely to end up going off sick for two weeks, and 74% more likely to take more than two months of sick leave, compared with those who did not come to work when ill. These findings held true even after taking account of known risk factors for long term sick leave, previous bouts of lengthy sickness absence, and prevailing health.
Short periods off sick may allow workers to cope better with the stresses of a demanding job, and, overall, the evidence is that employment is good for health, say the authors. But long term sick leave is associated with difficulties finding work, they warn.
Interesting6: A dinosaur bone buried for 80 million years has yielded a mix of proteins and microstructures resembling cells. The finding is important because it should resolve doubts about a previous report that also claimed to have extracted dino tissue from fossils. Proteins such as collagen are far more durable than DNA, but they had not been expected to last the 65 million years since the dinosaurs died out.
So palaeontologist Mary Schweitzer of North Carolina State University attracted wide attention when she reported finding first soft tissue and later collagen from a Tyrannosaurus rex leg bone that was intact until it was broken during excavation. Yet critics said the extraordinary claim required extraordinary evidence, and asked for protein sequences, better handling of samples to prevent contamination, and confirmation analyses from other laboratories.
So Schweitzer took a look at the pristine leg bone of a plant-eating hadrosaur that had been encased in sandstone for 80 million years. She and colleagues exhaustively tested the sample, sequencing the proteins they found with a new and better mass spectrometer and sending samples to two other labs for verification.
Now they report recovering not just collagen – which conveys little evolutionary information because it is the same in almost all animals – but also haemoglobin, elastin and laminin, as well as cell-like structures resembling blood and bone cells. The proteins should reveal more about dinosaur evolution because they vary much more between species.
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