June 3-4, 2009
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 83
Honolulu, Oahu – 88
Kaneohe, Oahu – 84
Kahului, Maui – 88
Hilo, Hawaii – 86
Kailua-kona – 88
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountains…at 5 p.m. Wednesday evening:
Honolulu, Oahu – 84F
Lihue, Kauai – 80
Haleakala Crater – 52 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 39 (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 Wednesday afternoon:
0.03 Opaekaa Stream, Kauai
0.02 Makua Range, Oahu
0.01 Molokai
0.04 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.04 Hana, Maui
0.17 Waikii, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map shows a 1026 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of the islands, with a ridge extending from the southwest flank of the high…into the area northwest of Kauai. The trade winds will strengthen Thursday and Friday.
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
Hanalei Bay Hula…Kauai
A late season cold front moving by to our north, caused a slight weakening of our trade winds…although they will be strengthening again Thursday into Friday. Looking at this weather map Wednesday evening, we see a high pressure system to our northeast, with its associated ridge to the northwest of Kauai. The relatively close proximity of this ridge weakened our local winds a touch, bringing our wind speeds down a notch. This slightly softer version of the trade winds won’t last long however, as they will strengthen again already Thursday. There’s a good chance that they will be strong enough to trigger a small craft wind advisory in the windier locations Friday into the weekend.
Any showers in our area will be limited by the nearby ridge of high pressure, and the generally dry and stable air mass surrounding the Hawaiian Islands now. The windward sides may see a few showers, as well as a few afternoon sprinkles Wednesday afternoon elsewhere. The leeward beaches will remain mostly dry, with lots of sunshine, especially during the morning hours. The forecast models don’t show any sign of change in this regard, so that we can expect a minimal amount of rainfall through most of the rest of this week.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of our local outdoor environment at this point…has been the surf breaking along our south facing leeward beaches. Actually, we had a couple of new swells, which brought larger surf to our north, west, and south facing shores. A storm far to our northwest in the Pacific several days ago, and another down in the southern hemisphere, near New Zealand about a week ago…were the source areas for these waves that arrived Wednesday. The north shore surf will drop rather quickly Thursday, but the leeward beaches will have a prolonged period of larger than normal surf breaking.
It’s Wednesday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I begin writing this last section of today’s narrative. As was the case on Tuesday, Wednesday started off in a really nice way. We found clouds forming over and around the mountains during the afternoons, which is actually quite common. The beaches remained mostly clear, locally partly cloudy all day however. Air temperatures in those sunny beach areas, reached well up into the upper 80F’s once again today. As we move into Thursday, the trade winds will be the major weather influence here in the islands…remaining that way through the foreseeable future. ~~~ There were a couple of sprinkles down in Kihei, Maui, when I left work, and found a few light drops once I get upcountry too. Actually, at around 735pm it started to rain quite nicely, what a glorious sound, those drops beating down…and the smell too! ~~~ I’ll be back early Thursday morning with your next new weather narrative. I’m very sure that I’ll be describing good weather coming our way too. I hope you have a great Wednesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: People with lower back pain are better off exercising more, not less. A University of Alberta study of 240 men and women with chronic lower-back pain showed that those who exercised four days a week had a better quality of life, 28 per cent less pain and 36 per cent less disability, while those who hit the gym only two or three days a week did not show the same level of change.
"While it could be assumed that someone with back pain should not be exercising frequently, our findings show that working with weights four days a week provides the greatest amount of pain relief and quality of life," said Robert Kell, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of exercise physiology at the University of Alberta, Augustana Campus.
About 80 per cent of North Americans suffer from lower back pain. Kell presented some of the findings May 30 at the American College of Sports Medicine conference in Seattle, Wash. In the study, groups of 60 men and women with chronically sore lower backs each exercised with weights in two, three or four-day weekly programs, or not at all.
Their progress was measured over 16 weeks. The level of pain decreased by 28 per cent in programs that included exercise four days a week, by 18 per cent three days a week and by 14 per cent two days a week. The quality of life, defined as general physical and mental well-being, rose by 28 per cent, 22 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.
Interesting2: A new University of Florida study shows mammals change their dietary niches based on climate-driven environmental changes, contradicting a common assumption that species maintain their niches despite global warming. Led by Florida Museum of Natural History vertebrate paleontologist Larisa DeSantis, researchers examined fossil teeth from mammals at two sites representing different climates in Florida: a glacial period about 1.9 million years ago and a warmer, interglacial period about 1.3 million years ago.
The researchers found that interglacial warming resulted in dramatic changes to the diets of animal groups at both sites. "When people are modeling future mammal distributions, they’re assuming that the niches of mammals today are going to be the same in the future," DeSantis said.
"That’s a huge assumption." Co-author Robert Feranec, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the New York State Museum, said scientists cannot predict what species will do based on their current ecology. "The study definitively shows that climate change has an effect on ecosystems and mammals, and that the responses are much more complex than we might think," Feranec said.
The two sites in the study, both on Florida’s Gulf Coast, have been excavated quite extensively, DeSantis said. During glacial periods, lower sea levels nearly doubled Florida’s width, compared with interglacial periods.
But because of Florida’s low latitude, no ice sheets were present during the glacial period. Despite the lack of glaciers in Florida, the two sites show dramatic ecological changes occurred between the two periods.
Interesting3: Scientists have been studying the Dust Bowl phenomenon for decades, and until now the mechanisms that caused this exceptionally long period of drought have not been fully understood, as little information has been available on the atmospheric circulation. Stefan Brönnimann, Professor at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zurich, and his team have now used historical data to reconstruct and analyze the three-dimensional circulation during the Dust Bowl drought.
At the time of the drought, wind and temperature readings were already being taken using balloons and aircraft, initially at altitudes of three to eight kilometers, and later at much higher altitudes. These data have now been digitalized as part of a US project and a project undertaken by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Based on these data, Brönnimann’s team used statistical methods to reconstruct the upper air circulation at an altitude of up to 15 kilometers. Based on computer models, researchers have up to now conjectured that unusual sea surface temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans would have altered the wind systems, thereby triggering the drought.
At the same time, the dying vegetation, the parched soil and the dust created by these conditions could have further intensified the drought. However, according to Brönnimann, observations to date have offered insufficient confirmation of these hypotheses based on simulated models. Summer soon begins in the Northern Hemisphere and, on June 1st, the Atlantic hurricane season kicks off.
What do Atlantic and Pacific Ocean surface temperatures and heights tell forecasters about what they can expect this season? Although peak hurricane time doesn’t arrive until late-summer and early fall, there are some oceanic signals that give a hint of coming activity and NASA satellites are helping to provide that data.
Interesting4: The last few days have seen its hottest weather thus far over the British Archipelago. Of course, hot is relative in a region where cool and gray are more the rule than bright and sunny. For instance, normal high temperature in London at this time is 65 degrees F. Yet, as May ended and June began, readings soared well above normal throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland.
On Sunday and again on Monday, strong sunshine fostered by high pressure hiked temperatures right through the 70s and even above the benchmark — for Britain, anyways — 80-degree mark. Hottest on both afternoons was the town of Port Solent, Hampshire: Sunday had 80.4 F; Monday hit 81.0 F. Even normal cooler corners of the region warmed dramatically. At Glasgow, Monday’s high was a toasty 79.6 F.
This was also true on Tuesday, when the warm spot for the UK was reached in Northern Ireland: 79.5 F at Castlederg, in the county of Tyrone. The warmth, while welcome to sun lovers, also had down side. The unusual warmth together with direct heating of the sun could have buckled rails between Whitehaven and Carlisle, northwest England.
This was the site of a train derailing that happened on Monday. Expansion of steel induced by heating can buckle rails under some circumstances. On Sunday, authorities were made busy answering rescue calls as a several fun seekers, drawn to water by the hot sun, found them selves in trouble. There were a few instances of overturned boats and rafts drifting to sea.
Interesting5: A finely preserved skeleton of a mammoth, believed to be one million years old, has been uncovered near an archaeological site in eastern Serbia, local media reports. The skeleton was uncovered during ongoing excavations of the site at Viminacium, a Roman military settlement on the Danube river, said archaeologist Miomir Korac today. Zoran Markovic of Serbia’s Nature museum said the skeleton "is extremely well preserved, with only a slightly damaged skull". "We believe the skeleton is about one million years old, based on the layers of the grounds where it has been found," said Mr Markovic.
Experts estimated that the mammoth was over four metres tall, possibly weighing up to 10 tons. The animal could have died near the Danube on its way from northern Africa and to southern Europe, B92 reported. In 1996, fossil remains of a mammoth were found near the northern Serbian town Kikinda. The mammoth, believed to be about half a million years old, was named Kika and soon become a tourist attraction.
Email Glenn James: 