June 7-8, 2009
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 81
Honolulu, Oahu – 88
Kaneohe, Oahu – 81
Kahului, Maui – 83
Hilo, Hawaii – 82
Kailua-kona – 86
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountains…at 5 p.m. Sunday evening:
Honolulu, Oahu – 86F
Princeville, Kauai – 77
Haleakala Crater – 46 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 30 (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 Sunday afternoon:
0.67 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.45 Poamoho 2, Oahu
0.06 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.47 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.44 Waiakea Uka, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map shows a 1025 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of the islands, with a ridge extending from the southwest flank of this high…into the area north and northwest of Kauai. The trade winds will remain active active, although become somewhat lighter Monday and Tuesday.
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
The Iao Valley…in the west Maui Mountains
Photo Credit: Mike Garrison
Breezy trade winds will continue Sunday…although will ease for several days starting Monday. Looking at this weather map Sunday evening, we see the same familiar 1026 millibar high pressure system to our northeast. This high pressure cell has a ridge extending southwest from its center…which extends into the area north and northwest of Kauai. This high pressure system will be migrating a distance northeast, away from the islands, which will drop our trade winds down a notch through the middle of the new week.
We’ll find dry conditions for the most part, with an occasional windward shower Monday through Wednesday…then perhaps an increase later Thursday into Friday. The leeward beaches will remain mostly dry, with generally good weather during most of the upcoming week. The forecast models want to bring in a few showers to the windward sides starting later Monday…lasting through mid-week. Those same models bring in an area of showers late in the day Thursday into Friday, with dry weather on tap for next weekend. Many areas around the state will continue to see nice weather despite these occasional showery episodes.
It’s Sunday evening here in Kula, Maui, as I begin writing this last section of today’s narrative. As noted in the paragraphs above, the trade winds will drop a notch in strength over the next day or two, although remain active through the upcoming week. There will be a few showers around Monday through Wednesday, with a possible windward biased increase later Thursday and Friday. None of this will be all that impressive, with plenty of sunshine remaining available at most of our beach areas. ~~~ It’s 515pm as I write these last few weather words. Kula is mostly cloudy early this evening, and there have been a few sprinkles during the afternoon hours. The windward sides had better luck collecting more substantial showers this morning, but glancing over that way this evening…it looks much drier. ~~~ I made a nice red sauce pasta sauce this afternoon, with an onion, some red peppers, some shiitaki mushrooms, and a zucchini. I’m looking forward to having that for dinner not only tonight, but through the next several work nights as well. ~~~ I hope you have a great Sunday night, when that big just after full moon, will still be beaming down over the islands, and elsewhere of course. I’ll be back early Monday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise, be well until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: The El Nino weather pattern, which can bring global weather chaos such as droughts and floods, could develop within weeks, the Climate Prediction Centre in the United States said. El Nino is driven by an abnormal warming of the eastern Pacific and the forecaster said conditions were favorable for a switch to El Nino conditions during June to August 2009.
The forecast is the latest warning of the increased chances of El Nino developing after months of rising ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said if recent trends in Pacific climate patterns held up, there was an above-50 per cent chance an El Nino event would be established by July.
El Nino occurs when the eastern Pacific Ocean heats up, with warmer, moist air moving east, leaving drier weather in the western Pacific and Australia and putting crops at risk of failure. The most devastating El Nino was in 1997/98, when it caused drought in Australia and Indonesia and floods in Peru and Ecuador.
El Nino can also bring wetter weather to parts of the United States and can affect the monsoon in India. The prediction centre, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said sea surface temperatures had risen for the fifth consecutive month in the equatorial Pacific. Sub-surface temperatures also continued to rise.
"These surface and subsurface oceanic anomalies typically precede the development of El Nino," the centre said. "Current observations, recent trends, and the dynamical model forecasts indicate that conditions are favorable for a transition … to El Nino conditions during June-August 2009."
Interesting2: Flowering plants and hippo-like creatures once thrived in the Arctic, where the tundra and polar bears now prevail. New research, detailed in the June issue of the journal Geology, is shedding light on the lives of prehistoric mammals on Canada’s Ellesmere Island 53 million years ago, including how they survived the six months of darkness during the Arctic winter. Today, Ellesmere Island, located in the high Arctic (about 80 degrees north latitude), is a polar desert that features permafrost, ice sheets, sparse vegetation and a few mammals.
Temperatures there range from minus 37 degrees Fahrenheit in winter to plus 48F degrees in summer. It is one of the coldest and driest places on Earth. But 53 million years ago, the Arctic had a completely different look. The findings have implications for understanding how ancient animals dispersed across North America and what might lie in store for modern mammals that are moving northward because of climate change.
In 1975, researchers discovered that a surprising menagerie of Arctic creatures lived on Ellesmere during the early Eocene epoch (55 million to 50 million years ago). A team led by Mary Dawson of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh discovered fossil alligator jaw bones.
Since then, fossils of aquatic turtles, giant tortoises, snakes and even flying lemurs — one of the earliest forms of primates — have also turned up. The new research team analyzed the signatures of carbon and oxygen in the fossil teeth of three types of mammals that once dwelled in the Arctic — a hippo-like, semi-aquatic creature known as Coryphodon; a second, smaller ancestor of today’s tapirs (pig-like animals found in South America and Southeast Asia); and a third rhino-like mammal known as brontothere — to find out what the Arctic environment was like in the past.
The results point to warm, humid summers and mild winters with temperatures probably ranging from just above freezing to near 70 degrees F, said study team member Jaelyn Eberle of the University of Colorado at Boulder. The region was probably similar to swampy cypress forests in the Southeast United States today, Eberle said. Fossils of tree stumps as large as washing machines, can still be found there.
Interesting3: A major source of air pollution in port areas comes from the giant vessels that tie up at their docks to load and unload cargo. That’s because the powerful diesel engines have to run continuously to keep the ships’ equipment and support systems operating. That also means continuous spewing of GHG and diesel particulate emissions into the local air.
A solution to this massive emissions problem has long existed but is not widely implemented because it involves expensive modifications both on-ship and to offshore facilities. It’s called shore power, which allows ships to shut down their diesel engines at berth and literally plug into the landside electricity grid, thus improving air quality.
But slow change is better than no change: BP America and the Port of Long Beach Wednesday opened the world’s first oil tanker terminal equipped with shore power plugs. The BP terminal on Pier T is actually Long Beach’s second dock equipped with shore power, but it’s the first such facility in the world for “liquid bulk” ships — vessels that transport large amounts of petroleum and related fuels. Reducing air pollution is a major component of the port’s Green Port Policy, adopted in 2005.
Also this week Long Beach issued a call for ideas to implement a zero-emission container movement system. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, along with the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority are seeking new technology to move cargo containers between docks and the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility near West Long Beach, potentially eliminating thousands of short-haul diesel truck trips each day and reducing air pollution.
Proposed technologies might include electric guide ways, zero-emission trucks, or electrified rail, all of which use electricity to power the movement of cargo, rather than diesel-fueled trucks. BP’s shore power installation delivers enough electricity to power about 5,500 homes — up to 8 megawatts at 6,660 volts.
The Alaska Tanker Company has equipped two vessels that regularly visit the port to be able to plug into the BP Terminal on Pier T, which supplies local refineries with crude oil. The joint project was completed at a cost of $23.7 million: $17.5 million from the port and $6.2 million from BP.
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