Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / April 26-27, 2010

April 26-27, 2010

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

Lihue, Kauai – 80
Honolulu, Oahu – 84
Kaneohe, Oahu – 81
Kaunakakai, Molokai – 80
Kahului, Maui – 83
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
Kailua-kona – 81

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level around the state – and on the highest mountains…at 4pm Monday afternoon:

Kalaeoloa, Oahu – 83F
Kailua-kona – 77

Haleakala Crater –    54 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 43 (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 Monday afternoon:

0.03 Mount Waialaele, Kauai  
0.01 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.01 Molokai 
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.01 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.12 Honaunau, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing high pressure systems to the east-northeast and north-northwest of the islands…with a connecting ridge between the two. This pressure configuration will keep strong and gusty trades Tuesday, beginning to slow down a little later Wednesday.

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with this 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.

Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. Of course, as we know, our hurricane season won’t begin again until June 1st here in the central Pacific.

 Aloha Paragraphs

  Near full moon…lots of waves around the islands

Locally blustery trade winds will prevail into mid-week…then become lighter Thursday onwards from the southeast.  The trade winds remain locally strong enough Monday night, that the NWS forecast office is keeping the small craft wind advisory across almost all of the coastal and channel waters. The computer models show an area of low pressure digging southeast towards the 50^th state after mid-week. This will cause our trade winds to falter, swinging them around to the southeast. Southeast winds can carry volcanic haze up from the BigIsland vents, into other areas of the state. They can become very light too, as the winds split around the Big Island, putting the rest of the islands in a wind shadow. This time of year it becomes more and more difficult to hold back the trade winds, so it would be normal to see the trade winds rushing back into our area, after some hot and muggy weather…with potential showers this weekend.

The trade winds will be blustery, although other than that, things should remain favorable for the time being. The marine environment will be filled with white caps, as the gusty winds keep the ocean surface rough and choppy. Speaking of the ocean, there will be lots of waves breaking from several different directions. Actually, all shores across the state will be filled with breaking waves. We have a large south swell coming up from the southern hemisphere, breaking along our south and west facing beaches. At the same time, with all the gusty trade wind activity, the east shores will have lots of wind swell breaking too. It would be wise of course, for all our visitors along those leeward beaches, to remain alert when they head into the ocean…along those south and west facing shores.









It’s Monday evening as I begin writing this last section of today’s narrative. Our gorgeous weather conditions should hold firm for several more days. The trade winds will be blustery, although other than that, things should remain favorable. Monday was another one of those special spring days, with few clouds in the sky, and practically not a drop of water falling from any of them. Looking out the window here in Kihei, before I take the drive back home to Kula, skies remain mostly clear in all directions. I anticipate that Tuesday will find more of the same, and likely continue on into Wednesday as well. Thereafter, as noted above, we do expect some changes. Folks should know that we need any rainfall that we can coax our way, and that it will be a hit and miss affair…not a general widespread rainy event. If you live here, you know that we are dry, and if you are coming for vacation, please know that it won’t last long, and more than likely you’ll be able to avoid the showers by taking a short drive perhaps, or maybe not run into it at all. I will have more specific information for you tomorrow, when I’ll be back early in the morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have a great Monday night, either here or there! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Scientists have discovered a fast-moving deep ocean current with the volume of 40 Amazon Rivers near Antarctica that will help researchers monitor the impacts of climate change on the world’s oceans. A team of Australian and Japanese scientists, in a study published in Sunday’s issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, found that the current is a key part of a global ocean circulation pattern that helps control the planet’s climate.

Scientists had previously detected evidence of the current but had no data on it. "We didn’t know if it was a significant part of the circulation or not and this shows clearly that it is," one of the authors, Steve Rintoul, told Reuters. Rintoul, of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Center in Hobart, said it proved to be the fastest deep ocean current yet found, with an average speed of 7.9 inches a second.

It was also found to carry more than 12 million cubic meters a second of very cold, salty water from Antarctica. "At these depths, below three kilometers (two miles) from the surface, these are the strongest recorded speeds we’ve seen so far, which was really a surprise to us." He said the current carries dense, oxygen-rich water that sinks near Antarctica to the deep ocean basins further north around the Kerguelen Plateau in the southern Indian Ocean and then branches out.

Interesting2: According to the World Health Organization, two billion people around the globe suffer from chronic parasitic worm infections, which, in addition to causing illness and developmental delay, are also suspected to interfere with the effectiveness of ordinary vaccines, making their victims more vulnerable to life-threatening diseases. A recent discovery by researchers at the Trudeau Institute promises to bypass these obstacles and help deliver more effective vaccines to these people, boosting their protection against common childhood diseases.

Dr. Markus Mohrs and his team of investigators focus much of their studies on cytokines, messengers used by cells of the immune system to communicate with one another. Cytokines help determine both the size and the quality of our immune system’s response to an infection.

How well they perform their job can decide whether it’s the person or the pathogen that wins the battle for survival. Despite their obvious importance, however, surprisingly little is known about how far or for how long cytokines can operate during an infection. New findings, reported in the current issue of the journal Nature Immunology, reveal when and where cytokine signals are received in the body.

Dr. Mohrs reports that cytokines not only signal locally to neighboring cells, as previously thought, but they also spread throughout the affected lymph node influencing even those cells not actively involved in fighting the current infection.

Interesting3: High in the Mackenzie Mountains, scientists are finding a treasure trove of ancient hunting tools being revealed as warming temperatures melt patches of ice that have been in place for thousands of years. Tom Andrews, an archaeologist with the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife and lead researcher on the International Polar Year Ice Patch Study, is amazed at the implements being discovered by researchers.

"We’re just like children opening Christmas presents. I kind of pinch myself," says Andrews. Ice patches are accumulations of annual snow that, until recently, remained frozen all year. For millennia, caribou seeking relief from summer heat and insects have made their way to ice patches where they bed down until cooler temperatures prevail.

Hunters noticed caribou were, in effect, marooned on these ice islands and took advantage. "I’m never surprised at the brilliance of ancient hunters anymore. I feel stupid that we didn’t find this sooner," says Andrews. Ice patch archeology is a recent phenomenon that began in Yukon. In 1997, sheep hunters discovered a 4,300-year-old dart shaft in caribou dung that had become exposed as the ice receded.

Scientists who investigated the site found layers of caribou dung buried between annual deposits of ice. They also discovered a repository of well-preserved artifacts. Andrews first became aware of the importance of ice patches when word about the Yukon find started leaking out. "We began wondering if we had the same phenomenon here."

In 2000, he cobbled together funds to buy satellite imagery of specific areas in the Mackenzie Mountains and began to examine ice patches in the region. Five years later, he had raised enough to support a four-hour helicopter ride to investigate two ice patches. The trip proved fruitful. "Low and behold, we found a willow bow."

That discovery led to a successful application for federal International Polar Year funds which have allowed an interdisciplinary team of researchers to explore eight ice patches for four years. The results have been extraordinary. Andrews and his team have found 2400-year-old spear throwing tools, a 1000-year-old ground squirrel snare, and bows and arrows dating back 850 years.

Biologists involved in the project are examining dung for plant remains, insect parts, pollen and caribou parasites. Others are studying DNA evidence to track the lineage and migration patterns of caribou. Andrews also works closely with the Shutaot’ine or Mountain Dene, drawing on their guiding experience and traditional knowledge. "The implements are truly amazing.

There are wooden arrows and dart shafts so fine you can’t believe someone sat down with a stone and made them." Andrews is currently in a race against time. His IPY funds have run out and he is keenly aware that each summer, the patches continue to melt. In fact, two of the eight original patches have already disappeared.

"We realize that the ice patches are continuing to melt and we have an ethical obligation to collect these artifacts as they are exposed," says Andrews. If left on the ground, exposed artifacts would be trampled by caribou or dissolved by the acidic soils. "In a year or two the artifacts would be gone."

Interesting4: Wheat growers in India expect this year’s harvest to surpass last year’s record crop, and a near-normal rainfall forecast for monsoon season is good news for other agriculture. Analysts in India, the second largest producer of wheat, expect the country to produce 82 million tons during the 2009-2010 harvest, which is up from 80.68 million tons last year.

Farmers harvest wheat crop with the help of an automated crop harvesting machine at a field near Sanand town, about 19 miles west of Ahmadabad, India, Tuesday, March 24, 2009. Meteorologists said that March yielded some of the warmest temperatures on record for many regions in India.

However, it appears the wheat crop was far enough along not to be affected by the record warmth. Premature ripening as a result of the heat could cause high production yields to be eased, but early harvests already show local stockpiles having as much as four times the minimum needed to cope with emergencies.

As of April 21, government agencies in India have already purchased 15.26 million tons of wheat in comparison to 13.89 last year, according to Reuters. Analysts in India also said the monsoon forecast release, accompanied by record inventories, limited buying futures on wheat purchases as of late. Historically, food prices fall when a favorable monsoon forecast is released.

The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) monsoon forecast calls for near-normal seasonal rainfall for June through September, 2010, according to IMD’s head meteorologist. The forecaster at that time said that last year’s deficient summer rain, the lowest in 37 years, was unlikely to recur. The outlook is based in part on supercomputer numerical modeling, together with the consideration that one bad rain year is rarely followed by another.