Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday afternoon:
Lihue airport, Kauai – 78
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 81
Kaneohe, Oahu – 79
Molokai airport – 78
Kahului airport, Maui – 83
Kona airport – 81
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 80
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Thursday evening:
Port Allen, Kauai – 81F
Hilo, Hawaii – 75
Haleakala Crater – missing (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 Thursday afternoon:
0.02 Wailua, Kauai
0.04 Schofield South, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.01 Haiku, Maui
0.03 Honaunau, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1037 millibar high pressure system far to our northeast, with a high pressure ridge extending southwest to the north and northwest near Kauai. Our winds will come in from the southeast direction Friday…south to southwest Saturday.
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 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 web cam 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 web cams 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 end until November 31st here in the central Pacific.
Aloha Paragraphs
Generally fair weather Friday…
rain later this weekend
East to southeast winds will prevail…gradually shifting to the south and southwest this weekend. This weather map shows a moderately strong 1037 millibar high pressure system far to our northeast, offshore from the northern California coast. This high pressure cell has an associated ridge of high pressure extending southwest… just to the northwest of Kauai. As our local winds turn more to the southeast and south, we may begin to see volcanic haze being carried over the smaller islands…from the Big Island vents.
A rather vigorous cold front will impact the Hawaiian Islands later this weekend, with our winds veering around to the south and southwest ahead of it later Saturday into Sunday. As the cold front pushes down through the island chain, reaching the Big Island Monday…our winds will shift to the north in the wake of the frontal passage, turning to the northeast into mid-week. Yet another cold front will approach the islands during the second half of next week, with southeast to south winds returning…with potentially more volcanic haze again then.
Winds will remain generally light, although locally stronger today…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts, along with directions early Thursday evening:
16 mph Barking Sands, Kauai – SE
21 Waianae, Oahu – SE
05 Molokai – N
30 Kahoolawe – ESE
20 Kapalua, Maui – ENE
07 Lanai Airport – WSW
29 South Point, Big Island – NE
Generally fair weather will continue through most of Friday. This large University of Washington satellite image shows random thunderstorms over the ocean to the east and southeast of the Big Island…with our next frontal cloud band to our north and northwest. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture, it shows that skies are generally clear, although with localized cloudy areas over the islands Thursday evening. We can see a rather minor area of low level clouds to the east of the state. These clouds will bring some limited increase in windward biased showers to the state this evening into the night.
Otherwise, a few showers will fall over the windward sides tonight into the morning, with a couple possible light showers along the leeward slopes during the afternoon again Friday…very locally though. We can use this looping satellite image to see those thunderstorms firing off several hundred miles away, over the ocean to the southeast. Checking out this looping radar image, it shows just a few light showers embedded in the wind flow, approaching the windward sides…with few showers elsewhere. There shouldn't be too many showers around, with quite a bit of warm sunshine prevailing during the day through most of Friday.
Our weather will remain rather mild mannered through Friday. We may see some vog arriving at some point over the next few days. Days will be warm, with cool early morning temperatures…even at sea level. As we push into the second part of the upcoming weekend, our next cold front will arrive, with locally gusty south to southwest Kona winds blowing ahead of the frontal cloud band. We may begin to see some increased showers late Friday or Saturday, although the bulk of the frontal rainfall will arrive Sunday and Monday. This precipitation will be rather generous, bringing another round of wet weather our way. As the front gets down towards the Big Island, we'll see slightly cooler north to northeast winds blowing following its passage, which will keep the windward sides off and on showery into the first couple of days of next week. The next cold front is scheduled to arrive later next week.
Here in Kihei, Maui, at 530pm Thursday evening its clear…with still a few minor cloud patches over the Haleakala Crater slopes. As noted above, our weather will remain placid through Friday, with lots of warm sunshine. Clouds will occur locally, although precipitation will be limited by the dry and stable atmosphere overlying the islands at the moment. I forgot to mention in the paragraphs above, that the surf will rise on the north and west shores this weekend, triggering a high surf advisory, or perhaps even the slight chance of a high surf warning on Kauai and Oahu. ~~~ I'm just about ready to head upcountry to Kula, where again I'll find the temperature a good 10 degrees cooler up there…than down here near the coast. I'll be back again early Friday morning with your next new weather narrative, I trust you will enjoy your night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Extra: As I often do at the beginning of each month, I let you know how busy this website was during the previous month. January had 556,641 page views, which is clearly above 1/2 a million, which I see as fabulous! I know it's not many when compared with google or some other big time site…although quite a few when I consider that I'm keeping this site going by myself. Meanwhile, there were 11,084 google clicks, which impresses me also. I want to once again take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you, its you who keeps me updating Hawaii Weather Today each day, absolutely!
Interesting: New research shows that the 2010 Amazon drought may have been even more devastating to the region's rainforests than the unusual 2005 drought, which was previously billed as a one-in-100 year event. Analyses of rainfall across 5.3 million square kilometers of Amazonia during the 2010 dry season, recently published in Science, shows that the drought was more widespread and severe than in 2005.
The UK-Brazilian team also calculate that the carbon impact of the 2010 drought may eventually exceed the 5 billion tons of CO2 released following the 2005 event, as severe droughts kill rainforest trees. For context, the United States emitted 5.4 billion tons of CO2 from fossil fuel use in 2009.
The authors suggest that if extreme droughts like these become more frequent, the days of the Amazon rainforest acting as a natural buffer to man-made carbon emissions may be numbered. Lead author Dr Simon Lewis, from the University of Leeds, said: "Having two events of this magnitude in such close succession is extremely unusual, but is unfortunately consistent with those climate models that project a grim future for Amazonia."
The Amazon rainforest covers an area approximately 25 times the size of the UK. University of Leeds scientists have previously shown that in a normal year intact forests absorb approximately 1.5 billion tons of CO2 (1). This counter-balances the emissions from deforestation, logging and fire across the Amazon and has helped slow down climate change in recent decades.
In 2005, the region was struck by a rare drought which killed trees within the rainforest. On the ground monitoring showed that these forests stopped absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, and as the dead trees rotted they released CO2 to the atmosphere.
The unusual drought, affecting south-western Amazonia, was described by scientists at the time as a 'one-in-100-year event' (2), but just five years later the region was struck by a similar extreme drought that caused the Rio Negro tributary of the Amazon river to fall to its lowest level on record.
The new research, co-led by Dr Lewis and Brazilian scientist Dr Paulo Brando, used the known relationship between drought intensity in 2005 and tree deaths to estimate the impact of the 2010 drought. They predict that Amazon forests will not absorb their usual 1.5 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere in both 2010 and 2011, and that a further 5 billion tons of CO2 will be released to the atmosphere over the coming years once the trees that are killed by the new drought rot.
Dr Brando, from Brazil's Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), said "We will not know exactly how many trees were killed until we can complete forest measurements on the ground. "It could be that many of the drought susceptible trees were killed off in 2005, which would reduce the number killed last year. On the other hand, the first drought may have weakened a large number of trees so increasing the number dying in the 2010 dry season.
"Our results should be seen as an initial estimate. The emissions estimates do not include those from forest fires, which spread over extensive areas of the Amazon during hot and dry years. These fires release large amounts of carbon to the atmosphere." Some global climate models suggest that Amazon droughts like these will become more frequent in future as a result of greenhouse gas emissions.
Dr Lewis added: "Two unusual and extreme droughts occurring within a decade may largely offset the carbon absorbed by intact Amazon forests during that time. If events like this happen more often, the Amazon rainforest would reach a point where it shifts from being a valuable carbon sink slowing climate change, to a major source of greenhouse gasses that could speed it up.
"Considerable uncertainty remains surrounding the impacts of climate change on the Amazon. This new research adds to a body of evidence suggesting that severe droughts will become more frequent leading to important consequences for Amazonian forests.
If greenhouse gas emissions contribute to Amazon droughts that in turn cause forests to release carbon, this feedback loop would be extremely concerning. Put more starkly, current emissions pathways risk playing Russian roulette with the world's largest rainforest."
Interesting2: World food prices rose to a record high in January, according to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). The FAO Food Price Index, which measures the wholesale price of basic foods within a basket, averaged 231 points last month – its highest level since records began in 1990. It was up 3.4% from December, the seventh monthly rise for the index.
"These high prices are likely to persist in the months to come," FAO economist Abdolreza Abbassian said. The index is now higher than June 2008 when the cost of food sparked violent protests in countries including Cameroon, Haiti and Egypt.
The individual group components of the index, apart from meat, all registered rises in January. The Cereal Price Index averaged 245 points in January reflecting rises in the price of wheat and grain. This was driven higher by flooding in Australia, which is a major wheat exporter. Rice prices fell slightly as the data coincided with harvests in many countries.
Contamination fear
Rises were particularly high for dairy products, up 6.2% from December. Prices were driven higher by a combination of lower supply and increasing demand in emerging economies such as China and India. The Meat Price Index held steady at 166 points despite falling prices in Europe where a large amount of animal feed was found to have been contaminated with dioxin. This was offset by a small increase in meat prices in Brazil and the United States. Sugar prices also remained high due to tight supplies.
Political unrest
The high price of food is thought to have been a factor in recent political unrest in both Algeria and Tunisia in the form of anti-government demonstrations, protests which have spread to neighboring Egypt and Jordan.
Recently, white sugar futures hit a record high because of concerns about the damage Cyclone Yasi could cause to the Australian cane crop. World Bank President Robert Zoellick has asked global leaders to "put food first" and tackle the problem of price volatility.
"We are going to be facing a broader trend of increasing commodity prices, including food commodity prices," he said. Commodities prices have been on the rise generally with copper hitting a record high of $10,000 a ton. Oil was also up on Thursday with Brent crude rising to $103.37 a barrel
Interesting3: Russian scientists are on the verge of punching a hole into a vast Antarctic lake that's buried under more than two miles of ice. If the Russians break through, they may tap into and disturb a primitive and pristine ecosystem that has been untouched for millions of years. Lake Vostok is actually the third largest lake in the world, measured by the amount of water it holds.
And if you're surprised to learn that there could be a vast pool of liquid water under two miles of ice, so were the Soviets. In fact, they had no idea there was a lake there when they built their Vostok camp more than 50 years ago. Robin Bell, a professor of marine geology and geophysics at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, says the Soviets picked the spot because it was the Earth's magnetic South Pole.
"The Russians went to the magnetic South Pole in 1958 because they missed the race to the rotational South Pole," Bell says. The U.S. claimed that prime real estate. But it turns out the south magnetic pole isn't fixed in one place — in fact, it wandered off from Camp Vostok, leaving the Soviet base seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
The Gulf of Mexico should recover from the massive BP oil spill by the end of 2012, the administrator of the $20 billion victims compensation fund said Wednesday. By that time, most of the harmful effect of the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history will have dissipated and the economy should have picked up, said Kenneth Feinberg, independent administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF).
Interesting4: The Obama administration has given passenger rail the strongest federal push since the days of Abraham Lincoln in hopes of spurring job growth and keeping pace with a rising China. In early 2010, Washington allotted $8 billion in stimulus cash to fund 13 high-speed rail systems spread across 31 states, including projects in Florida, the Midwest, California, and the Northeast.
"Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail," said President Obama during the 2011 State of the Union address. America's current "high-speed" train, Amtrak's Acela Express, averages a mere 80 mph along its 16-station route from the District of Columbia to Boston.
By comparison, France's TGV has an average speed of more than 150 mph, and China just built a train that can exceed 300 mph. An Acela trip from New York to Boston costs about $100 and clocks in around 3.5 hours—or just a tad quicker than the $15 buses that leave from Chinatown.
As anyone who has traveled on Amtrak will tell you, the system is not known for punctuality, thus putting Amtrak in close competition with the independent bus lines. In an automobile-driven nation, some see the federal government's rail initiative as overly optimistic, questioning the demands. This has led Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood to defend high-speed rail with an "if you build it they will come" attitude.
Across the country, high-speed rail has encountered vociferous opposition, and some don't even want to build it all. California received the lion's share of the federal rail earmarks ($2.25 billion), but even in that state critics have dubbed the proposed Central Valley line a "train to nowhere."
Florida's new conservative governor, Rick Scott, has considered saying "no thanks" to $2.39 billion in federal funding for his state, while his newly elected Republican colleagues in Wisconsin and Ohio beat him to the punch—both asked Secretary Lahood to redirect $1.2 billion in grants. Like most everything these days, high-speed rail has become politicized.
"On the one hand we have tremendous presidential leadership, and on the other we have emerging partisanship around what was historically a very bipartisan issue," said Kevin Brubaker, Deputy Director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center, a public interest advocacy organization.
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