Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 81
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 83
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Molokai airport – 83
Kahului airport, Maui – 84
Kona airport – 82
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 Tuesday evening:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 83F
Hilo, Hawaii – 76
Haleakala Crater – 52 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 41 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals Tuesday evening:
0.59 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.03 Punaluu Pump, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.05 Kahoolawe
0.02 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.65 Keahole airport, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1028 millibar high pressure systems far to the northeast of Hawaii. Our winds will blow from the southeast Wednesday and Thursday…locally stronger and gusty in a few places. We'll be transitioning into lighter wind speeds as we go forward.
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 13,500 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 ended November 30th here in the central Pacific…and begins again June 1st.
Aloha Paragraphs
Generally clear mornings, leading to locally cloudy afternoons,
especially over and around the leeward interior slopes. There
will be a few showers, even a random thunderstorm here and there.
The winds will be lighter going forward, from the southeast…
allowing volcanic haze to remain in place in some places.
Southeast breezes will blow through much of the rest of the week, with trade winds returning late this weekend…or by early next week. Glancing at this weather map, we find a 1028 millibar high pressure system far to the northeast of our islands…with its associated ridge of high pressure extending southwest to near Kauai. Looking at the low level wind flow around our islands, we find our winds blowing from the east-southeast to southeast. The small craft advisory has been pulled back to just those windiest waters around Maui and the Big Island.
Light to moderately strong breezes, locally stronger will prevail…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts, along with directions early Tuesday evening:
25 mph Port Allen, Kauai – SE
23 Honolulu, Oahu – NE
10 Molokai – NE
37 Kahoolawe – SE
30 Lipoa, Maui – SE
07 Lanai Airport – WNW
31 South Point, Big Island – NE
We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Tuesday night. This large University of Washington satellite image shows a slow moving cold front to our northwest and west…as well as some high cirrus clouds further to the south and southeast. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see quite a few clouds to the east and northeast, although at the time of this writing there were very few in close to the islands. We can use this looping satellite image to see that the winds are carrying clouds, out to the east in our general direction. Checking out this looping radar image shows a few light showers falling offshore of the islands…so that there will be very limited precipitation for the time being, until likely later Wednesday afternoon here and there.
The atmosphere over the Hawaiian Islands is rather dry and very stable at the moment…although we could see more showers during the afternoons going forward. Now that all the high and middle level clouds are gone, and there aren’t even that many lower level clouds around either, we’re finally had a sunny day…especially down near the beaches. The computer models are still showing the cold front to our northwest approaching closer to the islands later Wednesday into Thursday, which will slow down our local winds again by mid-week. This frontal boundary is expected to stall to the west of our island chain. The winds will be southeast, putting us into a muggy reality, with volcanic haze remaining in place…through much of the rest of this week. Maui County is already blanketed in light to moderately thick volcanic haze…as it has been the last couple of days.
As the winds taper off Wednesday, we’ll find ourselves shifting into a convective weather pattern, which should last into Saturday or even Sunday. If this happens as the computer models suggest, we’ll find daytime onshore sea breezes. Then at night, the cooler air will drain back down to the coast, called offshore flowing land breezes. If there aren’t any high or middle level clouds around then, mornings will be generally clear. As the sea breezes blow moisture from the ocean upslope during the days, clouds will form over the mountain slopes late morning through the early evening hours…with localized showers along our leeward sections.
~~~ Here in Kula, Maui at around 530pm Tuesday evening, our skies are mostly clear in all directions, down towards the coasts at least. There are a few clouds over the West Maui Mountains, and the Haleakala Crater too…with still quite a bit of volcanic haze in the air too. The air temperature at near 6pm here in Kula, was 65.8F degrees. The high temperature up here, since I worked from home today was 73 degrees. I'll be back early Wednesday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have a great Tuesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: Blueberries are incredible plants. They can grow wild practically anywhere in the northeastern United States and Canada, and are quite tasty. Blueberry bushes can cover vast stretches of meadows and become the dominant plant. Amazingly, they thrive after forest fires, even after they burn themselves.
To go along with the plant's hardiness and the berry's deliciousness, blueberries offer great health benefits. According to a new study from Texas Woman's University (TWU) in Denton, TX, blueberries have a positive effect on aging, metabolism, and inhibiting the development of fat cells.
The berry is great for the heart and cardio system due to its high polyphenol antioxidant content. These compounds have the ability to scavenge free radicals such as hydrogen peroxide, which must be removed from cells to maintain healthy metabolic function.
These antioxidants can also be found in a variety of other fruits such as blackberries, raspberries, and grapes. According to Shiwani Moghe, graduate student at TWU, blueberries could play a large role in reducing the epidemic of obesity.
She tested whether the blueberry polyphenols played a role in adipocyte differentiation, which is the process where a relatively unspecialized cell acquires the specialized features of an adipocyte. An adipocyte is an animal tissue cell specialized for the synthesis and storage of fat.
Plant polyphenols are known to resist the development of fat cells. They actively break down fat compounds and lipids. The idea is to see if these plant polyphenols could be translated into fighting fat cells in animals, i.e. humans. Moghe was determined to find out if the blueberry polyphenols could inhibit obesity at the molecular level.
She experimented on tissue cultures taken from lab mice, giving each different doses of blueberry polyphenols to see their effect on adipocyte differentiation. The higher dose group had a 73% decrease in fat compounds.
The lower dose group had a 27% decrease. "We still need to test this dose in humans, to make sure there are no adverse effects, and to see if the doses are as effective. This is a burgeoning area of research.
Determining the best dose for humans will be important," said Moghe. "The promise is there for blueberries to help reduce adipose tissue from forming in the body." This research was presented at the Experimental Biology 2011 meeting for the American Society for Nutrition on April 10, 2011.
Interesting2: Two of the most well-known penguin species in Antarctica — chinstraps and Adelies — are under pressure because a warmer climate has cut deeply into their main food source, shrimp-like creatures called krill. Fewer of the juvenile penguins survive what scientists call their "transition to independence" because there isn't enough krill to go around, according to a study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academic of Sciences.
The study found only 10 percent of young penguins survive the first independent trip back to their colonies from their winter habitat, said lead author Wayne Trivelpiece, a sea bird expert at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division.
When the study began, back in the mid-1970s, the chances that a two-to-four-year-old penguin would survive the trip was about 50 percent, Trivelpiece said in a telephone interview. "What's changed is young penguins surviving their transition to independence," he said.
"They're no longer able to do that anywhere near the way they used to do, and we think that's directly related to the fact that there's 80 percent less krill out there now." Initially, scientists figured one of these two penguin species might actually benefit from climate change, since Adelies love ice and chinstraps avoid it.
They theorized that the chinstrap penguins might flourish with less ice and more of the open water they favor. But this latest research suggests it is less a question of vanishing penguin habitat — though this is also occurring — than it is a matter of vanishing habitat for krill.
Krill form the basis of the marine food web, supporting organisms ranging from fish and penguins to whales. Krill feed on phytoplankton — basically, ice algae — that grow lushly on the undersides of ice floes.
Interesting3: Recent radical changes in air quality regulations in Delhi, India, have had a substantial positive effect on the health of city residents, according to new research co-authored by Andrew Foster, professor of economics and community health and an associate at Brown's Population Studies and Training Center. The findings from this first systematic study quantifying the health effects of Delhi's environmental interventions are published in the online issue of Atmospheric Environment.
The research is among the first to use remote sensing imagery to look directly at the effects of air quality on health. Ranking among the most polluted cities in the world, Delhi was at its peak of air pollution around the turn of the millennium, prompting the Indian Supreme Court to mandate a series of air quality regulations unprecedented in scope and implementation speed.
Chief among the regulations was a mandate to convert all public vehicles — buses, taxis, and scooters — to compressed natural gas over a two-year period, substantially limit the flow of diesel trucks through Delhi during working hours, and close polluting industries in residential areas.
Foster and co-author Naresh Kumar, of the University of Iowa, administered a socioeconomic and respiratory health survey to 1,576 households (3,989 subjects), which collected time-use data, residence histories, demographic information, and direct measurements of lung function.
To calculate pollution exposure at the place of residence, they also collected air pollution data in 2003 by monitoring 113 sites spread across Delhi and neighboring areas, recording particulate matter. To measure air quality levels in the previous years, the researchers analyzed satellite images provided by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).
Three major findings emerged from the analysis. First, the interventions were associated with a significant improvement in respiratory health.
Second, the effects of ambient air varied significantly by gender and income. For example, they found that the effects are significant and negative among the lower-income households.
Third, the data suggested that the differences are strongly correlated with the amount of time one spends outside. The poorest men spend an average of seven hours outside per day, while men in the richest households spent almost no time outside at all.
The findings suggest that poorer men exhibited a significant negative relationship between ambient air and respiratory health, and better-off men exhibited an insignificant relationship.
"The huge thing that jumped out is the difference between the relatively poor and the relatively well-off households in terms of the kinds of adverse health effects they experienced," said Foster. "This really shows us something about the target population and the people who are being most affected by policy.
It allows us to look at environmental justice on an individual level, rather than in regional groupings. … This research opened up a whole new agenda on how we should think about environmental regulation in low income countries."
The paper is among the first to use MODIS remote sensing imagery to look directly at the effects of air quality on health, with the ground data used to help refine and test the validity of remotely sensed air quality estimates.
These measures have since been used to look at the effects of voluntary environmental certification in Mexico in work published in the American Economic Review proceedings last year and by Kumar and a colleague at the National Bureau of Economic Research to examine the effects of restrictions on air quality that were imposed by the Chinese government during the Beijing Olympics.
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