Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / June 16-17, 2011

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

Lihue, Kauai –                    82                  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –     87 (record for Thursday – 89 in 1986, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2003, 2005)
Kaneohe, Oahu –                80
Molokai airport –                 84
Kahului airport, Maui –             84 
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:

Honolulu, Oahu – 82
Hilo, Hawaii – 73

Haleakala Crater –     52 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 46 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)

Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Thursday evening: 

0.87     Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.77     Manoa Valley, Oahu
0.04     Molokai
0.00     Lanai
0.00     Kahoolawe
1.41     Puu Kukui, Maui
4.11     Kawainui Stream, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1032 millibar high pressure system…to the northeast of our islands. Our local winds will remain rather blustery Friday and 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. 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 shining down during the night at times. Plus, during the nights you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise and sunset 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. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here.  Here's a tropical cyclone tracking map for the eastern and central Pacific.

 Aloha Paragraphs

Trade wind weather pattern

The trade winds will increase a notch into Friday, remaining active through the weekend…then lighter during the first half of next week.  Glancing at this weather map, we find a 1032 millibar high pressure system located to our northeast.  This high pressure cell has an elongated ridge of high pressure running southwest, putting it to the north and northwest of our islands. The placement of this high and its ridge will keep our trade winds blowing. We have small craft wind advisories active over those windiest coasts and channels southeast of Oahu, Maui County and the Big Island…which will last through the next couple of days.  At the same time, we find the trade wind flow deep enough that, strong and gusty trade winds are impacting the upper slopes of the Haleakala Crater on Maui…prompting a NWS issued wind advisory. The computer forecast models continue to suggest that we’ll see a slight reduction, in terms of wind speeds…occurring next Tuesday for a few days.

Our trade winds will increase in strength during the next 24 hours…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts, along with directions Thursday evening: 

24                 Port Allen, Kauai – NE  
27                 Honolulu, Oahu – NE 
31                 Molokai – NE 
36                    Kahoolawe – ESE   
32                 Kahului, Maui – ENE
15                 Lanai – NE   
35                 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 Thursday night.  Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see high and middle level clouds to the south and west of the state…which are stretching up over the entire state from the southeast through southwest. We can use this looping satellite image to see a counterclockwise spinning upper level low pressure system to the northwest of Kauai…moving west slowly. Checking out this looping radar image we see showers being carried along in the trade wind flow…impacting the windward sides of the islands here and there. 


Sunset Commentary:  For the time being, and through the end of the week, we should see fairly typical very late springtime weather conditions. The trade winds will be part and parcel of these classic pre-summer circumstances. There will be the usual passing showers, most notably along our windward coasts and slopes…stretching over into the leeward coasts here and there at times. Last night’s full moon will be getting slightly smaller, while the variable high and middle level clouds will continue to dim and filter our Hawaiian sunshine during the days for the time being.

Once we get into early next week, and perhaps more specifically, the first day of summer 2011 on the 21^st (next Tuesday), we’ll see some possible changes taking place. First of all the surf will be coming up next week from the south…from late autumn storms in the southern hemisphere. In the atmosphere over the islands, we’ll likely find more cold air edging over the state, in the form of an upper level low pressure system. This cold air aloft may have enough of a surface refection, that our trade wind speeds will tumble a little.

The overlying air mass will become unstable again, with a corresponding enhancement to any showers that are around. This may trigger a few more of those unusual thunderstorms firing-off over the upper slopes of the Big Island then too. It’s still unusual to find nature’s fireworks displays during the summer season. This unsettled weather will last into mid-week, although we should grade right back into a more normal trade wind weather pattern during the second half of next week.


Here in Kihei, Maui at 530pm Thursday evening, skies were partly cloudy to mostly cloudy. The bulk of the clouds are of the high and middle level variety. These can trigger a colorful sunset, if they don't get too thick. They will be around likely again early Friday morning, which will give us another opportunity, at least you early birds, to see a nice sunrise too. The moon was full last night, although it will still look big, although veiled by the high cirrus. I'll be back early Friday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have a great Thursday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: In today's age of highly processed food, packaged and shaped to look like animals, filled with ingredients we have never heard of, it is tempting to return to a diet from a much simpler time. A new fad that is catching on, known as the Paleolithic or "paleo" diet, aims to return people to a more "natural" way of eating. Before agriculture, people would eat lean meats, fruits, and vegetables, and they would avoid grains and processed foods.

Is this what is really best for human consumption? According to a new book, the so-called caveman diet was abandoned for a reason, and the belief that it is superior is pure hokum. The book, entitled Ancestral Appetites: Food in Prehistory, was written by Kristen Gremillion, associate professor of anthropology at Ohio State University.

It is about how people have changed their diets over time in response to new knowledge and new environments. "Humans are omnivores and we can eat a wide range of things," Gremillion said. "Rather than try to base a healthy diet on what we think people used to eat thousands of years ago, it would probably make more sense to look at our nutritional requirements today and find the best way to meet them."

According to Gremillion, the obsession with a "natural" diet is a fallacy. Such a diet never existed. Culture has always been a factor in how and what we eat, and there is no single way that people are supposed to eat. While the caveman diet is healthy, it is not any more natural than other diets.

For example, people have been eating grains for hundreds of thousands of years. Agriculture was invented so we could have a steadier supply of them as a stable source of calories. While they are not the sole basis of a diet, it is ok to incorporate them as part of a healthy meal. Furthermore, the paleo diet emphasizes eating uncooked and unprocessed food to get the most nutrients from them.

However, this is no more natural than cooking foods. Gremillion explains that humans began cooking food for a reason. Cooking makes it easier for our bodies to extract certain nutrients, and makes the food easier on our teeth, jaws, and stomachs to digest. After hundreds of thousands of years of cooking, there is no reason for people to give it up. In essence, Gremillion believes that the idea of a pristine environment separate from the world of people is false.

In North America, for example, Native Americans were managing the environment from the moment they walked onto the continent. Their impact was small because their population was relatively small. However, they used fire to clear vast tracts of land for agriculture and other human uses. Everything was related to eating, and culture determined the way they ate. There is no such thing as a singular natural diet that humans have to get back to.

Interesting2: A new survey of barrier islands published earlier this spring offers the most thorough assessment to date of the thousands of small islands that hug the coasts of the world's landmasses. The study, led by Matthew Stutz of Meredith College, Raleigh, N.C., and Orrin Pilkey of Duke University, Durham, N.C., offers new insight into how the islands form and evolve over time — and how they may fare as the climate changes and sea level rises.

The survey is based on a global collection of satellite images from Landsat 7 as well as information from topographic and navigational charts. The satellite images were captured in 2000, and processed by a private company as part of an effort funded by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.

During the 20th century, sea level has risen by an average of 1.7 millimeters (about 1/16 of an inch) per year. Since 1993, NASA satellites have observed an average sea level rise of 3.27 millimeters (about 1/8 of an inch) per year. A better understanding of how climate change and sea level rise are shaping barrier islands will also lead to a more complete grasp of how these dynamic forces are affecting more populated coastal areas.

Every barrier island is unique Every island chain has a complex set of forces acting on it that underpin how islands form and how they're likely to change over time. Barrier islands often develop in the mouths of flooded river valleys as sea level rises, but they can also form at the end of rivers as sediment builds up and creates a delta.

Other important factors in barrier island formation include regional tectonics, sea level changes, climate, vegetation and wave activity. "Understanding how such forces impact barrier islands is the key to understanding how climate change will affect our coastlines," noted Stutz.

Interesting3: More than 1.9 billion people worldwide were overweight in 2010, a 25 percent increase since 2002, a new Worldwatch analysis shows. A survey of statistics in 177 countries shows 38 percent of adults — those 15 years or older — are now overweight. The trend is strongly correlated to rising income and to an increase in preventable health problems, writes Richard H. Weil in the latest Vital Signs Online release from the Worldwatch Institute.

The trend over the last decade toward heavier populations cuts across regions and income levels. In India, 19 percent of adults are overweight, up from 14 percent in 2002. In Mexico, the figure has risen by 8 percentage points since 2002, while Brazil's is up by 7 points and the rate in the U.K. is up by 5 points.

East Asia has seen a 4 point increase over the period. The United States leads all industrialized countries with 78.6 percent of the adult population overweight, although Micronesia and Polynesia top all countries. There, nearly 88 percent of the over-15 population is overweight.

"Overweight" is defined as people with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or greater. A person with a BMI of 30 or above is usually labeled "obese," but here the term overweight covers overweight and obese populations combined. That analysis shows that some 75 percent of adults in the 10 richest countries are overweight, while in the 10 poorest, only 18 percent are.

On a regional level, the correlation between income and being overweight holds reasonably well. Europe generally has elevated levels, for example, while low-income sub-Saharan Africa averages lower BMI levels. At a national level, however, the situation is more complex. A comparison of percentages of people overweight in all countries and their GDPs reveals a positive but weak correlation, with cultural, societal, and possibly genetic factors playing heavily into the mix.