Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / June 4-5, 2011

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

Lihue, Kauai –                    80                  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –      83 
Kaneohe, Oahu –                79
Molokai airport –                 m
Kahului airport, Maui –          84  
Kona airport                         84  
Hilo airport, Hawaii –           79

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Saturday evening:

Barking Sands, Kauai – 81
Hilo, Hawaii – 72

Haleakala Crater –     48 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 28 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)

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

1.84     North Wailua Ditch, Kauai
2.12     Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.15     Molokai
0.64     Lanai
0.00     Kahoolawe
2.03     Puu Kukui, Maui
1.27     Pohakuloa Keamuku, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1029 millibar high pressure system…to the north-northeast of our islands. Our local winds will become lighter Sunday into Monday.

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. 

 Aloha Paragraphs

Localized heavy showers…a few thunderstorms

 Flash flood watch all islands 

Rising surf on the south, west, and north
shores…dropping east facing beaches

Our local winds will continue to ease up into Sunday, with light southeast breezes arriving later in the day into Monday…before light to moderate trade winds return Tuesday or Wednesday onwards.  Glancing at this weather map, we find a 1029 millibar high pressure system located to our north-northeast. The trade winds began relaxing in strength Friday afternoon, and have continued this trend today. The winds will become even lighter, and veer to the southeast into Monday. This unusual wind shift and downgrade in speed will bring humid and muggy weather to the state. It will take returning trade winds Tuesday or Wednesday to gradually bring back more refreshing environmental conditions. We could see volcanic haze (vog) begin to filter in over the smaller islands over the next couple of days. Once the trades return by mid-week, they will last through the rest of the week.

Our trade winds will be gradually lighter this weekend…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts, along with directions Saturday evening:

18                 Port Allen, Kauai – NE 
21                 Waianae, Oahu – E 
12                 Molokai
32                 Kahoolawe – E   
32                 Kahului, Maui – NE 
17                 Lanai – NE  
32                 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 Saturday night.  Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see that there are still lots of rainy clouds around, and even some thunderstorm, especially to the north of the state now. We can use this looping satellite image to see areas of showery clouds moving up from our south, over the islands in places. We can also see the counterclockwise rotating upper level low pressure system to the north of Hawaii, with towering cumulus and thunderstorms forming in its rotation field. Checking out this looping radar image we see lots of showers over and around the islands, many of which are quite heavy, generally to the north through northeast of Hawaii.

Sunset Commentary:  The inclement weather producing upper level low pressure system, with its colder than normal air aloft, is still located to the north of the islands. It's still close enough to keep our overlying atmosphere unstable and shower prone. The air temperatures in the upper parts of our surrounding air mass are definitely cooler than we typically find during early June. This will keep the chance of heavy showers and thunderstorms in the forecast through tonight. We may begin to see some easing up of the threat of localized heavy rainfall later Sunday into Monday, although not completely.

The trade winds were still blowing today, although are on the way down in strength compared to earlier this week. As a matter of fact, our local winds will become lighter, and veer to the southeast Sunday and Monday. Winds from this direction have a tendency to split around the Big Island, putting the smaller islands in a wind shadow. When the winds back off this time of year, and with the sun almost directly overhead at noon now, we'll be feeling quite muggy and humid. There's always that chance that we'll see some volcanic haze being carried over parts of the state to, coming up on the southeast winds…from the vents on the Big Island.

The light winds Sunday and Monday too will prompt afternoon clouds to build up over and around the mountains. These clouds will be aided by the onshore sea breezes, and the daytime heating as mentioned. As the cold air, which is at least 5 degrees colder than normal aloft, interacts with these afternoon convective clouds, we'll likely see showers, some heavy falling over the upcountry areas. Clouds may diminish then after dark, into the next morning, but then increase again Monday afternoon. The latest computer model output shows light to moderately strong trade winds returning by Tuesday or Wednesday. This in turn should begin to return us to a more normal weather reality, although with still some passing showers to our windward sides then.

Here in Kula, Maui at 535pm Saturday evening, its partly cloudy with an air temperature of 69.3F degrees. As noted above, the chance of heavy showers or even a random thunderstorm is still with us. The NWS forecast office in Honolulu is keeping the flash flood watch in effect through Saturday night into early Sunday morning. It wouldn't be surprising to hear some heavy rains falling on our roofs here and there, or even to see a few flashes of lightning out the window too. Interestingly enough, the latest computer forecasts are suggesting that we could see another round of unsettled weather, with more thunderstorms later in the new week ahead. The first half of 2011 has been a banner year for thunderstorms here in Hawaii, more than I can ever remember in all the years that I've been living here in the islands! I'll be back Sunday morning with more weather updates, I hope you have a great Saturday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Extras: Going way back…Strange Magic by the ELO

Joni Mitchell...I wish I had a River

Thievery Corporation…Sweet Tide 

Sade…Kiss of Life

Anita Baker…Sweet Love

Interesting: Manitoba, Canada will tighten rules on expanding hog farms and ban manure spreading to cut the flow of phosphorus into the world's 11th-biggest freshwater lake, as Lake Winnipeg deteriorates from algae growth. The western Canadian province, which has the country's third-largest pig herd, will also protect wetlands that filter out pollutants and force the capital Winnipeg to build a sewage treatment plant, Premier Greg Selinger said on Thursday.

The buildup of nutrients like phosphorus from sewage, farms or natural sources is a major environmental problem for the world's lakes and rivers, including Lake Winnipeg. It causes growth of blue-green algae that can produce toxins that sicken humans and animals, and use up the water's oxygen.

"The objective is to save the lake from going dead on us," Selinger told reporters. Canada is the world's third-biggest shipper of pork. But changes in Manitoba are not likely to impact markets because hog production has been falling for several years in the province.

The 24,000-square-kilometre (9,000 square mile) Lake Winnipeg collects water from a farming area across four Canadian provinces and the northern U.S. Plains. The lake ultimately drains into Hudson Bay. Fertilizer use on crops and Manitoba's expansion of its livestock herds since the 1990s are key causes of blooming algae on Lake Winnipeg, according to a five-year study commissioned by the province, which called for a 50 percent reduction of phosphorus into the lake.

Selinger said that is the province's goal, but he gave no timeframe. He said Manitoba will block hog farm expansions that don't use environmental practices to protect water, such as chemically treated lagoons. From 2013 it will also ban the spreading of pig manure on fields in winter to fertilize soil. Karl Kynoch, a hog farmer and chairman of the Manitoba Pork Council said the government was already planning to ban winter manure spreading, which few hog farmers still do.

Interesting2: A new study concludes that models may be predicting releases of atmospheric carbon dioxide that are either too high or too low, depending on the region, because they don't adequately reflect variable temperatures that can affect the amount of carbon released from soil. The study points out that many global models make estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from soils based on "average" projected temperatures.

But temperatures vary widely from those averages. That variability, along with complex biological processes, makes the issue far more complicated. Researchers said that climate projections, in general, don't effectively incorporate into their calculations a major component of global warming — the enormous amounts of carbon found in dead, decaying organic matter, which represent up to three times the amount of carbon in Earth's live vegetation.

The study was just published in the journal Biogeosciences by scientists from the College of Forestry at Oregon State University and other institutions. "We've done a pretty good job of determining how much carbon is getting absorbed by growing trees and vegetation, how much is coming in," said Mark Harmon, professor and holder of the Richardson Chair in Forest Science at OSU, and one of the world's leading experts on the effect of decomposition on Earth's carbon cycle.

"However, we know much less about how carbon is released to the atmosphere through the process of decomposition, how much is going out," he said. "This is half of the equation, and there's just a huge amount we don't know about it."

Interesting3: A new E. Coli outbreak has struck Europe. It started with a few deaths in Germany from what were thought to be Spanish cucumbers. Then more people in Germany and around the continent got infected. Trade tensions mounted and vegetable producers from various other countries became affected by the new outbreak. Now there have been cases reported in the United States, and Russia has banned the importing of fresh vegetables from the European Union.

Vegetable producers around the continent are suffering from a worried public not buying their goods. The issue is a new strain of the E.Coli bacteria, rare but highly infectious. It sticks to the intestines where it causes diarrhea and vomiting. It can even cause hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) which attacks the kidneys, possibly causing coma, seizure, or stroke.

Germany now has 470 cases of HUS which is ten times greater than the previous largest outbreak. The main difference between this strain and other less toxic strains is the special "glue" which it uses to stick to the body. In total, Germany has 1,500 people affected with the new E. Coli and at least four people have died.

The majority of infections have hit middle to old age women. Most of the cases found outside the country are from German's travelling abroad or foreigners who have recently been to Germany. For example, there are 30 cases in Sweden, 11 in Denmark, three in the UK, one in the Netherlands, and one in Austria.

Three victims have even been identified in the United States, thousands of miles away. The source of the outbreak was believed to be fresh cucumbers from Almeria and Malaga, Spain back on May 26. However, German scientists later confirmed that the Spanish cucumbers were not the source. Testing is continuing to identify where this vicious bug is coming from.

Farmers from Spain as well as other areas of Europe are demanding compensation for their lost business since this crisis began. According to Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, deputy prime minister of Spain, "We do not rule out taking action against authorities which have cast doubt on the quality of our produce, so action may be taken against the authorities, in this case Hamburg."

Russia promptly banned all vegetable imports from Europe amid cries of protest from European governments and the European Commission. They had already banned imports from Germany and Spain since the outbreak began when they thought it was from Spanish cucumbers in Germany.

Now that the source is still unknown, Russia is not taking any chances. Shops across the country are preparing to dump their EU vegetables. Poland, a major vegetable and fruit exporter, and the Netherlands, a major salad exporter, describe the ban as a major blow.

"After the collapse of the German consumer market, sales to Russia are now also impossible," the Dutch junior minister for economic affairs, agriculture and innovation Henk Bleker said. According to Poland's government, Moscow’s move was "excessive compared to the danger."

Meanwhile, Germany is suffering from one of its worst bacterial outbreaks ever. Some German citizens are concerned the disease may spread by human contact as well as ingestion. For example, at a high-profile church event in Dresden with over 120,000 people, there were no raw vegetables served. However, others are more hopeful, believing this whole thing will blow over and be forgotten. Only time will tell.