Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / June 5-6, 2010

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

Lihue, Kauai –                    80                  
Honolulu airport, Oahu –      84 
Kaneohe, Oahu –                81
Molokai airport –                 m
Kahului airport, Maui –          89 (record for Sunday – 93 in 1953) 
Kona airport                      82  
Hilo airport, Hawaii –          82

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

Honolulu, Oahu – 84
Lihue, Kauai – 79

Haleakala Crater –     50 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 30 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)

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

0.57     North Wailua Ditch, Kauai
9.77     Punaluu Stream, Oahu
1.70     Molokai
0.01     Lanai
0.00     Kahoolawe
0.50     Puu Kukui, Maui
0.88     Ahumoa, 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 remain relatively light east to southeast Monday and Tuesday.

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

High surf advisory south shores

Our local winds will be light east to southeast breezes through Tuesday or Wednesday…strengthening from the trade wind directions thereafter.  Glancing at this weather map, we find a 1029 millibar high pressure system located to our northeast. The winds will blow from the east around the Big Island, and from the southeast near Kauai through Monday and Tuesday. This unusual wind shift and downgrade in speed will bring humid and muggy weather to the state. It will take returning trade winds later Wednesday onwards, 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, becoming rather strong and gusty.

Our trade winds will be lighter for the time being…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts, along with directions Sunday evening:

16                 Port Allen, Kauai – SE 
20                 Kahuku, Oahu – ENE 
12                 Molokai – NE
24                 Kahoolawe – SE   
27                 Kahului, Maui – NE 
06                 Lanai – SW  
29                 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 Sunday night.  Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see that the upper level low pressure system, which caused our inclement conditions lately, has now moved over to the east of the state. We can use this looping satellite image to see areas of high and middle level clouds moving up from our south, now generally east of the Big Island too. We can also see the the clouds associated with a late season cold front to our northwest. At the same time, we see thunderstorms brewing far to the south of our islands now too. Checking out this looping radar image we see that showers have backed way off now, with just a few around locally. 

Sunset Commentary:  The inclement weather producing upper level low pressure system, with its colder than normal air aloft, is migrated over to the east of the state. We have already begin to see a distinct easing up of the localized heavy rainfall. As a matter of fact, the looping radar image above shows hardly any showers around now…which is quite a change compared to the last several days.

The trade winds are easing up now, although will keep influencing the Big Island end of the chain. Our local winds will become lighter though, and veer to the southeast on the Kauai end of the state. 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 where the trade winds are missing. 

The light winds 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. Despite the departing cold air, associated with the low pressure system aloft moves away, there will still  be enough of it around to spark afternoon convective clouds. We'll likely see showers, some heavy falling over the upcountry areas on the larger islands. Clouds will diminish then after dark, into the morning, but then increase again Monday and Tuesday afternoons. The latest computer model output shows light to moderately strong trade winds returning by Wednesday or so. This in turn should begin to return us to a more normal weather reality, although with still some passing showers on our windward sides then.

Here in Kula, Maui at 520pm Sunday evening, its partly cloudy, with an air temperature of 69.6F degrees. As noted above, we're now into a new pattern, which we can call a modified convective weather pattern. I say modified, because the trade winds will still be blowing near the Big Island, rather than light winds statewide. The next couple of days should dawn clear to partly cloudy, with clouds forming over and around the mountains during the late mornings through early evening hours. There will be a few upcountry showers, the most of which will likely fall over the larger islands…being closest to the cold air aloft to our east. I'll catch up with you again early Monday morning, when I'll be back with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Sunday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn. 

Extra: More snow fell up atop Mauna Kea on the Big Island Sunday!

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.