Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / August 23-24, 2011

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

Lihue, Kauai –                    85           
Honolulu airport, Oahu –      87 
Kaneohe, Oahu –                82
Molokai airport –                 84
Kahului airport, Maui –         89   (record for Tuesday – 96 in 1983) 
Kona airport                       86  
Hilo airport, Hawaii –           86

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 – 86
Kaneohe, Oahu – 79

Haleakala Crater –     55 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 41 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)

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

0.69     Kilohana, Kauai
0.81     Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.00     Molokai
0.00     Lanai
0.08     Kahoolawe
0.24     Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.69     Kawainui Stream, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing two near 1020 millibar high pressure systems to the north and northeast of our islands. Our local trade winds will remain light to moderately strong through Thursday…strongest around Maui and the Big Island.

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

Summer trade wind weather pattern
   
 

 

The trade winds will continue, light to moderately strong through the remainder of this week. Glancing at this weather map, we find two near 1020 millibar high pressure systems to the north and northeast of the islands. These high pressure areas, along with their ridges, will provide steady trade winds well into the future. 

Our trade winds will remain active…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Tuesday evening: 

14                 Lihue, Kauai – NE  
16                 Kahuku, Oahu – NE  
25                 Molokai – NE
21                 Kahoolawe – E
29                    Kapalua, Maui – NE
17                 Lanai – NNE
23                 Upolu 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.  Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find just scattered low level clouds in most directions…along with just a few middle level clouds to the east of the Big Island. We can use this looping satellite image to see lower level clouds moving into the state from the east. We can also find what's left of former tropical cyclone Fernanda, the leftover counterclockwise spin, far to the southwest of Kauai…with still a little convection to the north and northeast of its faint center. There’s lots of relatively small thunderstorms popping-up along the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) well south of the islands.  Checking out this looping radar image we see a few showers falling, most of which are being carried over the windward sides in places…on the trade wind flow.

Sunset Commentary:   High pressure to the northwest through northeast of the islands will keep our light to moderately strong trades going through this work week…along with fairly minor fluctuations in wind speeds at times. 

The atmosphere over the islands is becoming more stable and dry. This is turn will limit shower activity. Nonetheless, with the trade winds blowing this week…we'll see off and on windward biased showers at times. We may see some increase in shower activity later this weekend, into early next week.

Here in Kihei, Maui at 530pm HST Tuesday evening, skies were clear to partly cloudy…with the trade winds blowing. The faint circulation of former tropical cyclone Fernanda is located far to the southwest of Kauai, and continues moving away westward. Drier air has filled in behind this old weather feature, with mostly dry conditions over most areas. Looking ahead, we'll find typical summer weather conditions, with nothing out of the ordinary on our horizon at this time. Further afield of course, we have a big weather news maker in the form of category 1 hurricane Irene in the far western Atlantic Ocean. This hurricane will be increasing in strength, and will be running through the islands of Bahama. It then will head towards the eastern seaboard of the United States, and needs to be monitored very closely for all those folks who live between North Carolina…all the way up the coast through New York to New England. Then, in the opposite direction, we have tropical storm 14W in the Philippine Sea. Neither of these will come anywhere near our islands of course. ~~~ So we remain in a very common summer weather pattern now. This of course suggests that great weather conditions will prevail across all sections of the island chain. I'm heading back upcountry to Kula now, and will meet you here dark and early in the morning, I hope you have a great Tuesday night until then! Aloha for now….Glenn.

Interesting: As global temperatures warm, organisms equipped with the gift of mobility and spreading their seed will seek climates with which they are familiar. In the Earth's northern hemisphere, this means travelling both north and to higher elevations. This movement of species has been documented for some time and is expected to continue into the future.

However, a new study from the University of York in the United Kingdom has found that plants and animals are responding to the effects of climate change up to three times faster the previously believed. The study, conducted by researchers in the Department of Biology at the University of York, analyzed over 2,000 instances of migration from both plant and animal species.

On average, species have moved to higher elevations at 12.2 meters (40 feet) per decade and to higher latitudes by an astounding 17.6 kilometers (11 miles) per decade. This rapid movement is occurring at twice the expected rate for upward migration and three times the expected rate for northward migration.

According to project leader, Chris Thomas, "These changes are equivalent to animals and plants shifting away from the Equator at around 20 cm per hour, for every hour of the day, for every day of the year. This has been going on for the last 40 years and is set to continue for at least the rest of this century."

Researchers claim that it is global warming that is causing the migration of species upward and northward, and that the regions where the climate has changed more has experienced more rapid movements. Species have naturally sought out environments in which climate conditions have matched those of their past and that of their ancestors.

Not all plants and animals have migrated uniformly. There is a great variation between individual species. Some move very slowly, some very fast, and others have not moved at all. Their reaction to climate change depends on their sensitivity and adaptability to new temperatures. Their movements are also effected by other factors such as loss of habitat and man-made obstructions.

Findings from the recent study have serious implications for the future of wildlife. It shows that as the climate changes, many species may be confronted with extinction as they reach the tops of the mountains or cannot move any further north. However, not all species share this fate. Some species that prefer warmer weather will take advantage of the changing climate, spread their habitat, and increase their populations.

Interesting2:  Microbes live in all parts of the biosphere where there is liquid water, including soil, hot springs, on the ocean floor, high in the atmosphere and deep inside rocks within the Earth's crust. Some recent studies indicate that airborne microbes may play a role in precipitation and weather. Eos, published by the American Geophysical Union, last month reported that bio-aerosols are "leading the high life."

In the Eos article, David Smith of the University of Washington and colleagues argue that microbes are “the most successful types of life on Earth” and are the unacknowledged players in many planetary processes, particularly in the atmosphere.

There is some growing evidence that bacteria, fungal spores and viruses may spend large amounts of time – even their entire lives – in the air, riding clouds across the planet. And they don't just inhabit the clouds – they may also be creating them.

"The ecology of the atmosphere is one of the last great frontiers of biological exploration on Earth," says Bruce Moffett of the University of East London. In 1979, Russell Schnell of the University of Colorado was in western Kenya wondering why the tea plantations there held the world record for hailstorms.

He discovered that tiny particles of dead and decaying leaves in the soil bore a close resemblance to the tiny particles around which hailstones formed. They seemed better adapted to the task even than man-made cloud seeding chemicals like silver iodide.

Mineral and salt particles are present in large numbers in clouds and can act as condensation nuclei. But many bacteria, as well as fungal spores and tiny algae, are the cloud condensation nuclei of choice because they can work at higher temperatures.

Bioprecipitation is the concept of rain-making bacteria and was proposed by David Sands from Montana State University before 1983. The formation of ice in clouds is required for snow and most rainfall. Dust and soot particles can serve as ice nuclei, but biological ice nuclei are capable of catalyzing freezing at much warmer temperatures.

The ice-nucleating bacteria currently known are mostly plant pathogens. Recent research suggests that bacteria may be present in clouds as part of an evolved process of dispersal. Bacteria present in clouds may have evolved to use rainfall as a means of dispersing themselves.

The bacteria are found in snow, soils and seedlings in locations such as Antarctica, the Yukon Territory of Canada and the French Alps, according to Brent Christner, a microbiologist at Louisiana State University. It has been suggested that the bacteria are part of a constant feedback between terrestrial ecosystems and clouds.

They may rely on the rainfall to spread to new habitats, in much the same way as plants rely on windblown pollen grains, Christner said, with this possibly a key element of the bacterial life cycle.