Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / September 19-20, 2011

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

Lihue, Kauai –                   87           
Honolulu airport, Oahu –   89   (record for Monday – 95 in 1994) 
Kaneohe, Oahu –               83
Molokai airport –                87
Kahului airport, Maui –       89  (record for Monday – 96 in 1995) 
Kona airport                      85  
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 Monday evening:

Port Allen, Kauai – 86
Princeville, Kauai – 77

Haleakala Crater –     54 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 37 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)

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

0.85     Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.16     Palisades, Oahu
0.00     Molokai
0.00     Lanai
0.00     Kahoolawe
0.11     Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.16     Kealakekua, 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. This web cam is 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 winds…windward showers at times –
Rising surf mid-week on north shores
 
 

The trade winds will remain active…although gradually becoming softer through the week.  Glancing at this weather map, showing high pressure systems to the northeast of our islands. Our local trade winds will be light to moderately strong through mid-week. There will be a gradual decline in our local winds after mid-week, with the trade winds fading away by the weekend. These kinds of alterations become more common as we grade from summer to autumn…which happens very soon.

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

22                Port Allen, Kauai – NE 
23                Kahuku, Oahu – NE
29                Molokai – NE
31                Kahoolawe – ESE
32                   Kapalua, Maui – NE
09                Lanai – NW 
24                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 Monday evening. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find low clouds offshore in most directions…especially right along our windward sides this evening. We can use this looping satellite image to see the low clouds moving along in the trade wind flow, impacting our islands locally. Checking out this looping radar image we see very few showers around, most of which are falling over the ocean at the time of this writing…although a few are coming into our windward coasts and slopes.

Sunset Commentary:  We’re in the last few days of a countdown towards ending our summer season, and launching off into our quickly approaching autumn starting gate. Our local weather seems to be following this script pretty well, with the trade winds hanging in there, at least for the moment. The computer models continue to show deep early season storms churning the waters of the far north Pacific now. A bit later this week we’ll find one of these storms sending a cold front southward in our direction.

This will cause a stir in our weather, as our winds tumble…perhaps as a greeting to our fall season. This cold front won’t have much impact on our weather, although may be able to reach Kauai, bringing a few remnant showers on Sunday or next Monday. We might see a few afternoon showers, that could develop over and around the mountains this weekend. Working against these showers falling however, may likely be a dry and stable overlying atmosphere at that time.

Meanwhile, these storms far to our north, as shown on this weather map, have been generating early season northwest and north-northwest swells. There hasn’t been a large one yet, although as we push a little further into autumn, there will be one that will trigger a high surf advisory for our north and west shores. At any rate, a medium sized swell was produced recently, which will arrive along our north shores by Wednesday or so. At the same time, a late winter storm in the southern hemisphere has generated a new southwest swell for our leeward beaches too…which will arrive around mid-week as well. 

Here in Kihei, Maui at around 530pm HST Monday evening, skies were clear to partly cloudy, with only light trade winds blowing. Today when I went down for lunch, I didn't see any white caps on the ocean, which made for a good day at the beach I'm sure. I'm heading up the mountain now, and am looking forward to my evening walk. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, although I dearly love walking, especially as I've been doing this desk job for the last 16 years here in Kihei. When I was younger, and wasn't working in an office, walking never used to be that big ah deal. Although now I have to admit it is one of my favorite things to do. I like my Friday evening films too, although its way too early to be thinking about them yet. I'll meet you here early Tuesday morning, and trust that you will have a fine Monday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Milton Berle once said: Laughter is an instant vacation. Now science has added some concrete proof top that statement or so suggests a new study from an international research team, led by Oxford University. The study found that when we laugh properly, as opposed to producing a polite titter, the physical exertion leaves us exhausted and thereby triggers the release of protective endorphins.

These endorphins, one of the complex neuropeptide chemicals produced in the brain, manage pain and promote feelings of well being. Laughing is a reaction to certain stimuli, fundamentally stress, which serves as an emotional balancing mechanism. Traditionally, it is considered a visual expression of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy. It may ensue from hearing a joke, being tickled, or other stimuli.

It is in most cases a very pleasant sensation. The fact that only this type of laughter releases endorphins has probably evolved as a way of promoting socializing amongst humans, says the paper. It points out that many studies have already shown that laughter is 30 times more likely to occur if you are with others than when alone. The endorphin rush appears to be limited to a good belly laugh, shared with others.

A link between laughter and healthy function of blood vessels was first reported in 2005 by researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Center with the fact that laughter causes the dilatation of the inner lining of blood vessels, the endothelium, and increases blood flow.

Drs. Michael Miller (University of Maryland) and William Fry (Stanford), theorize that beta-endorphin like compounds released by the hypothalamus activate receptors on the endothelial surface to release nitric oxide, thereby resulting in dilation of vessels. The research paper makes an important distinction between relaxed, unforced laughter that creases the eyes, and polite laughter which does not reach the eyes.

It concludes that when we laugh properly we produce a series of exhalations without drawing breath, an involuntary physical mechanism that is limited to humans and appears to trigger the release of endorphins. Laughter is important to other great apes too but they breathe in as well as out when they laugh, unlike humans.

The paper is based on more than ten years of research in which different experiments were staged to discover what determined our level of pain tolerance. Subjects were asked to watch TV clips or live staged shows, and their pain thresholds were measured before and after doing this using a number of different pain manipulations (ice-cold sleeves, pressure from a blood pressure cuff, and a painful, strenuous quad work-out).

The participants watched 15 minute clips from comedies like Mr Bean and Friends, and these were contrasted with clips on how to play golf or factual programs, both designed to elicit a neutral response. In other experiments, they watched nature programs designed to produce a positive, feel-good quality; however, like the golf instruction clips, these did nothing to increase the pain threshold, suggesting that it is the endorphin-activating effects of laughter itself that is important, not just the feel-good factor.

Another experiment compared the pain thresholds of participants who had watched stand-up comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with those who sat through staged dramas. This experiment confirmed that the pain tolerance effect of shared laughter is not just something confined to the laboratory, but occurs in real life too. Lead author Professor Robin Dunbar, Head of the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oxford, said: "Very little research has been done into why we laugh and what role it plays in society.

Using microphones, we were able to record each of the participants and found that in a comedy show, they laughed for about a third of the time, and their pain tolerance rose as a consequence. We think that it is the bonding effects of the endorphin rush that explain why laughter plays such an important role in our social lives." In both primates and humans, laughter has been found to play an important role, yet has received very little attention in academic literature.

This latest paper supports other work by Professor Dunbar that suggests the importance of group activity in producing endorphins. A previous study by Professor Dunbar and Dr Emma Cohen found that members of a rowing team increased their pain tolerance by training as a group rather than as individuals. Other communal activities like music making, dancing and religious rituals have also been shown to create euphoric states which, according to some studies, can also be associated with the release of endorphins.

Interesting2: Yale University has created a new poll based report, Politics & Global Warming, which describes how Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and members of the Tea Party respond to the issue of global warming. The results come from a nationally representative survey of 1,010 American adults, aged 18 and older, conducted April 23 through May 12, 2011. The samples were weighted to correspond with US Census Bureau parameters for the United States.

The study shows majorities of Democrats (78%), Independents (71%) and Republicans (53%) believe that global warming is happening. By contrast, only 34 percent of Tea Party members believe global warming is happening, while 53 percent say it is not happening. While 62 percent of Democrats say that global warming is caused mostly by human activities, most Tea Party members say it is either naturally caused (50%) or isn’t happening at all (21%).

There are many curious findings in the study that show some commonality in that Democrats are considered liberal while Republicans and Tea Party members are more conservative.

Majorities of all four political groups support funding more research into renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power and providing tax rebates for people who purchase energy efficient vehicles or solar panels.

Majorities of Democrats, Independents and Republicans support requiring electric utilities to produce at least 20% of their electricity from renewable energy sources, even if it cost the average household an extra $100 a year. A majority of Tea Party members, however, oppose this policy, with 39 percent strongly opposed.

A majority of Democrats oppose building more nuclear power plants (65%), while majorities of Independents (52%), Republicans (62%) and Tea Party members (67%) support building them.

However, only a majority of Tea Party members (52%) would support building a nuclear power plant in their own local area. All other groups would be opposed.  

Majorities of all four groups trust scientists as a source of information about global warming, ranging from 88 percent of Democrats to 51 percent of Tea Party members. By contrast, 82 percent of Democrats trust President Obama as a source of information, compared to 41 percent of Independents, 21 percent of Republicans, and only 5 percent of Tea Party members. However, each group believes what it wishes and sort of selects the scientists that they listen to.