Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / January 1-2, 2012

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

Lihue, Kauai –                   77
Honolulu airport, Oahu –   82     (Record highest temperature on this date – 85 in 1987 )
Kaneohe, Oahu –               77
Molokai airport –                80
Kahului airport, Maui –        82   (Record highest temperature on this date – 86 in 1951 )
Kona airport –                    80
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 Sunday evening:

Honolulu, Oahu – 80
Hilo, Hawaii – 72

Haleakala Crater –  50 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea –         41 (near 13,800 feet on the Big Island)

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 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. Here's the Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui…which is working only sometimes lately.

 Aloha Paragraphs

Lighter winds, just a few showers…high surf
north and west shores Kauai to Maui
Happy New Year everyone!

As this weather map shows…we have a weak high pressure system just to the northeast…pushing a weak cold front in our direction.  The location of this high pressure cell, and its ridge, which is sinking southward towards Kauai and Oahu, will make for light breezes Monday and Tuesday, becoming more moderately strong by the middle of this new week.

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph), along with directions Sunday evening:

14                 Port Allen, Kauai – SE
12                 Bellows, Oahu – E
08                 Molokai – S 
00                 Kahoolawe
23                    Kapalua, Maui – NE
07                 Lanai – NW
22                 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 Sunday evening.  Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see just a few low level clouds around the islands, mostly that developed over and around the mountains during the afternoon hours. The leeward sides are mostly clear to partly cloudy, depending upon which island we're talking about. The windward sides are clear to partly cloudy as well, again depending upon the locations on each of the islands. We can use this looping satellite image to see high clouds moving away over the ocean far to the east of the islands and to our to our north as well. At the same time, can see a new cold front approaching the islands to the northwest of Kauai. Checking out this looping radar image we see just a few showers over the ocean…coming into the islands locally.

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

0.07               Kilohana, Kauai
0.60                 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.00               Molokai
0.00               Lanai
0.00               Kahoolawe
0.00               Puu Kukui, Maui
0.19               Piihonua, Big Island

Sunset Commentary:  The local winds remained quite light in most areas today, strongest on the Big Island end of the chain…lightest over Kauai. These light trade winds will give way to even lighter winds Monday and Tuesday. A new trade wind producing high pressure system will be in place to our north again by Wednesday…prompting breezy trade winds then through the end of the new week.

As far as rainfall goes, there won’t be much, and the windward sides will receive the bulk of whatever few showers that are around, or over the slopes during the afternoon hours.  A second weak cold front is trying to make its way down towards Kauai now, but will stall before arriving…like the most recent one did. Then, as the trade winds return on Wednesday, we'll likely see the windward shower activity increase a notch into the weekend. In other words, nothing of particular consequence expected in our rainfall department through the next week.

I went to see a new film this past Friday evening in Kahului, this one was called The Girl with the Dragon Tatto, starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara…among many others. The synopsis: a journalist and a brilliant hacker get tangled up in a dangerous mystery when they delve into the history of a powerful family. This film is getting high grades, with even the rotten tomatoes film rating website giving it a high 86% approval rating, out of a possible 100. This is suppose to be a powerful film, and I was slightly nervous about seeing it, although at the same time excited. As it turned out, it was an intense film, with no lack of violence. I didn't have to avert my eyes, but there were those times in the film that people got roughed up…but good! All and all however I greatly enjoyed this presentation, and I found it to be excellent! It's not for the faint of heart, absolutely not, although at the same time it was so very good, and well done, and yet so brutal at times too. I would be tempted to give it a full-on A grade, or at least an A-…somewhere in that range. Here's a trailer for this film.

Here in Kula, Maui at around 530pm HST, it was mostly cloudy, with a bit of haze…and an air temperature of 65.5F degrees. Today started off clear enough, and a bit on the cool side, like it will both Monday and Tuesday coming up. The trade winds will give way to lighter and variable winds Monday and Tuesday, bringing us into a convective weather pattern. The first two days of the new work week will start off quite cool, and generally clear in the mornings. As the daytime sea breezes start up, and the islands heat up too, we'll see clouds forming over and around the mountains, with a few localized showers in the upcountry areas. The beaches will remain nice and generally sunny on all shores…with some clouds sliding down towards the coasts in the afternoon hours locally. Wednesday into the upcoming weekend will find increasing trade winds again, with more showers arriving along our north and east facing windward coasts and slopes then too. ~~~ Like I did this morning, I want to wish all of you greatly valued readers a most wonderful new year, filled with all the things that make you happy, and make life well worth living. I'll continue to bring you these daily updated weather narratives, with no plans to stop anytime soon. I'll be back Monday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have a great Sunday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting:  For the first time in more than 85 years, a gray wolf has been documented in California. The 2 ½-year-old male, known as OR-7, journeyed more than 700 miles from the northeastern corner of Oregon, crossing into California's Siskiyou County on Wednesday, according to the California Department of Fish and Game. OR-7, and any other wolves that wander into California, are federally protected by the Endangered Species Act.

"The thrill of the howl of a lone wolf has returned to California after all these years — what a cause for celebration," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the Center for Biological Diversity. "Studies show that wolves benefit many other wildlife species.

Californians should be proud and excited that this day has finally arrived." Until the 20th century, wolves populated much of California, where they played an important role at the top of the food chain. Following reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, scientists documented that by forcing elk to move more and to choose different locations, wolves allowed streamside vegetation to grow, benefiting beavers and songbirds.

Northern Rocky Mountains wolves, the very wolves from which OR-7 descends, have also had a dramatic impact on coyote populations, benefitting fox and pronghorn numbers. "The key to restoring wolves in California is going to be tolerance by people, including ranchers," said Greenwald. "Wolves are a very small cause of livestock losses and there are many proven methods for ranchers to avoid losing livestock to wolves."

Interesting2: According to a study conducted in the Department of Communication Disorders at Tel Aviv University, about a quarter of Israeli youth may develop hearing disorders due to prolonged exposure to music players and loud noise. 289 adolescents aged 13-17 participated in the study that examined the habits of music listening through headphones attached to MP3 players, mobile phones and computers.

Eighty percent of participants reported that they listen to personal music players on a regular basis and 41 percent reported daily use. In addition, 83 percent said that they listen to music while driving. The study shows that 49 percent of participants already encounter short term symptoms after listening to loud music.

Twenty-one percent of the respondents reported changes in hearing and 11 percent suffered from "tinnitus", which is the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound. The second phase of the study measured the intensity of the music played on music players.

Researchers used miniature microphones which they inserted into the external audio channels in the participant’s ears. Measurement revealed that 26 percent of the adolescents listen to music at an intensity that could cause damage and found that the average volume is 89 decibels.

For a comparison, noise regulations for factories allows workers to be exposed to 85 decibels for eight hours maximum, or 88 decibels for four hours. The measurement also discovered that many participants listened to music at 100 decibels or more.

Professor Hava Mutchnik, a lecturer at the Communication Disorders Department at Tel Aviv University and head of the research team, emphasized that in Israel and the United States, unlike Europe, there is no law which forbids the distribution of music players that enable playing more than 100 decibels.

The research partners were colleagues of Prof. Mutchnik, including Dr. Noam Amir, Dr. Ricki Kaplan-Ne’eman and Ester Shabtay. Other findings of the research are that 79 percent of adolescents are aware of the connection between high volume of music and actual hearing damage, but only 20 percent are concerned about it.