Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday:
Lihue, Kauai – 74
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 77
Kaneohe, Oahu – 76
Molokai airport – 75
Kahului airport, Maui – 79
Kona airport – 83
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 Thursday evening:
Kailua-kona – 79
Princeville, Kauai – 70
Haleakala Crater – 48 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea – 37 (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.
Aloha Paragraphs
Lowering surf on our north and west shores –
another chilly night into Friday morning –
light-moderately strong trade winds…
pleasant weather into the weekend!
As this weather map shows, we have low pressure systems far to the northwest through northeast of the islands, with an weakening cold front now a good distance to the southeast of the Big Island. At the same time, we have high pressure systems far to the east-northeast, and another cell not far to the west-northwest, moving eastward. Our winds will gradually turn from the northeast…with trade winds taking over during the day Friday into the weekend.
The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph), along with directions Thursday evening:
12 Barking Sands, Kauai – NNW
20 Wheeler, Oahu – NE
23 Molokai – NNE
30 Kahoolawe – NE
18 Kahului, Maui – NE
00 Lanai
09 Honokaa, Big Island – SSE
We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Thursday evening. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see just a few stable clouds…although they are dry. We can use this looping satellite image to see minor high clouds approaching the state from the north, and a more substantial area of cirrus from the south and southeast as well. Checking out this looping radar image we see very few showers…and those few are most of them are located over the ocean at the time of this writing.
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Thursday evening:
0.12 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.17 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.10 Molokai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.09 Haiku, Maui
0.20 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
Sunset Commentary: The cold front that pushed through the islands recently, continues moving away and dissipating to the south and southeast of the state Thursday evening. The clouds riding in on the cooler than normal north winds in the wake of the front, are generally stable and dry…and are evaporating as they get near the islands for the most part. We may see a few light windward biased showers, although the leeward sides will remain dry. The recent bout of chilly winds will gradually turn more to the northeast and east-northeast Friday…bringing warmer trade winds through the weekend. A new cold front will approach the state during the first part of the new work week ahead, although is expected to stall before arriving on Kauai around next Wednesday or Thursday. We might see a few showers out ahead of the front, here in the islands, along with a possible minor increase in volcanic haze arriving on southeast breezes locally too. Looking even further ahead, the trade winds will return thereafter, carrying showers into our windward sides…and ventilating any haze that might have accumulated.
Here in Kula, Maui at 530pm HST, we have near calm winds, with a few minor cirrus cloud wisps…along with an air temperature of 64.6F degrees. We can look for more cool weather tonight, as the winds continue to arrive from the northeast. These generally light breezes will gradually swing around to a more classic trade wind direction Friday, which will begin to warm us up more substantially into the weekend. The low temperatures will all be below 70 degrees near sea level by early Friday morning, with even a few taking a dive into the 50's, like we saw Thursday morning. The upcountry areas, above say about 2500 feet in elevation may sink into the 40's again too!
As I was mentioning here last evening, better leave that extra blanket on the bed tonight, and perhaps even grab a pair of warm socks too. I anticipate that Friday into the weekend will be really nice, and even turning warmer as we go. There's an area of high clouds just to the south and southeast of the Big Island at this point, according to this satellite image, and it looks like its trying to move northward. If it's successful in that endeavor, it would provide some nice sunrise and sunset colors for perhaps the Big Island and Maui County. There's more of that stuff coming into the state from the north too, with even more further to the northwest now as well. So, we'll begin to see some beautification of our local skies by those cirrus perhaps over the next couple of days. ~~~ I'll be back early Friday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great (and warm) Thursday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: A giant among Wisconsin's inland freshwater fishes, the bottom dwelling lake sturgeon is a living fossil – a relic from the Middle Ages of fish evolution. This ancient species made its first appearance about 100 million years ago in the Upper Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era, just about the time that the dinosaurs made their abrupt exit from Earth's ever-changing stage.
Today the lake sturgeon retains many primitive characteristics that have been lost or modified in other modern-day fishes. Research into the mysterious sounds that lake sturgeon produce resumes in April, or whenever the water warms to a temperature conducive for fish spawning, which is the best time to experience sturgeon thunder.
In spring, Ron Bruch, a biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Chris Bocast, an acoustic ecologist with the UW Sea Grant Institute, will conduct additional biological examinations and collect detailed field recordings of the infrasonic sounds of this ancient fish.
The sturgeon thunder is at a frequency too low for most humans to hear clearly. For years, those along waters populated by sturgeon reported mysterious sounds and vibrations, apparently resulting from the sturgeon’s subsonic sound production. Native-Americans in the Fox and Wolf River watersheds have long associated this thunder with the onset of spring sturgeon spawning runs.
"Based on an underwater-microphone recording and consultation with experts at Cornell University’s Bioacoustic Research Program, we have confirmed the fundamental frequencies produced by sturgeon while spawning are based in the sonic spectrum below human hearing.
We’re going back out this spring with more specialized audio and video equipment in order to get validated results for academic publication," Bocast said. "At one time, Bruch thought the sound was the result of the force of the large fish hitting each other or the water.
However, thanks to the interdisciplinary scope of Bruch and Bocast’s research, we can now put sturgeon in the surprising company of whales, elephants and other large creatures whose sonic capabilities reaches into the infrasonic. Of course, sturgeons are fish, not mammals.
But fish are beginning to be recognized for their ability to produce wide varieties of sounds using all parts of their bodies." Bruch and Bocast believe the sturgeon use the sound to time gamete release, enabling reproductive success in Wisconsin’s fast-flowing rivers. The sturgeon sound itself is characteristic of sounds produced by other fishes using their swim bladder, which this spring’s study may validate.
Lake sturgeon migrate to their annual spawning grounds generally between mid April and early May, preferring to spawn in shallow, rocky areas along river banks. Sturgeon spawning is dependent on water temperature and flow. Optimum lake sturgeon spawning temperatures range from 52 to 58 degrees F. Sturgeon can often be seen doing pre-spawn porpoising at the preferred spawning sites. As conditions become more favorable, the fish will move into shore to spawn.
Interesting2: On the plains of Africa, the zebra are not the only creature roaming in herds. There are a great number of other species, not least of all, the dreaded horsefly. Zebras, like all horse species, have large bodies which they cannot always reach with their mouths, hooves, or tails, making them an inviting prey for blood-sucking, flying insects. More than the lion, the horsefly is the bane of zebra's existence.
This, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, is why zebras evolved to having stripes. The black and white stripes effectively deter the horseflies by making the zebras less attractive. The horsefly, part of the Tabanidae family, is the largest of all flies.
They are very loud and their bites can be painful. The fly is fast and agile, make it extremely difficult to swat. Their razor sharp mandibles slice the flesh apart, allowing the female horsefly to nourish itself on blood, which is necessary for their reproduction. The bites often become very itchy, causing great discomfort and distraction to the grazing herbivore.
Horseflies are also vectors for blood-borne pathogens including the equine infectious anaemia virus, parasitic filarial worm, and even anthrax. If the animal is attacked by a swarm of horseflies, it is possible that the animal can lose up to 300 milliliters of blood in a day, weakening it and potentially cause death from blood loss. The study was conducted by Gábor Horváth, Susanne Åkesson, and colleagues from Hungary and Sweden.
They looked at the behavior of horseflies at a horse farm near the city of Budapest. Using alternating black and white stripes of various widths, densities, and angles, light reflections, they set the trap. Oil was spread over the stripes to attract the flies and glue was spread to snare them.
They found that fewer flies were attracted as the stripes became narrower. The narrowest stripes attracted the least amount of horseflies. 'We conclude that zebras have evolved a coat pattern in which the stripes are narrow enough to ensure minimum attractiveness to tabanid flies', says the team and they add, 'The selection pressure for striped coat patterns as a response to blood-sucking dipteran parasites is probably high in this region [Africa]'.
The researchers found that the flies are attracted more to dark hides than to white hides. However, they are attracted least of all to striped hides. This can explain a great deal of how the zebra got its stripes. In fact, a zebra fetus while it is in the womb has dark skin. It then develops stripes just before being born, protecting it from the vicious appetite of the dreaded horsefly.
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