Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / July 26-27, 2012

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

Lihue, Kauai –                     83   
Honolulu airport, Oahu –  86   (Record high temperature for Thursday / 91 -1987)
Kaneohe, Oahu –                 82
Molokai airport –                 83
Kahului airport, Maui –    86   (Record high temperature for Thursday / 92 -1951)
Kona airport –                  86 
Hilo airport, Hawaii –           70

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

Kaneohe, Oahu – 85
Hilo, Hawaii – 73

Haleakala Summit –     M (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit –   54 (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…although this webcam is not always working correctly. 

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

 

Gusty trade winds…a few windward showers at times

As this weather map shows, we have a pair of high pressure systems located generally to the north of the islands. Our local trade winds will remain active, although gradually become lighter into the weekend. 

The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Thursday evening:

24            Port Allen, Kauai – ENE 
32            Makua Range, Oahu – NE
32            Molokai – NE 
35            Kahoolawe – NE
35            Kahului, Maui – NE 
37            Lanai – NE
35            PTA Keamuku, Big Island – NE

We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean.  Here's the latest NOAA satellite picture – the latest looping satellite image…and finally the latest looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands.

Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Thursday evening:
 
0.11               Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.17               Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.00               Molokai
0.00               Lanai
0.00               Kahoolawe
0.04               Hana airport, Maui
0.69               Kainaliu, Big Island  

                                        Sunset Commentary: 

Our local trade wind speeds will gradually slow down some Friday into the weekend…then speed up again later Sunday into the early part of next week. We find a near 1034 millibar high pressure system to the north-northeast of Hawaii Thursday evening, which is driving these breezy winds. The trade winds will carry windward showers our way at times, while the leeward sides remain dry. Then by next Monday and Tuesday, the Big Island end of the island chain may see the northern fringe of an area of tropical moisture arriving from the southeast…bringing an increase in showers then.

Here in Kula, Maui at 545pm, it was partly cloudy and calm…with an air temperature of 73.2F degrees. The trade winds, which have been pretty strong and gusty so far this week, will start to taper off in strength Friday into the weekend. They won't go away altogether by any means, although will drop down into the light to moderately strong realms. As a trough of low pressure passes by to the south of the state early next week, our trade winds will increase a notch later Sunday through Tuesday.  As far as showers go, they will be generally limited to our windward sides, with a possible increase after this weekend, when an area of showery clouds approaches the Big Island Monday and Tuesday. There's still a chance that this area may just slide by to the south of the state, we'll have to wait and see. Otherwise, fine weather here in paradise will prevail well into the future. ~~~  I'll be back again early Friday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Thursday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

[World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Central Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Eastern Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

A BROAD LOW PRESSURE AREA IS LOCATED ABOUT 1650 MILES WEST-SOUTHWEST OF THE SOUTHERN TIP OF BAJA CALIFORNIA. THE ASSOCIATED SHOWER ACTIVITY IS DISORGANIZED…AND UPPER-LEVEL WINDS ARE BECOMING LESS CONDUCIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT. THIS SYSTEM HAS A LOW CHANCE…NEAR 0 PERCENT…OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

ELSEWHERE…TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

Here's a satellite image of this area located well offshore from the Mexican coast.

Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

Western Pacific Ocean:   There are no active tropical cyclones

South Pacific Ocean:  There are no active tropical cyclones

South and North Indian Oceans: There are no active tropical cyclones

Interesting:  An in-depth look at shark teeth has found that they contain fluoride, the active ingredient of most toothpaste and dental care mouthwashes. It helps to explain why sharks are so effective at either tearing or cutting prey. Their teeth are perfectly designed for such tasks, never suffering from cavities, according to the study, recently published in the Journal of Structural Biology.

While shark teeth contain the mineral fluoroapatite (fluorinated calcium phosphate), the teeth of humans and other mammals contain hydroxyapatite, which is an inorganic constituent also found in bone, explained co-author Matthias Epple. “In order to make teeth more acid resistant, toothpaste often contains fluoride,” Epple, a professor of inorganic chemistry at the University of Duisburg-Essen, told Discovery News.

“In the surface of human teeth after brushing, a small amount — much less than 1 percent — of hydroxide is exchanged by fluoride.” “In contrast,” he added, “(the surface of) shark teeth contains 100 percent fluoride. In principle, sharks should not suffer from caries. As they live in water and as they change their teeth regularly, dental protection should not be a problem for sharks.”

For the study, Epple and colleagues Joachim Enax, Oleg Prymak and Dierk Raabe used a multitude of high tech investigative techniques, including scanning electron micrographs, to look at the teeth of two different sharks: the shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) and the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). These sharks were chosen because of their different eating habits.

Shortfin makos tear the flesh of prey, while tiger sharks cut flesh. Despite these differences, the teeth of the both sharks were found to have a similar chemical and crystalline composition. In addition to the highly mineralized enamel exterior, the interior of shark teeth was determined to contain a soft material known as “dentin,” which contains more protein and is more elastic.

Human teeth also have dentin. Mechanical measurements and tests on the micro and nano-scales determined that shark teeth are not harder than human teeth. “This finding is surprising, because the mineral fluoroapatite is harder than the mineral hydroxyapatite, so if a tooth were to consist of the mineral alone, a shark tooth would be harder than a human tooth,” Epple said.

“It seems as if the human tooth makes up for the less hard mineral by the special arrangement of the enamel crystals and the protein matrix, and ends up being as hard as a shark tooth.” He continued that if the teeth of any animal, including humans, were all mineral and super hard, they would be more brittle and prone to shattering.

Nature therefore has ways of circumventing this problem, with teeth “built up from small crystals that are arranged in a special ‘architecture’ to make them mechanically stronger.” The small amount of protein in teeth, also present in other hard structures like bone and shells, makes these things more elastic.

Andrew Gillis, a Dalhousie University biologist, told Discovery News that the new study “nicely shows how we can see beautiful evidence of adaptation from the level of whole organs all the way down to the nano scale in the chemical nature and organization of crystals within tooth tissues.

This sort of work really addresses, at the most fundamental level, how teeth have evolved to deal with the remarkable stresses that they endure in nature.” Peter Fratzl, a professor at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, told Discovery News that he was interested to learn that shark teeth are covered with the mineral fluoroapatite.

“It is quite interesting to see that this repeats a very similar and very recent observation about the crayfish mandible, which also turns out to be covered with fluoroapatite although the two species, shark and crayfish, are totally unrelated, but both living under water.”

Fratzl said it’s possible that fluoroapatite coatings are much less water soluble than hydroxyapatite and are therefore “more stable in water and more resistant against bacterial attack.” In addition to the unique structure of their teeth, sharks also have the handy ability to replace their teeth several times during their lives. This is not due to cavities, but rather because their teeth sometimes wind up stuck in prey or are otherwise forced out.

Interesting2: Does Yoga Actually work? The answer is yes, and now we know why. According to a recently published UCLA study, practicing a certain form of chanting yogic meditation for at least 12 minutes a day for 8 weeks will reduce the biological mechanism responsible for increasing the immune system's inflammation response.

When that inflammation response is constantly active, it can lead to a number of chronic health problems. In other words, a brief daily meditation in the form of yoga has been shown to reduce stress. This is particularly true for people who care for those who suffer from neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Senior author of the study, Dr. Helen Lavretsky of the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and her colleagues conducted their research with 45 family dementia caregivers. They observed the individuals as they performed a certain type of yoga known as Kirtan Kriya Meditation (KKM).

The caregivers of people with dementia are truly saints for taking care of frail and demented family members. This type of job can cause a significant amount of stress. Older adult caregivers have reported higher levels of stress and depression, and lower levels of satisfaction, vigor, and life.

And of course, higher levels of stress can lead to a general decline in health. This makes them the perfect candidate to experiment with yoga. During the study, the caregivers were separated into two groups. One group was asked to perform the Kirtan Kriya yoga meditation for 12 minutes a day for eight weeks.

The other was asked to relax in a quite space with their eyes closed listening to relaxing instrumental music for the same time period. At the beginning and end of the eight weeks, blood samples were taken. Those who participated in yoga had reduced inflammatory and antiviral proteins which are responsible for increased stress.

Dr. Lavretsky is a member of the Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Program at UCLA, which provides support to patients and caregivers. She has now incorporated yoga into the caregiver program. "Caregivers often don't have the time, energy or contacts that could bring them a little relief from the stress of taking care of a loved one with dementia," said Lavretsky, "so practicing a brief form of yogic meditation, which is easy to learn, is a useful tool."