Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 75
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 80
Molokai airport – 74
Kahului airport, Maui – 77
Kona airport – 81
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 78
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops around the state…as of 530am Thursday morning:
Lihue, Kauai – 70
Hana airport, Maui – 63
Haleakala Summit – 43 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 28 (13,000+ 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.
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. The 2012 hurricane season is over in the eastern and central Pacific…resuming on May 15th and June 1st 2013.
Aloha Paragraphs
Small Craft Advisory for gusty trade winds around
just Maui and the Big Island, then expands to all
marine zones across the Hawaiian Islands…
beginning tonight through Saturday
Just a few windward showers, with generally
dry conditions leeward
~~~540am HST Thursday morning: clear, calm…
at my upcountry Kula, Maui weather tower: 44.8F degrees~~~
Happy Valentine's Day!
The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Wednesday evening:
20 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
31 Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
23 Molokai – NE
31 Kahoolawe – E
27 Kahului, Maui – NE
29 Waikoloa, Big Island – NE
Here are the latest 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Wednesday evening:
0.04 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.11 Waipio, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.01 Kahoolawe
0.04 Kaupo Gap, Maui
0.18 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
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.
~~~ Hawaii Weather Commentary ~~~
Our trade winds will remain active through this week into next week, with fairly minor variations in strength on a day to day basis. Here's a weather chart showing a large near 1037 millibar high pressure system located far to the northeast of Hawaii. At the same time, we see a surface trough of low pressure to our east…with deep storm low pressure systems far north. Our trade wind weather pattern will continue, generally in the moderately strong category Thursday. These winds are expected to begin increasing again Friday into the weekend. The extended outlook calls for blustery trade wind weather continue right on into next week, which may require wind advisories, or even gale warnings…in a few select channels around Maui and the Big Island.
Satellite imagery shows scattered low clouds along our windward sides…with partly cloudy conditions along our leeward sides. As the trades hold steady in the moderately strong category for the most part, they will be bring us a few light windward biased showers. The leeward sides will see some of these clouds in places too, although generally dry conditions should prevail for the time being. Here's a larger view of the clouds, showing a large swath of high clouds well to the southeast and east of the Big Island…and now to the north of Hawaii as well.
The current trade weather pattern will continue to bring us generally fair weather through Thursday. As we push into Friday and the upcoming weekend, we'll find some increase in wind speeds…and a few more windward showers then too. The models show a couple of upper level troughs of low pressure edging in over the islands, or at least close by then. These upper air features will enhance whatever showers that happen to be falling at the time. The bulk of these will land along our windward coasts and slopes. These stiffening trades, will be able to transport a few of these showery clouds into the leeward sections on the smaller islands. The computer models go on to show an even further strengthening of our trade winds as we get into next week. I'll be back many times during the day with more updates on all of the above. I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Valentine's Day: A Medley of love songs by Whitney Houston – full screen
World-wide tropical cyclone activity:
Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones
Gulf of Mexico: There are no active tropical cyclones
Eastern Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
Central Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
Western Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
South Pacific Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones
North and South Indian Oceans: Tropical cyclone 15S (Gino) remains active in the south Indian Ocean…located approximately 1110 NM south-southeast of Diego Garcia. Sustained winds are 70 knots, with gusts to 85 knots (81-98 mph). Here's the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) graphical track map, and a satellite image.
Interesting: There's a global campaign to force meat producers to rein in their use of antibiotics on pigs, chickens and cattle. European countries, especially Denmark and the Netherlands, have taken the lead. The U.S. is moving, haltingly, toward similar restrictions. Now the concerns about rampant antibiotic use appear to have reached China, where meat production and antibiotic use have been growing fast.
Half of all the pigs in the world live in China — a consequence of the country's swelling appetite for pork. And like pork producers in many other countries, Chinese farmers have turned to antibiotics and other feed additives to control disease in their herds and also to make the animals grow faster.
The exact extent of antibiotic use in Chinese agriculture is unknown, because authorities don't monitor it. But researchers have sometimes found disturbingly high levels of antibiotic residues in manure from Chinese pig farms.
A study published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences adds to evidence that antibiotic use by Chinese pork producers poses health risks. According to the study, manure from pig farms doesn't just contain antibiotic residues.
It also carries high concentrations of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. This increases the risk that antibiotic resistance will move into bacteria that infect humans, and the resulting diseases will be more difficult to treat.
But there's also good news. Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who took the lead in the new study, are increasingly aware of the problem and looking for ways to fight it. They invited James Tiedje, a microbiologist from Michigan State University, to join their effort.
"They were quite forthcoming," Tiedje tells The Salt. The Chinese scientists monitored antibiotic residues in manure from three different pig farms. They found plenty, but not at exceptionally high levels.
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