Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Tuesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 81
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 86 (record for high Tuesday 90 – 1979)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Molokai airport – 82
Kahului airport, Maui – 85
Kona airport – 84
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 81
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Tuesday evening:
Barking Sands, Kauai – 83
Kaneohe, Oahu – 77
Haleakala Crater – 48 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 36 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Tuesday evening:
0.51 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
0.11 Moanalua RG, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.79 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.47 Glenwood, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing the tail-end of a frontal boundary to our north and northeast. At the same time we find a 1031 millibar high pressure system to our north, with a 1026 millibar high pressure system far to our east-northeast. Our local winds will be remain rather strong and gusty Wednesday and Thursday.
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. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two web cams are 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.
Aloha Paragraphs
Strong and gusty trades – windward showers at times
Wind Advisory atop the Haleakala Crater on Maui
Our local winds will remain blowing from the trade wind direction through the next week…into early next week. Glancing at this weather map, we find a moderately strong 1031 millibar high pressure system located to our north…which will be the primary source of our trades now. These trade winds will remain on the strong and gusty side of the wind spectrum, with small craft wind advisory flags remaining up across those windiest areas around the state. The upper slopes and summit on Maui will continue to find gusty trade winds blowing as well…with a wind advisory in effect there beginning Wednesday morning.
Our winds will be strong and gusty in many areas…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts, along with directions Tuesday evening:
35 Port Allen, Kauai – ENE
27 Honolulu, Oahu – NE
32 Molokai – NE
32 Kahoolawe – ESE
35 Kahului, Maui – NE
28 Lanai – NE
32 Upolu airport, Big Island – NE
We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean Tuesday night. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see partly cloudy skies over and around the islands. Most of the clouds are located over the ocean, which are being carried to the windward sides in the gusty trade winds. We can use this looping satellite image to see fairly minor thunderstorms brewing well to our south, with an approaching fairly small area of high cirrus clouds far to our west. We can see cloud patches upstream of the islands, to the east of the state, which will increase our shower activity tonight. At the same time we see cloud plumes extending westward from the Big Island. Checking out this looping radar image shows an average amount of showery clouds around the state at the time of this writing…which should increase later in the night into early Wednesday morning.
Sunset Commentary: Our local weather is behaving just about like it’s suppose to this time of year. When we consider the late May time frame, we almost always have at least moderately strong trade winds gracing our Hawaiian Islands. I use the word grace on purpose, in contrast to what it would be like…if we didn’t have our refreshing winds. They do an outstanding job of keeping the humidity levels at a comfortable level. Areas in the deeper tropics, south of the trade wind flow [down in the doldrums near the equator] have hot and sticky weather in contrast, year round.
Glancing at the satellite image above, we see moisture pockets being carried in our direction, from over the warm ocean to our east. These clouds might drop a few showers during the day, although are encouraged to drop more substantial raindrops most frequently during the cooler night and early morning hours. It looks as if we’ll have near normal rainfall for the time being, as there are no organized rainy areas taking aim on our islands. As is often the case during such a trade wind weather pattern, the leeward sides will find the sunniest and driest weather during the days. The surf has dropped along these south facing shores, below high surf advisory levels…but it will still be rough in places Wednesday.
Here in Kihei, Maui at 545pm HST Tuesday evening it was clear to partly cloudy, although with a few cloudy areas around the edges too. The trade winds were rather strong and gusty today everywhere, even here along the south coast. Winds will calm down some tonight, although will pick right back up on Wednesday, especially during the afternoon into the early evening hours. I'll be back with you again early Wednesday morning, I hope you have a great Tuesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Extra: Here's a story about the famous Lahaina Noon
Interesting: As the United States continues to import increasingly more of its food from developing nations, we are putting ourselves at greater risk of foodborne disease as many of these countries do not have the same sanitary standards for production, especially in the case of seafood and fresh produce, say scientists on May 23 at the 111th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in New Orleans.
"Approximately 15 percent of food consumed in the United States in 2006 was imported. Sanitation practices for food production are not universally equivalent throughout the world. Importing foods can move diseases from areas where they are indigenous to locations where they are seldom or do not exist," says Michael Doyle of the University of Georgia.
"The reality is we are going to continue to import foods at a greater rate in large part because labor costs in developing countries are much lower than they are here. We are going to see more food coming from developing countries which frequently have lower standards for producing foods," says Doyle.
In 2010 over 80% of fish and seafood consumed in the United States was imported, and much of that came from Asia. Raw domestic sewage and/or livestock manure are frequently used in fish farming in many Asian countries. In Thailand chicken coops (as many as 20,000 birds per farm) sit in rows suspended over ponds that hold shrimp and fish that feed on the waste that falls from above.
In China, crops and seafood are typically grown on small parcels where individual farmers try to produce as much food from their parcels as they can. To do that excessive amounts of pesticides for produce and antibiotics for fish and shrimp production are used. Many of these compounds are not approved for use in the United States. Untreated human waste and animal manure are often used to treat soils or aquaculture ponds.
Not surprisingly, contaminants found in imported foods are those primarily associated with fecal matter. Over one quarter of all contaminated seafood imports detained by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2001 were contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. More than half of those violations were shrimp.
Doyle warns that consumers should not immediately jump the gun and start avoiding foods from particular countries. Many U.S. companies import food and produce from these countries only if they can verify that the food was produced under stringent sanitary conditions.
"Just because it comes from a particular country that does not necessarily mean it is bad," says Doyle.
Part of the problem is there is just so much coming into the country that the government can not inspect it all. The FDA physically inspects less than one percent of more than 10 million imported entries annually. But the onus should not be entirely on the government says Doyle.
"It is incumbent on food processors to ensure ingredients or products they import are produced under good sanitary practices. It is the industry that is responsible for producing safe foods. It is the government's responsibility to verify that they are providing safe foods," says Doyle.
Interesting2: Colombia plans to nearly double agricultural land growing crops for food and biofuel, part of a new investment boom in the country as violence ebbs from a decades-long internal conflict fueled by drug profits. The idea is to transform the vast eastern plains, dotted for years with illicit coca plantations, into the country's bread basket in a push to bring down food prices and boost revenues from agricultural exports.
But first Colombia will have to overcome serious infrastructure problems and concerns about land rights after millions of people have been displaced by violence.
Global food prices soared to a record in February and while they have fallen since then, many experts say they will stay high as populations grow faster than farmers can feed them.
Latin America could help buck that trend as the region in the world with the most land still available and suitable for agriculture after Africa.
Colombia has 53 million acres (21.5 million hectares) that could be planted with crops such as corn, soy, African palm and sugar but just 12 million (5 million) are currently being used, says the agriculture ministry.
Already the world's top grower of high-quality washed arabica coffee and No. 5 in palm oil, Colombia is mostly self sufficient in food production but imports more than 3 million tons of corn each year for animal feed. The government wants to grow enough corn to cover up to half of domestic demand.
Large swaths of the Andean nation were off limits for years as drug runners, leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups battled over territory. But a U.S.-backed crackdown has helped cut coca planting, which fell 13 percent last year compared to 2009 to 145,000 acres.
Colombia is still the world's No. 1 coca grower. Violence remains a problem, including bloodshed over land rights, but security has opened up the possibility of farming in once avoided areas. "Colombia is one of the few countries left that can expand agriculture into new areas, not everyone can do that, and also improve productivity," Agriculture Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo told Reuters.
Interesting3: Wood fuel is wood used as fuel. The burning of wood is currently the largest use of energy derived from a solid fuel biomass. Wood fuel can be used for cooking and heating, and occasionally for fueling steam engines and steam turbines that generate electricity. The use of wood as a fuel source for heating is as old as civilization itself. Historically, it was limited in use only by the distribution of technology required to make a spark. Wood heat is still common throughout much of the world.
Wood fuel, one of the oldest energy sources on the planet, could become the newest commodity market if it can overcome supply limits and green concerns as demand grows for renewable energy. Experts say that supply constraints are starting to put wood fuel into competition with the paper industry, in an uneasy reminder of existing tensions between the food industry and companies making biofuels from food crops.
Wood has been used as fuel for millennia. The Greeks, Romans, Celts, Britons, and Gauls all had access to forests suitable for using as fuel. Over the centuries there was a partial deforestation of climax forests and the evolution of the remainder to forest management as the primary source of wood fuel. These woodlands involved a continuous cycle of new stems harvested from old stumps, on rotations between seven and thirty years.
Throughout this time the preferred form of wood fuel was the branches of cut coppice stems bundled into faggots. John Bingham, a director at consultants Hawkins Wright, said that an open market was "coming very fast" citing Eurostat data showing European Union imports of wood pellets up 42% last year. Shaped wood pellets are made for the energy sector, while raw wood chips are used mostly by the paper industry.
Those developments suggest a gradual shift to a more transparent market beyond bilateral deals between suppliers and users, such as timber companies and utilities. Britain's biggest coal-fired power plant, Drax, burned nearly 1 million tons of biomass last year – more than double the previous year’s figures – while burning ten times that amount of coal. Wood pellets are said to have about 70 percent of the calorific value of coal.
The British arm of German utility RWE, RWE npower will this year convert a coal plant near London to burn 2 million ton of biomass until it closes in 2015. Domestic UK wood fuel production, excluding recycled or waste wood, is currently about 1.5 million tons annually, according to Forestry Commission data. But it is an open question whether there is enough volume for an open market, as utilities already have large volumes tied up in long contracts, or produce pellets for themselves.
The existing biomass power generating industry in the United States, which consists of approximately 11,000 MW of summer operating capacity actively supplying power to the grid, produces about 1.4 percent of the U.S. electricity supply. But how green is wood or biomass combustion? In theory wood is a natural product that is periodically harvested and reused in a sustainable fashion. Such concerns are reflected in a European Commission study of the environmental impact of biomass incentives, which will lead to new eligibility rules later this year. The biomass industry says it is working on its own green standards, and that plantation forests and waste will be the main sources of supply.
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