Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Sunday:
Lihue, Kauai – 78
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 86 (record for Sunday – 89 in 1992)
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Molokai airport – 85
Kahului airport, Maui – 86 (record for Sunday – 94 in 1996)
Kona airport 85
Hilo airport, Hawaii – 82
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 7pm Sunday evening:
Honolulu, Oahu – 80
Hilo, Hawaii – 75
Haleakala Crater – 48 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 34 (over 13,500 feet on the Big Island)
Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Sunday evening:
2.82 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.51 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.03 Molokai
0.02 Lanai
0.01 Kahoolawe
1.57 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.30 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1028 millibar high pressure system…far to the northeast of our islands. Our local winds will be slightly lighter Monday and Tuesday.
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
Lighter trade winds, increasing showers Monday and
Tuesday…with the chance of thunderstorms locally
The trade winds will remain relatively lighter through Tuesday…then increase again around Wednesday onwards. Glancing at this weather map, we find a 1028 millibar high pressure system located far to our northeast. This high pressure cell has an elongated ridge of high pressure draping southwest, putting it to the north of our islands. The placement of this high and its ridge will keep our trade winds around. These trade wind breezes are light enough now, that the entire marine environment remains free of small craft wind advisories. The computer forecast models suggest that by Wednesday…the trade winds will increase rather significantly once again through the rest of the week.
Our trade winds will continue to blow, although in a softer fashion…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts, along with directions Sunday evening:
23 Port Allen, Kauai – NE
21 Honolulu, Oahu – NE
27 Molokai – NE
33 Kahoolawe – E
30 Kapalua, Maui – NE
00 Lanai
32 South 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 night. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see a considerable amount of high and middle level clouds to the east of the state, associated with the upper level low pressure system…some of which is stretching into the state. We can use this looping satellite image to see considerable high and middle level clouds to our southwest through southeast…with those areas of higher level clouds shifting northward into parts of the state. We can also see lower level cumulus clouds to our east, being carried in our direction on the trade wind flow. Checking out this looping radar image we see showers being carried along in the trade wind flow…some of which will continue to be heavier than the rest.
This past Thursday evening I went to see a new film called X-Men: First Class, starring James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender…among many others. This is a story of young professor X and Magneto, who use their extraordinary abilities to prevent nuclear armageddon. The critics are giving this action film a B grade, while the users are upping the anty to an A- rating. I was in the mood to totally change my mind set, after such a long and intense work week, which this film was certainly able to do for me. I actually ended up liking this film quite a bit, and would give it somewhere between a solid B and a B+ grade. The films pace remained up throughout, and there was certainly plenty of action to keep my attention. This played in a large theater, and I saw it at 715pm, which I consider prime time. I was a bit surprised that more folks weren't attending it however, as it just opened last weekend. I honestly don't know how these big entertainment companies can make these big movies, and not have them be more successful. I must say that I greatly appreciate film companies continuing to pump them out year after year! Here's the trailer if you have any desire to take a quick look.
Sunset Commentary: The trade winds remain active, which will carry showers to our windward sides in an off and on manner through the next several days. These trades have eased up in strength a bit now, and will remain on the lighter side through about Tuesday. The computer forecast models then show them increasing again around mid-week. They will continue blowing well out into the future, becoming strong and gusty again. This is bring back the small craft wind advisories in our windiest coasts and channels.
The showers along the windward sides range between light and moderate in intensity, although we can expect to see more frequent and heavier showers soon. A pool of cold air aloft, associated with an upper level low pressure system over the state, will enhance whatever showers that around Monday and Tuesday. There's even that chance that we could see thunderstorms forming over and around us during that time frame.
Here in Kula, Maui at 445pm Sunday afternoon, skies were partly cloudy. As noted above, our weather will be going through some unusual changes over the next several days. The trade winds will be softer than normal, while rainfall will become heavier than usual. We may see periods of locally heavy showers here and there, with some lightning and thunder showing up too. The cold air aloft is much colder than usual for this time of year, and may bring some more snow to the Big Island summits either Monday or Tuesday!
I went for a long fast walk this morning with some friends, and then had breakfast out down in Keokea. It was stimulating and fun to be a bit more social than I usually am. We then took a short break before helping one of these friends move from one place to another here in Kula. It has left me tuckered out, and just taking it easy. I'll be back early Monday morning with more information about this unsettled weather pattern that we have coming up again soon. I hope you have a great Sunday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Extra: There's still a tiny bit of snow atop Mauna Kea on the Big Island Sunday evening…although its melting fast!
Interesting: Dog owners often attest to their canine companion's seeming ability to read their minds. How do dogs they learn to beg for food or behave badly primarily when we're not looking? According to Monique Udell and her team, from the University of Florida in the US, the way that dogs come to respond to the level of people's attentiveness tells us something about the ways dogs think and learn about human behavior.
Their research, published online in Springer's journal Learning & Behavior, suggests it is down to a combination of specific cues, context and previous experience. Recent work has identified a remarkable range of human-like social behaviors in the domestic dog, including their ability to respond to human body language, verbal commands, and to attentional states.
The question is, how do they do it? Do dogs infer humans' mental states by observing their appearance and behavior under various circumstances and then respond accordingly? Or do they learn from experience by responding to environmental cues, the presence or absence of certain stimuli, or even human behavioral cues?
Udell and colleagues' work sheds some light on these questions. Udell and team carried out two experiments comparing the performance of pet domestic dogs, shelter dogs and wolves given the opportunity to beg for food, from either an attentive person or from a person unable to see the animal.
They wanted to know whether the rearing and living environment of the animal (shelter or human home), or the species itself (dog or wolf), had the greater impact on the animal's performance. They showed, for the first time that wolves, like domestic dogs, are capable of begging successfully for food by approaching the attentive human.
This demonstrates that both species — domesticated and non-domesticated — have the capacity to behave in accordance with a human's attentional state. In addition, both wolves and pet dogs were able to rapidly improve their performance with practice. The authors also found that dogs were not sensitive to all visual cues of a human's attention in the same way.
In particular, dogs from a home environment rather than a shelter were more sensitive to stimuli predicting attentive humans. Those dogs with less regular exposure to humans performed badly on the begging task.
According to the researchers, "These results suggest that dogs' ability to follow human actions stems from a willingness to accept humans as social companions, combined with conditioning to follow the limbs and actions of humans to acquire reinforcement. The type of attentional cues, the context in which the command is presented, and previous experience are all important."
Interesting2: The hottest summer day you remember from childhood could be the norm in a few decades; in fact it looks like the heat has already been cranked up. "When scientists talk about global warming causing more heat waves, people often ask if that means that the hottest temperatures will become 'the new normal,'" said Noah Diffenbaugh, an assistant professor of environmental Earth system science at Stanford, in a press release.
"That got us thinking —- at what point can we expect the coolest seasonal temperatures to always be hotter than the historically highest temperatures for that season?" wondered Diffenbaugh. Diffenbaugh is lead author of a study to be published later this month in the journal Climate Change.
Stanford research assistant Martin Scherer co-authored the study. "According to our projections, large areas of the globe are likely to warm up so quickly that, by the middle of this century, even the coolest summers will be hotter than the hottest summers of the past 50 years," said Diffenbaugh.
Within the next 20 to 60 years, if greenhouse gas levels continue to rise, summer temperatures are likely to rise irreversibly around the globe, with the tropics feeling the heat first, and parts of Africa, Asia and the Americas suffering unprecedented summer heat within the next two decades, according to Diffenbaugh's study. The middle latitudes, including Europe, China and the United States, will feel the heat within 60 years, they report.
Interesting3: The nation's first tidal energy power plant may take shape in New York’s East River, under a pilot project recommended for approval last month by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC"). In December 2010, Verdant Power applied for a license to install 30 underwater turbines between Roosevelt Island and Queens, which would enable tidal power to be sold over the national electric grid for the first time ever.
Tidal power represents an often-overlooked but growing renewable energy source, more predicable than wind or solar power, but often encumbered by high start-up costs. The strong, fluctuating currents in the East River — which is actually a tidal strait between the New York Harbor and the Long Island Sound — make this water body an ideal location for the generation of tidal energy.
Verdant previously tested six tidal turbines in the proposed project location; they were used to power a Gristedes supermarket and a parking garage on Roosevelt Island. The need for FERC licensing and other federal approvals triggered the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"), requiring an analysis of the project’s significant, adverse environmental impacts. On May 3, FERC released an Environmental Assessment reporting no such impacts, thereby allowing the project to move forward without a more intensive Environmental Impact Statement.
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