Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday:
Lihue, Kauai – 85
Honolulu airport, Oahu – 85
Kaneohe, Oahu – 81
Molokai airport – 86
Kahului airport, Maui – 88 (record for Wednesday – 96 in 1951)
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 Wednesday evening:
Honolulu, Oahu – 84
Hilo, Hawaii – 79
Haleakala Crater – 50 (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 Wednesday evening:
2.71 Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.60 Manoa Lyon Arboretum, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.11 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.06 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.25 Kawainui Stream, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1033 millibar high pressure system far to the northeast of our islands. Our local trade winds will remain active through Friday into the weekend.
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. Here's a tropical cyclone tracking map for the eastern and central Pacific.
Aloha Paragraphs
Trade winds, passing windward showers at times, small
surf…rising modestly on the leeward shores Thursday.
The trade winds will remain moderately strong Thursday, easing up some Friday…then increasing again into the upcoming weekend. Glancing at this weather map, we find a 1033 millibar high pressure system, located far to the north-northeast of our islands Wednesday night. There are no small craft wind advisories anywhere in the state, and none are expected through the next several days…at least.
Our trade winds will remain active…the following numbers represent the strongest gusts (mph), along with directions Wednesday evening:
23 Port Allen, Kauai – ESE
25 Kahuku, Oahu – NE
27 Molokai – NE
32 Kahoolawe – ESE
31 Kahului, Maui – NE
13 Lanai – NE
29 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 Wednesday night. Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we find scattered lower level clouds, which are generally out over the ocean, although stretching over the windward sides of the islands. We can use this looping satellite image to see lower level clouds being carried along in the low level wind flow. It looks like we may have another area high cirrus clouds approaching from the west, although they may shift down to the south…as they get closer to the islands. Checking out this looping radar image we see just a few light showers being carried along in the wind flow, bringing moisture to the windward sides of some of the islands.
Sunset Commentary: The current weather pattern will remain in place through Friday. This includes a continuation of the off and on showers, some of which will be locally heavier, especially as we move into Friday. The winds are still blowing from the east-southeast, although are starting to shift now. These breezes will gradually swing back to the east this evening into Thursday. There continues to be no small craft wind advisories, with none expected for several more days at least.
An upper level low pressure system that got near enough to Kauai, that we saw a small thunderstorm form earlier in the day. A brush with another upper level low pressure system on Friday, with its cold air aloft, will prompt lighter winds…and the chance of increased clouds and showers then…as well as becoming potentially muggy. As we move into the weekend, and on into early next week, our weather should settle back down into a fairly normal trade wind weather pattern again.
Here in Kihei, Maui, at around 530pm HST Wednesday evening, skies were mostly clear in all directions, with the trade winds blowing at a pretty good clip. It's actually a lovely evening, with no showers in sight! It would be a great evening to head to the beach, and jump in the warm ocean. There are only small waves breaking at the moment along our sun drenched leeward beaches. We should see a modest increase in surf size Thursday, although not enough to be a problem. I'm heading back upcountry right now, and will catch up with you again early Thursday morning, I hope you have a great Wednesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: Humans living at high latitude have bigger eyes and bigger brains to cope with poor light during long winters and cloudy days, UK scientists have said. The Oxford University team said bigger brains did not make people smarter. Larger vision processing areas fill the extra capacity, they write in the Royal Society's Biology Letters journal.
The scientists measured the eye sockets and brain volumes of 55 skulls from 12 populations across the world, and plotted the results against latitude. Lead author Eiluned Pearce told BBC News: "We found a positive relationship between absolute latitude and both eye socket size and cranial capacity."
The team, from the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, used skulls dating from the 1800s kept at museums in Oxford and Cambridge. The skulls were from indigenous populations ranging from Scandinavia to Australia, Micronesia and North America. Largest brain cavities
The largest brain cavities came from Scandinavia, while the smallest were from Micronesia. Eiluned Pearce said: "Both the amount of light hitting the Earth's surface and winter day-lengths get shorter as you go further north or south from the equator.
"We found that as light levels decrease, humans are getting bigger eye sockets, which suggests that their eyeballs are getting bigger. "They are also getting bigger brains, because we found this increase in cranial capacity as well. "In the paper, we argue that having bigger brains doesn't mean that high-latitude humans are necessarily smarter.
It's just they need bigger eyes and brains to be able to see well where they live." The work indicates that humans are subject to the same evolutionary trends that give relatively large eyes to birds that sing first during the dawn chorus, or species such as owls that forage at night.
Co-author Prof Robin Dunbar said: "Humans have only lived at high latitudes in Europe and Asia for a few tens of thousands of years, yet they seem to have adapted their visual systems surprisingly rapidly to the cloudy skies, dull weather and long winters we experience at these latitudes."
The team took into account the overall body size of each individual by measuring the foramen magnum – the hole in the base of the skull that attaches to the spinal column. They also controlled for the possibility that the larger eye sockets were needed for extra fat around the eyeball to insulate them from freezing temperatures.
The team intends to do more work on establishing a firm link between eyeball size and enhanced visual processing areas in the brain, and to replicate the link found in the 55 original skulls with further study on specimens from other museums.
Interesting2: The coldest winter in 30 years was recorded across many parts of the US during the 2010-2011 winter. Eastern parts of the US plunged to a record -50F with the Northeast of the US also seeing records broken. Temperatures was also largely below normal averages for New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and Minneapolis.
Snowstorms shattered New York City in December 2010 and January 2011 to become the snowiest January ever recorded. So let’s turn to the US winter of 2011/2012. La Niña cools the equatorial seas of the Pacific and was one of the strongest on record during 2010/2011.
Less warm air rises during La Niña conditions with a cooling influence on the atmosphere that has big implications on global climate and global weather patterns. The changes in global weather patterns come from air pressure changes in atmospheric cycles called the North Atlantic Oscillation (NOA) and Arctic Oscillation (AO).
The latest National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) update suggests neutral conditions ahead, but a negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) may yet suggest otherwise. The PDO is a pattern of Pacific climate variance that recently switched to negative (cold) and will remain that way for the next two to three decades.
It is likely that La Niña will return more frequently during this time period as a negative PDO results in stronger La Niña (cooling) and weaker El Niño (warming) episodes. Low solar activity is also a primary driver of atmospheric cycles that influence blocking activity patterns/ridges.
Our weather models consider all of these factors and are currently showing a particularly harsh winter for many parts of the US during 2011-2012. Large parts of Central and North America will face below average temperatures with above average snowfall throughout this winter, with temperatures in many Eastern and Western parts also showing as below average with above average snowfall amounts.
We expect the Pacific Northwest region to experience a very severe winter and the Cascades snowpack is likely to see increased levels due to the negative (cold) phase of PDO. Our weather models are also showing an increased likelihood for major snow events in Northeastern and Midwestern parts of the US throughout December 2011 and January 2012, that could see severe blizzard conditions hit New York City and Chicago.
With low solar activity levels, the negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and the general trend for a much colder winter after the onset of last year’s La Niña, this winter could prove to be a record breaker with extremely cold temperatures and exceptional levels of snow for many parts of the US.
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