Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs

A very relaxed beach scene…on the south shore of Maui

The trade winds will start a gradual tapering off in speed through the rest of the week. We’ll see moderately strong trade winds blowing across the entire state, although those windiest areas will find stronger and gustier conditions. A small craft wind advisory covers all the windward areas, plus the major channels between the islands. The computer forecast models show that the trade winds will continue through the rest of the week…into early next week.

As usual, under the influence of a trade wind weather pattern such as this, there will be a few showers falling along the windward sides…although not many now. The leeward sides will remain on the dry side as well, although the fast paced trade winds may carry a few stray showers over into those areas on the smaller islands. Computer models suggest that perhaps later this weekend, into next week, we may see increasing windward biased showers arriving.

Meanwhile, the south facing leeward beaches will continue to see medium surf breaking. This surf was generated more than a week ago, down near New Zealand, in the southern hemisphere. This surf is large enough, that the high surf advisory has been continued into Thursday. These waves will gradually lower through the rest of the week. Those folks heading to our resort filled leeward beaches, should use caution when going into the ocean.

It’s Thursday evening as I begin writing this last section of today’s narrative. The high clouds thinned in some parts of the island chain Wednesday, especially around the Big Island and Maui. The trade winds stayed on the gusty side of the wind spectrum, with some gusts surpassing the 40 mph mark in places. Thursday should show further clearing of the high clouds, and the start of a slightly lighter trade wind flow…although definitely remaing active. ~~~ We may find some changes occurring right after this coming weekend, as an upper level trough of low pressure moves into the area west of Hawaii, which could start a rather wet period along the windward sides. This would be good news, as we need to see some more wet trade wind weather, before we move into our dry summer season. ~~~ I’ll be back later in the day with more weather updates and details, and with a couple of new interesting news items later this morning as well. I hope you have a great Wednesday wherever you happen to be spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Climate change is having a greater and faster impact on the Arctic than previously thought, according to a new study by the global conservation organization WWF.  The new report, called Arctic Climate Impact Science — An Update Since ACIA, represents the most wide-ranging reviews of arctic climate impact science since the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) was published in 2005.  The new study found that change was occurring in all arctic systems, impacting on the atmosphere and oceans, sea ice and ice sheets, snow and permafrost, as well as species and populations, food webs, ecosystems and human societies.  Melting of arctic sea ice and the Greenland Ice Sheet was found to be severely accelerated, now even prompting the expert scientists to discuss whether both may be close to their “tipping point” (the point where, because of climate change, natural systems may experience sudden, rapid and possibly irreversible change). “The magnitude of the physical and ecological changes in the Arctic creates an unprecedented challenge for governments, the corporate sector, community leaders and conservationists to create the conditions under which arctic natural systems have the best chance to adapt,” said Dr Martin Sommerkorn, one of the report’s authors and Senior Climate Change Adviser at WWF International’s Arctic Programme.  “The debate can no longer focus only on creating protected areas and allowing arctic ecosystems to find their balance.”

Interesting2: Marine scientists studying the carcass of a rare colossal squid said Wednesday they had measured its eye at about 11 inches across — bigger than a dinner plate — making it the largest animal eye on Earth. One of the squid’s two eyes, with a lens as big as an orange, was found intact as the scientists examined the creature while it was slowly defrosted at New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa. It has been preserved there since being caught in the RossSea off Antarctica‘s northern coast last year. “This is the only intact eye (of a colossal squid) that’s ever been found. It’s spectacular,” said Auckland University of Technology squid specialist Kat Bolstad, one of a team of international scientists brought in to examine the creature. “It’s the largest known eye in the animal kingdom,” Bolstad told The Associated Press. The squid is the biggest specimen ever caught of the rare and mysterious deep-water species Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, or colossal squid. When caught, it measured 26 feet long and weighed about 1,000 pounds, but scientists believe the species may grow as long as 46 feet.

Interesting3: Bison could make a big comeback all across North America over the next 100 years, a conservation group said today. Bison once numbered in the tens of millions across the continent, but these icons of the American West were wiped out by commercial hunting and habitat loss. By 1889, fewer than 1,100 individuals remained. 1n 1905, the American Bison Society formed at the current Bronx Zoo headquarters of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and began efforts to repopulate reserves on the Great Plains with animals from the zoo’s herd and other sources. Of the estimated 500,000 bison that exist today, only 20,000 are considered wild; the rest live on private ranches. "One hundred years ago, through our efforts and the efforts of others, the bison was saved from extinction," said WCS President and CEO Steven E. Sanderson. "We are now looking 100 years from now, because we believe there is an ecological future for the bison in the North American landscape."

Interesting4: Magician David Blaine set a new world record Wednesday for breath-holding: 17 minutes and 4 seconds. The feat was broadcast live during “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and the studio audience cheered as divers pulled Blaine from a water-filled sphere. He looked relaxed afterward and said the record was “a lifelong dream.” The previous record was 16 minutes and 32 seconds, set Feb. 10 by Switzerland‘s Peter Colat, according to Guinness World Records. Before he entered the sphere, Blaine inhaled pure oxygen through a mask to saturate his blood with oxygen and flush out carbon dioxide. Guinness says up to 30 minutes of so-called “oxygen hyperventilation” is allowed under their guidelines. Blaine took on a Zen-like appearance in the water tank as the minutes ticked, but Winfrey was anything but calm. She fidgeted in her chair, pursed her lips, placed her head in her hands, and kept seeking reassurance from the doctor at her side about the 35-year-old magician’s persistently high heart rate. “I’ll be glad when it’s over. I don’t like suspense,” she told the audience during a commercial break.