Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs

Aloha Paragraphs

The end of yet another great day in the islands

The trade winds will continue blowing across the tropical latitudes of the Hawaiian Islands. We’ll see light to moderately strong trade winds blowing in general. The computer forecast models show that the trade winds will continue in the light to moderately strong range through Tuesday, then begin to increase a notch or two Wednesday through the rest of the week. There are no small craft wind advisories active in Hawaii’s coastal or channel waters at the moment, but will likely be needed during the second half of the new week.

The windward sides of the islands, and also over and around the mountains, will be a little wetter than they have been recently. The overlying atmosphere has become less stable, and more shower prone. An upper level low will cause our inversion to rise, allowing clouds to attain great heights. The leeward beaches will be generally quite dry however, although a few showers may fall locally. As we get into the middle of the week, there will be a decrease in shower activity through the end of the week.

It’s Monday evening as I begin writing this last section of today’s narrative.  As noted above, the trade winds will be a little softer now, while the windward sides, and around the mountains, will become a bit wetter. Neither of these two changes will be all that noticeable. As this looping satellite image shows, there is an area of high clouds to the west of the state, which are spreading over the islands now. These cirrus clouds don’t look too thick however, and will have probably cleared most of the state by Tuesday morning.

~~~ The high cirrus clouds muted our Hawaiian sunshine Monday, although they never got so thick that it became a cloudy day…that is until late in the afternoon hours. If they stay thin, we may find a colorful sunset, atlhough one never knows just spectacular it will be until it actually starts to happen. I’ll be sitting out on my weather deck in Kula, Maui, watching, and enjoying the show…color or not. I’m hoping that when I get home I’ve have computer connectivity, in contrast to this morning, when I didn’t. I’m hoping to have your next new weather narrative available for your viewing around 530am Tuesday morning Hawaii Standar Time. If it doesn’t appear then, you’ll know that I’ll be down at the Maui Community College creating it, and if so, if should be available by 7am HST. I hope you have a great Monday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Australia needs several years of above average rain to end a drought that has devastated crops in three of the last six years, according to the latest report by the Bureau of Meteorology. The bureau said in its monthly drought statement on Monday that despite recent heavy rains over eastern Australia’s main cropping lands, the drought was far from over, and had intensified in the outback. "Several years of above average rainfall are required to remove the very long-term (water) deficits," said the bureau. "The combination of record heat and widespread drought during the past five to 10 years over large parts of southern and eastern Australia is without historical precedent and is, at least partly, a result of climate change." Australia‘s drought began to ease in late 2007 and in the first two months of 2008, leading private and government forecasters to predict a record or near-record wheat crop of 26-27 million tonnes in 2008/09, up from 13 million tonnes the year before. However, dry weather has returned in the past two months. Western Australian wheat growers have received enough rain to begin to plant their next crop, but farmers in eastern growing areas are still waiting for planting rain.

Interesting2: Fungi may have an important role to play in the fate of potentially dangerous depleted uranium left in the environment after recent war campaigns, according to a new report in the May 6th issue of Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press.  The researchers found evidence that fungi can “lock” depleted uranium into a mineral form that may be less likely to find its way into plants, animals, or the water supply.  “This work provides yet another example of the incredible properties of microorganisms in effecting transformations of metals and minerals in the natural environment,” said Geoffrey Gadd of the University of Dundee in Scotland. “Because fungi are perfectly suited as biogeochemical agents, often dominate the biota in polluted soils, and play a major role in the establishment and survival of plants through their association with roots, fungal-based approaches should not be neglected in remediation attempts for metal-polluted soils.”

Interesting3: Although shoppers have generally accepted that eating organic foods will be more costly, a recent and rapid rise in prices may force some consumers to alter their eating habits.  Food prices have been rising for several months now, and at first, organic prices stayed steady. But organic foods are catching up – and then some. A gallon of organic milk, for example, is now nearing $7.  College sophomore and president of FarmEcology, Maura Goldstein says she has not changed her buying habits when it comes to organic foods – which are produced without pesticides and chemical fertilizers – but eating out organically has become a concern.  "I try to cook at home more since rising food prices are magnified when you eat out," she wrote in an e-mail.  High prices are likely to affect many, as 39 percent of the U.S. population consumes some form of organic food, according to the Organic Trade Association.  For Penn students, there hasn’t been a large rise in prices at local stores thus far.  Fresh Grocer spokesman Jeff Beaky said the grocery store has not yet seen a significant change in prices of organic foods in comparison to inorganic foods. "Prices for everything went up, so if you compare it to some other products, customers don’t necessarily notice too much," Beaky said. 

Interesting 4: With U.S. gasoline prices edging toward the recently unimaginable price of $4 a gallon, consumers are beginning to drive less and energy efficiency is again a hot topic. But the pain caused by high oil prices is nothing like what looms as an even more basic and essential natural commodity — water — faces dwindling supplies and growing demand. As essential as it is taken for granted, water is The Next Oil.  It’s one thing not to be able to afford gas for the family car. People may be inconvenienced and face budget challenges, but few have to drive to survive. But water is absolutely critical for personal and public health, which is why governments have always subsidized its cost. Consumers directly pay only a fraction of the real cost of the clean drinking water that comes out of their faucets. Indeed, water is so plentiful and its delivery and quality so automatic that most people in the developed world feel as though it is free. The enormous expense of building, maintaining and operating water systems is often as invisible as H2O itself.