Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs

Aloha Paragraphs

  Occasional light showers…
Photo Credit: Flickr.com

The trade winds are getting softer now, which will become even lighter this weekend. The winds will get light enough soon, that our overlying atmosphere is going to be feeling rather sultry, if not down right muggy over the next 4-5 days.  The computer models are strengthening our local trade winds again by the middle of next week…developing back into the light to moderately strong range then. 

The trade winds may bring a few light showers to the windward sides, and then a few during the afternoon hours…all on the light side however. The majority of whatever passing showers that arrive, will end up along the windward sides for the time being, although as the winds get lighter…we will see afternoon convective showers over the leeward sides locally too.

As this looping satellite image shows, we have an area of high cirrus clouds moving by to the south. At the same time, we see an new area moving southward towards us from the north as well. Those cirrus clouds are showing up as bright and white, carried along in the upper winds aloft. 

Pressure patterns in the central Pacific are shifting around some now, with the net result being lighter trade winds through the beginning of the new week ahead. We still have a high pressure ridge to our north, which is the source of our local winds now. This ridge will be migrating southward now, which is why our winds will be getting softer, especially later this weekend into Monday. This time of year, when the trade winds falter like this, we find ourselves in an increasingly muggy environment.

As these sultry conditions develop, we’ll see the bias for showers shifting away from the windward sides…moving over to the upcountry inland areas. We call this shift from a trade wind weather pattern – a convective weather pattern. The most common time for showers under such a regime, would be during the afternoon hours, into the early evenings. If the dynamics were different, we would expect localized heavy showers, but this time around, that won’t be the case.  

By the way, the second tropical cyclone of the season, in the eastern Pacific has spun up…called tropical storm Boris. It is heading more or less straight westward, which isn’t expected to reach hurricane force.  Meanwhile, another system, to the left of the main storm, has developed, called 3E, which is forecast to become tropical storm Cristina soon. Here’s a storm tracking map, showing this newly developed storm in relation to the Hawaiian Islands. Here’s a picture of the storms from satellite. Neither of these early season storms pose any threat to the Hawaiian Islands at this time.  
 
~~~  We’ll here we are at the end of yet another work week. These days it seems that we rarely have just a normal period of weather, at least not many lately. There always seems to be something going on that qualifies it for the unusual category. I’m about ready to leave Kihei, Maui, heading over to Kahului, to see a new film. This time its called Wanted (2008), starring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, among others. This is a faced paced, crackling thrill ride of a film, full of special effects, and lots of killing. Sorry, I’m sure many of you wonder what I find so fascinating with these kinds of films? What can I say for myself? I have no excuse, am guilty as charged…it’s just that I’m very drawn to seeing these kinds of explosive films for some reason. If you can handle it, here’s a trailer for this film, which is most assuredly not for everyone out there! I’ll be back early Saturday morning with your next new weather narrative, and more than likely, raving about how much I liked this film! I hope you have a great Friday night wherever you happen to be spending it. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting:  Martian soil appears to contain sufficient nutrients to support life – or, at least, asparagus – Nasa scientists believe. Preliminary analysis by the Phoenix Mars Lander mission on the planet’s soil found it to be much more alkaline than expected. Scientists working on the spacecraft project said they were "flabbergasted" by the discovery. The find has raised hopes conditions on Mars may be favourable for life. "We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the nutrients, to support life, whether past, present or future," said Sam Kounaves, the project’s lead chemist, from the University of Arizona. Although he said further tests would have to be conducted, Mr Kounaves said the soil seemed "very friendly… there is nothing about it that is toxic," he said.

It is the type of soil you would probably have in your back yard – you know, alkaline. You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well." As well as being far less acidic than anticipated, the soil was also found to contain traces of magnesium, sodium, potassium and other elements. "We were all flabbergasted at the data we got back," said Mr Kounaves. "It is very exciting for us." The analysis is based on a cubic centimetre of soil scooped from 2.5cm (one inch) below Mars’ surface by the lander’s robotic arm.

Interesting2:  The North Pole may be briefly ice-free by September as global warming melts away Arctic sea ice, according to scientists from the National Snow and IceDataCenter in Boulder, Colorado.  "We kind of have an informal betting pool going around in our center and that betting pool is ‘does the North Pole melt out this summer?’ and it may well," said the center’s senior research scientist, Mark Serreze. It’s a 50-50 bet that the thin Arctic sea ice, which was frozen in autumn, will completely melt away at the geographic North Pole, Serreze said. The ice retreated to a record level in September when the Northwest Passage, the sea route through the Arctic Ocean, opened briefly for the first time in recorded history. "What we’ve seen through the past few decades is the Arctic sea ice cover is becoming thinner and thinner as the system warms up," Serreze said. Specific weather patterns will determine whether the North Pole’s ice cover melts completely this summer, he said.  "Last year, we had sort of a perfect weather pattern to get rid of ice to open up that Northwest Passage," Serreze said. "This year, a different pattern can set up. so maybe we’ll preserve some ice there. We’re in a wait-and-see mode right now. We’ll see what happens."

The brief lack of ice at the top of the globe will not bring any immediate consequences, he said. "From the viewpoint of the science, the North Pole is just another point in the globe, but it does have this symbolic meaning," Serreze said. "There’s supposed to be ice at the North Pole. The fact that we may not have any by the end of this summer could be quite a symbolic change." Serreze said it’s "just another indicator of the disappearing Arctic sea ice cover" but that it is happening so soon is "just astounding to me." "Five years ago, to think that we’d even be talking about the possibility of the North Pole melting out in the summer, I would have never thought it," he said. The melting, however, has been long seen as inevitable, he said. "If you talked to me or other scientists just a few years ago, we were saying that we might lose all or most of the summer sea ice cover by anywhere from 2050 to 2100," Serreze said. "Then, recently, we kind of revised those estimates, maybe as early as 2030. Now, there’s people out there saying it might be even before that. So, things are happening pretty quick up there."

Interesting3: Food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved, farmers and businessmen told lawmakers Thursday.  "No bees, no crops," North Carolina grower Robert D. Edwards told a House Agriculture subcommittee. Edwards said he had to cut his cucumber acreage in half because of the lack of bees available to rent.  About three-quarters of flowering plants rely on birds, bees and other pollinators to help them reproduce. Bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion annually in crop value.  In 2006, beekeepers began reporting losing 30 percent to 90 percent of their hives. This phenomenon has become known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Scientists do not know how many bees have died; beekeepers have lost 36 percent of their managed colonies this year.

It was 31 percent for 2007, said Edward B. Knipling, administrator of the Agriculture Department’s Agricultural Research Service. "If there are no bees, there is no way for our nation’s farmers to continue to grow the high quality, nutritious foods our country relies on," said Democratic Rep. Dennis Cardoza of California, chairman of the horticulture and organic agriculture panel. "This is a crisis we cannot afford to ignore."  Food prices have gone up 83 percent in three years, according to the World Bank.  Edward R. Flanagan, who raises blueberries in Milbridge, Maine, said he could be forced to increase prices tenfold or go out of business without the beekeeping industry. "Every one of those berries owes its existence to the crazy, neurotic dancing of a honey bee from flower to flower," he said.