July 10-11 2008


Air Temperatures
The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Thursday: 

Lihue, Kauai – 84
Honolulu, Oahu – 90
Kaneohe, Oahu – 84
Kahului, Maui – 87

Hilo, Hawaii – 87
Kailua-kona – 85

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon:

Honolulu, Oahu – 88F  
Molokai airport 82

Precipitation Totals
The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of
Thursday afternoon:

0.72  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.25 Makaha Stream, Oahu
0.84 Molokai
1.87 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.35 Puu Kukui, Maui

1.83 Waikii, Big Island


Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated)
weather map showing high pressure systems located far to the north and northeast of the islands. These high pressure cells, along with their associated ridges, will bump our trade winds up in strength into Saturday. Look for moderately strong northeast trades in most areas. Here’s a link to the NOAA weather school.

Satellite and Radar Images:
To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with the
Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around the state 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. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean. 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 webcam on the summit of near 14,000 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 webcams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon weather conditions.

Aloha Paragraphs


http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1040/1139358879_d8f55a2066.jpg?v=0
A perfect beach on Maui…Kapalua this time
Photo Credit: Flickr.com







The light northeast trade winds will increase in strength a little now, then increase a bit more Friday…only to calm down again some Sunday and Monday. The latest weather map shows a 1028 high pressure system located far to the northeast of Hawaii Thursday evening. The computer models are suggesting that by next week, our trade winds will increase in strength, into the moderate levels starting next Tuesday or Wednesday…lasting through the remainder of the week.

Generally light showers will fall locally along the windward sides at night, while afternoon showers will occur over the leeward areas locally. As the trade winds surge some Friday into Saturday, the chances for those afternoon showers along the leeward sides will diminish, with the bias for showers shifting back to the windward sides then. As the trade winds diminish again Sunday and Monday…the showers will work their way back over to the leeward sides again.



~~~  Low pressure systems in the north Pacific Ocean during the late spring, even into our summer season…have taken unusually southern courses in their tracks. This has kept our local trade winds lighter than normal, and even taken them completely away at times. This constant faltering of our trade wind flow, isn’t what we would expect typically, at least compared to our climatological norm. We would look for a more or less steady trade wind flow from May right through the summer months, during a so called normal year.

~~~ The current weather pattern is another good example of the off kilter conditions of this unusual year. Our trade winds, which usually come in from the east, have taken on a more northeast orientation. Winds from this direction can often be lighter than normal, although in some parts of the state, they can accelerate through valleys, and be quite strong locally. At any rate, our winds are coming in from a different direction than usual for the summer. They will remain light to moderately strong Thursday, but then kick up their heels a bit more Friday into Saturday.

~~~ It’s early Thursday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I begin updating this last paragraph of today’s narrative. The big question today was whether those leeward showers would pop up later in the day. As it turned out, they didn’t flair up nearly as much as they had the last couple of afternoons. The trade winds become a little stronger than expected, which helped to limit the vertical growth of the afternoon cumulus clouds…and thus the resulting showers. There were however some thick clouds that formed over southwest Maui, down to the south of Wailea and Makena. Radar showed the showers extending out over the ocean towards Kahoolawe. The rest of the state saw less clouds and showers, with many areas having considerable sunshine during the day. The trade winds are expected to increase another notch Friday and Saturday, so that those afternoon clouds and showers that occurred over the leeward sides recently…will migrate back over to the windward sides for the most part. I’ll be back very early Friday morning with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Thursday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.





Interesting:   Heavy rain fell on many parts of Mexico during the early and middle stages of this week. Some of the heaviest cloudbursts broke along the nation’s Pacific coast. In southernmost Oaxaca state, for example, 12.4 inches of rain poured down upon the town of Puerto Angel



from Sunday morning to Thursday morning.

Searing heat burned



Algeria‘s Sahara this week. At El Oued-Guemar, for instance, consecutive highs of 118, 119 and 118 degrees F were registered Monday through Wednesday, and the temperature soared to at least 118F again on Thursday. Biskra soared to 115 degrees F Monday, 117F Tuesday, 119 F Wednesday and at least 117 F on Thursday.





Interesting2: A cold snap has affected parts of southern Australia with temperatures plummeting close to zero and snow falling in places. Strong and bitterly cold gale force winds have also swept across Victoria and New South Wales, with snowfalls across Glen Innes in the north of NSW.

Average temperatures across the state of Victoria at this time of year are usually between 6 and 13C (43 to 55F) but recently temperatures have dropped to nearer 2C (36F) in many places, with snowfall across the Australian Alps. The Bureau of Meteorology warned motorists travelling to Barrington Tops to take care in the adverse weather conditions.

A complex low pressure system off Tasmania pulled up much colder air from the south and interacted with a strong high pressure system over Australia. Winds around the low became strong and gusty and sent a series of cold fronts up across southern Australia bringing bands of rain, with snow and blizzard conditions across the mountains.

Farmers were rejoicing as much needed rain fell earlier this week. Vast parts of Australia have been suffering from one of the worst droughts in living memory. The joy, however, may be short-lived as the low pressure system responsible for the recent rain and snow slips away, only to be replaced by high pressure. This high is expected to bring fine, dry and settled conditi



ons.


















 
























Interesting3: Ever since the rise of the automobile in the 1950s, the American Dream has featured a home in the suburbs and two cars in the garage. Now the iconic white picket fence comes with a hefty price tag in the form of the cost of the gasoline needed to drive to work and to the supermarket, and the suburban idyll is under review. In different parts of the United States, there are signs of change. While home prices in the suburbs have crashed, apartments in city centers are in demand. Home builders across the country are frantically trying to unload land they had intended for new subdivisions. And planners are rethinking how they can meet demand for housing. One such place is Stapleton, on the site of what used to be Denver's airport. Its developer, real estate company ForestCity, puts homes within walking distance of schools and stores while linking them to the workplace by public transportation. Resident Evelyn Baker says Stapleton appeals to a "cheapskate" side of her nature that favors towing her offspring about in a trailer attached to her bike over paying for gas for her car.

"We're a family of four with two young kids and the obligatory yellow Lab, but we've managed to get by with one car," said Baker, who has lived here since April 2006. And, with gas prices above $4 a gallon, Baker said her move to Stapleton feels like a smart decision both because of lower day-to-day costs and the durability of her home's value. "I do feel like my house is retaining its value, and I'm really excited about that," Baker said. In the suburb of Maricopa, about an hour's drive outside Phoenix, residents have a very different feeling. Built on former corn and cotton fields, the suburb has grown to number 38,000 people from about 1,500 in 2002, accommodating people who were willing to accept longer commutes in order to get homes at cheaper prices.




















Interesting4: Scientists have announced the discovery of reef structures they believe doubles the size of the Southern Atlantic Ocean's largest and richest reef system, the Abrolhos Bank, off the southern coast of Brazil's Bahia state. The newly discovered area is also far more abundant in marine life than the previously known Abrolhos reef system, one of the world's most unique and important reefs. Researchers from Conservation International (CI), Federal University of Esprito Santo and Federal University of Bahia announced their discovery in a paper presented today at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale. "We had some clues from local fishermen that other reefs existed, but not at the scale of what we discovered," says Rodrigo de Moura, Conservation International Brazil marine specialist and co-author of the paper. "It is very exciting and highly unusual to discover a reef structure this large and harboring such an abundance of fish," he adds.




















































 

Interesting5: Water has been found conclusively for the first time inside ancient moon samples brought back by Apollo astronauts. The discovery may force scientists to rethink the lunar past and future, although uncertainty remains about how much water exists and whether future explorers could extract it. The water was found inside volcanic glass beads, which represent solidified magma from the early moon's interior. The news swept through much of the scientific community even before being detailed in the journal Nature this week. "This really appears to have changed the rules of the game," said Robin Canup, astrophysicist and director of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., who was not part of the team that made the discovery. "The assumption has been that the moon is dry."








Interesting6: A new, compact way to collect sunlight from windows and focus it to generate more electricity could make those multiple expensive rooftop solar panels a thing of the past. The solar panels that cover the tops of some buildings today contain photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into electricity. Unlike burning coal, collecting and converting solar energy releases no greenhouse gases, which warm the atmosphere. Limited efficiency and high construction costs have kept solar from producing more than about 0.07 percent of U.S. energy needs in 2007, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Energy. Solar concentrators can be used to increase the electrical power obtained from the photovoltaic cells. But most concentrators in use today "track the sun to generate high optical intensities, often by using large mobile mirrors that are expensive to deploy and maintain," said MIT's Marc A.

Baldo, who led the team that created the new type of solar concentrator. Instead of covering a large area with solar cells, the new method only requires locating cells around the edges of a flat glass panel. The MIT solar concentrator involves a mixture of two or more dyes painted onto a pane of glass or plastic. The dyes absorb light across a range of wavelengths, reemit it at a different wavelength and transport it across the pane to the solar cells at the edges. "Light is collected over a large area [like a window] and gathered, or concentrated, at the edges," Baldo said. Focusing the light like this increases the electrical power generated by each solar cell "by a factor of 40," he added. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.