Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha paragraphs / January 7-8, 2012

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

Lihue, Kauai –                    79
Honolulu airport, Oahu –      79  
Kaneohe, Oahu –                78
Molokai airport –                 80
Kahului airport, Maui –            82  (Highest temperature for this date was 87 – in 1955)
Kona airport –                    80
Hilo airport, Hawaii –          80   

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops… as of 5pm Saturday evening:

Port Allen, Kauai – 79
Molokai airport – 73

 Haleakala Crater –  46 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea –         34 (near 13,800 feet on the Big Island)

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 foot  Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. This web cam is 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. Here's the Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui…which is working only sometimes lately.

 

 Aloha Paragraphs

Trade winds, generally dry weather…
Tropicbird
 

As this weather map shows a near 1030 millibar high pressure system far to the northeast. The location of this high pressure cell, and its associated ridge to our north through west-northwest will keep light to moderately strong trade winds blowing, which will prevail into the next week…some days stronger than others.

The following numbers represent the strongest wind gusts (mph), along with directions Saturday evening:

17                 Port Allen, Kauai – ESE
15                 Kahuku, Oahu – ENE
07                 Molokai – NE  
M                  Kahoolawe
18                    Lipoa, Maui – ENE
05                 Lanai
18                    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 Saturday evening.  Looking at this NOAA satellite picture we see low level clouds out over the ocean to the northeast and east of Maui and the Big island at the time of this writing. We can use this looping satellite image to see high clouds well offshore to the northwest through north of the islands. At the same time we see an area of thunderstorms being generated well to the southeast and east of the Big Island. Checking out this looping radar image we see just a few showers over the ocean, mostly moving by in the trade wind flow to the southeast of the Big Island.

Here are the 24-hour precipitation totals (inches) for each of the islands as of Saturday evening:

0.04                 Lihue, Kauai
0.00               Oahu
0.00               Molokai
0.00               Lanai
0.00               Kahoolawe
0.00               Maui
0.00               Big Island

Sunset Commentary:   A near 1030 millibar high pressure system remains parked far to the northeast of the Hawaiian Islands Saturday night. It has a trailing ridge extending southwest and then west, to the north of Hawaii. This ridge runs all the way over across the International Dateline into the western Pacific. This high pressure cells ridge has been pushed closer to Kauai now, by a cold front that's passing by to the north. A series of low pressure systems to our northwest, as shown on this weather map, will migrate northeast into the Gulf of Alaska. This frontal cloud band has helped to tamp down our trade wind speeds a little. As this front moves by, our trade winds will bump-up Monday through the first half of the new week ahead. A cold front may come through the state later Thursday into Friday, with cooler trade winds flooding in behind it later Friday into next weekend.

Satellite imagery shows quite a few low clouds to the northeast and east of Maui County and the Big Island, although according to radar, there's hardly any of these that are dropping showers. The state is generally dry, with just a very few windward showers expected here and there locally at times. The trade winds are blowing now, as mentioned above, although the overlying atmosphere will remain very dry and stable. This in turn will limit showers greatly, and as a matter of fact, will keep us in this dry period. The next chance for rainfall will have to wait until later in the new week, when a frontal cloud band moves into the state around Thursday into Friday. There remains uncertainty around what exactly will happen then, although that is the first sign of some sort of possible increase in more generous showers. 

Have you been noticing the nearing full moon the last couple of nights?  It reaches its fullest extent Sunday night at 930pm here in Hawaii. This first full Moon of 2012 highlights the opposition between the Sun in Capricorn and the Moon in Cancer, and speaks to the nurturing, creating and protecting aspects of life and society.  It brings up the archetypal powers of mother and father, the issues of nurturing and protecting, and impacts our emotional body as well as our social body. The energies of family and state begin our new year, the structures that bind us together. It will look almost totally full tonight, and will keep lots of light beaming down!

Some things never change, just the way I like it. So, Friday evening I headed down the mountain to Kahului to see one of the many new films that are showing. The one that I chose this time is My Week With Marilyn, starring Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Emma Watson, Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench…among many others. The synopsis: Sir Laurence Olivier is making a movie in London. Young Colin Clark, an eager film student, wants to be involved and he navigates himself a job on the set. When film star Marilyn Monroe arrives for the start of shooting, all of London is excited to see the blonde bombshell, while Olivier is struggling to meet her many demands and acting ineptness, and Colin is intrigued by her. Colin's intrigue is met when Marilyn invites him into her inner world where she struggles with her fame, her beauty and her desire to be a great actress. Who doesn't love Marilyn Monroe, although all I know about her for the most part is from looking at the millions of photo's that were taken of her. The film is getting an A- grade on the Yahoo movies website, while rotten tomatoes is giving it a high 83% rating. This was amply enough praise to draw me into the theater, and I liked how the trailer looked too. I ended up liking the film, but not totally loving it. The first thing that I sort of had to get through was that she wasn't the real Marilyn that I was familiar with. I thought Michelle Williams did a great job, and more or less looked like Marilyn. I enjoyed the relationship that transpired between the young Colin, as he fell steadily deeper in love with Marilyn. Actually, everywhere Marilyn went, everyone, man, woman and child was taken by her, and found themselves moved by her beauty. The film took me to that place that wasn't Glenn sitting there watching the film in the theater, enough so that I came away thoroughly entertained. I will give this film either a very firm B grade, although at times edged up into the B+ range. I was very happy to have taken the time to see it, no doubt about it.

Here in Kula, Maui at around 545pm HST, it was partly cloudy…with an air temperature of 62.6F degrees. The winds today were somewhat lighter than the last few days, as expected. This left the windward sides to be mostly clear, while clouds formed around the mountains, especially on Maui. These clouds didn't drop any rainfall, but made for less of a sunny day than we saw the last few days. As a matter of fact, almost every rain gauge in the entire state remained dry today! ~~~ I took a nice long walk this morning, and then took the drive down to Paia for my weekly shopping trip to the health food store. I came back and did a few things around here, and will have dinner soon. I have plans to visit a friend down in lower Kula a bit later, and am taking a bottle of bubbly with me. This friend and I enjoy listening to music, talking, and sipping on champagne, or at least we have been lately. I'll be back in the morning with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Saturday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Extra:  Youtube music video…It's a Beautiful Day – White Bird

Interesting:  A rapid rise in air pollution from fossil fuels and biomass burning has worsened winter smog and extended its duration in many parts of South Asia, scientists and officials have said. In Bangladesh, India and Nepal the temperature has plummeted and clouds of fog and smoke hang in the sky blocking sunlight for several days. Normal lives have been affected with many flights diverted and suspended and trains delayed because of low visibility.

Experts say they have noticed that the intensity of smog has grown in the Indo-Gangetic plains in the last few years, leading to increased impacts. "Since 1990 onwards, there has been increase in the number of [smog-affected] days in northern India," says BP Yadav, director of the Indian Meteorological Department. "It is not a linear trend showing an increase every year.

There are, of course, year-to-year fluctuations. "But there are more years that have seen dense fogs." Nepal's Department of Hydrology and Meteorology director-general Keshav Prasad Sharma agrees the issue of smog is becoming increasingly serious in the plains in southern Nepal bordering India.

"Until 10 years ago, we did not have such dense fog for long durations like we have these days," he says. "Although the 10-year period is too short for statistical trends, it is indeed being seen as a major issue now."

Continue reading the main story “Start Quote At times, all means of transport come to a complete halt because of zero visibility ” Iqbal Habib, Bangladesh Environment Movement Some are also investigating whether the conditions can be linked to health problems in parts of the region. Although widely reported as the direct effect of a cold wave, medical professionals say deaths and illnesses are often related to respiratory diseases.

"None of our patients died of hypothermia," says senior consultant physician Gaurang Mishra of a regional referral hospital in south-eastern Nepal where dozens of people have been reported to have died during the last three weeks that saw many smoggy days.

"They mostly suffer from chronic pulmonary obstructive disease that is caused by burning of wood and cow-dung cake and pollution from industries and vehicles, mainly during winter season." The number of such patients, particularly children and elderly people, is also in the rise in Bangladesh.

"But it is not just about people's health in our country," says Iqbal Habib of the Bangladesh Environment Movement (BAPA). "At times, all means of transport come to a complete halt because of zero visibility and all walks of lives are affected. "The working hours come down to as little as four hours a day."

Experts say besides regular sources like vehicles, industrial factories, power plants and dust from gravelled roads, air pollution in some areas in Bangladesh is getting worse because of fast increasing numbers of brick kilns. Some studies have shown that they account for around 40% of air pollution in and around the capital Dhaka.

"Since we have a sustainable economic growth rate, we need more bricks and the number of brick kilns is going up day by day," admits Monowar Islam, director general of Bangladesh's Department of Environment. "We know the situation is becoming serious but it is not alarming.

"We have been demolishing unauthorised brick kilns and have been implementing the World Bank-supported clean air and sustainable environment project through which we patronise new technologies that reduce air pollution." Just like in Bangladesh, India also sees lots of constructions during winter as this is the dry season before the region gets monsoon rainfall preventing such works.

"Construction works too are major contributors for the smog in this season as they lead to more pollution in the air," says the Indian Meteorological Department's BP Yadav. That is in addition to pollutants from energy sources. Energy demand In its World Energy Outlook 2010, the International Energy Agency said: "India is the second-largest contributor to the increase in global energy demand to 2035, accounting for 18% of the rise."

Scientists say pollutants and aerosols in the air enhance condensation of water in the atmosphere causing dense smog. "The more pollutants in the air, the denser the smog," says Keshav Prasad Sharma at Nepal's Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. "In some Nepal-India bordering areas, smog blankets can be seen from early evening."

When such blankets of smog block sunlight, sending temperatures down, people make fire from wood, cow-dung cake and hay to warm themselves and that creates more air pollution which leads to denser smog. Scientists say the real trouble is that smog during winter cannot escape to the upper atmosphere as it can during other seasons, because of meteorological conditions.

"During winter, the cold air that blows towards the southwest from the northeast tends to push the boundary layer (the layer of atmosphere closest to the Earth surface) low," William Lau, deputy director for atmospheres at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center told BBC News.

"As a result, all the pollutants get trapped in the boundary layer that is pushed down to as low as one kilometre from the Earth's surface while it is more than five kilometres away during other seasons. "The cold wave becomes severe because of this local trapping of the aerosols and other pollution that block off the solar radiation and create very unhealthy air in this part of the world."