Hawaiian Islands Weather details & Aloha Paragraphs / September 25-26, 2013

Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures (F) were recorded across the state of Hawaii Wednesday:

85  Lihue, Kauai
84  Honolulu, Oahu
84  Molokai
88  Kahului, Maui
86  Kona, Hawaii
86  Hilo, Hawaii

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops on Maui and the Big Island…as of  810pm Wednesday evening:

Lihue, Kauai – 79
Hana, Maui – 72

Haleakala Summit –   45 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea Summit – 37 (13,000+ 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 – if it’s working.

Aloha Paragraphs

Our trade winds will remain active…with off and on passing
windward showers, some elsewhere – locally heavy

The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions as of Wednesday evening:

29  Waimea Heights, Kauai – NE
30  Kuaokala, Oahu – NE
27  Molokai – NE
30  Lanai – NE
27  Kahoolawe – NE
23  Lipoa, Maui – SE
32  Kamuela airport, Big Island – NE

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

1.36  Mount Waialeale, Kauai
1.16  Moanalua RG, Oahu
0.19  Molokai
0.00  Kahoolawe
0.00  Lanai
0.53  Hana airport, Maui
1.41  Puho CS, Big Island

We can use the following links to see what’s going on in our area of the north central Pacific Ocean. Here’s the latest NOAA satellite picture – the latest looping satellite image… and finally the latest looping radar image for the Hawaiian Islands.

~~~ Hawaii Weather Narrative ~~~

The trade winds be moderately strong for the most part…lasting through the second half of the week at least. Here’s a weather chart showing a near 1031 millibar high pressure center to the northeast of the state. The forecast has our trades continuing…well into the future.

There will be windward showers…stretching over into the leeward sides locally. Satellite imagery shows low level clouds surrounding the islands…in all directions. These clouds will bring showers along our windward coasts and slopes, in an off and on manner…through the next couple of days. At the same time, we see high cirrus clouds to the southwest and northeast of Kauai and Oahu. Here’s the looping radar image, showing showers moving by, mostly over the offshore waters, although arriving over the windward coasts and slopes.

In sum: moderately strong winds will prevail, with somewhat more than the ordinary windward rainfall falling…locally for the time being. The trade winds will continue blowing, with nothing to stop them showing in the models into early next week…at least. We see showery clouds upstream of the islands, which appear to be destined to keep our windward sides of and on showery, through Thursday. Conditions may dry out a little Friday into the weekend, although the showers won’t stop altogether. The high clouds which we’ve seen lately, will stick around the Kauai and Oahu area for a while longer. ~~~ I’ll be back with your next new weather narrative early Thursday morning, I hope you have a great Wednesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

World-wide tropical cyclone activity:

Atlantic Ocean: There are no active tropical cyclones

Here’s a satellite image of the Atlantic Ocean

Caribbean Sea: There are no active tropical cyclones

A WEAK AREA OF LOW PRESSURE CONTINUES TO PRODUCE DISORGANIZED
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING A COUPLE HUNDRED MILES OFF THE
SOUTHWESTERN COAST OF MEXICO.  DEVELOPMENT DOES NOT APPEAR LIKELY
DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...AND THIS SYSTEM HAS A LOW
CHANCE...10 PERCENT...OF BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE
NEXT 48 HOURS WHILE IT MOVES WEST-NORTHWESTWARD AT ABOUT 10 MPH. 
THERE IS A RELATIVELY SMALL WINDOW FOR MORE SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT
THIS WEEKEND BEFORE UPPER-LEVEL WINDS BECOME LESS CONDUCIVE EARLY
NEXT WEEK.  THIS SYSTEM HAS A MEDIUM CHANCE...40 PERCENT...OF
BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 5 DAYS.  REGARDLESS OF
DEVELOPMENT...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS ARE POSSIBLE OVER PORTIONS OF
SOUTHWESTERN MEXICO DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS.

Interesting: Cuckoo Finches Trick Host Parents into Raising their Young – Brood parasitism is found among bird, fish, and insect species and involves the manipulation and use of host individuals to raise the young of the brood-parasite. Who knew the animal kingdom had foster parents and free babysitters?

Species do this in order to relieve themselves from parental responsibilities like rearing young, building nests, or spending more time foraging for food. The concept also plays true to the adage “don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” in the sense that by separating your eggs, there is less of a risk if a predator were to enter the situation.

While you might think you should separate all of your eggs, a new analysis finds that by laying more than one egg in the victim’s nest, Cuckoo finches have a better chance of fooling host parents into fostering their parasitic young.

Dr Martin Stevens from the University of Exeter and Dr Claire Spottiswoode from the University of Cambridge, with Dr Jolyon Troscianko at the University of Exeter, demonstrated that when African cuckoo finch females lay more than one egg in the same nest of their African tawny-flanked prinia hosts, the foster parents find it harder to tell their own eggs from the imposter’s.

The host is therefore less likely to reject the parasite’s eggs, such that the parasitic chick is raised for free at the host’s expense.

Host parents often have difficulty in distinguishing parasitic eggs from their own because cuckoo finches lay eggs that beautifully mimic those of their hosts. Such mimicry has evolved to combat egg rejection by picky parents who remove foreign eggs from their nests.

Egg rejection depends on hosts accurately discriminating parasitic eggs from their own. Not only do the hosts have to distinguish egg colors and patterns, but also the different sizes.

The presence of multiple parasite eggs in the nest causes hosts to be uncertain about which eggs belong to them and which are imposters, because these sensory and cognitive mechanisms conflict with one another.

Dr Stevens said: “Our work shows that by laying multiple eggs in each host nest, the cuckoo finch has evolved a novel strategy, in addition to egg mimicry, to defeat host defenses and increase its reproductive success.”