January 24-25, 2009
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Saturday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 76
Honolulu, Oahu – 80
Kaneohe, Oahu – 76
Kahului, Maui – 79
Hilo, Hawaii – 77
Kailua-kona – 79
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the highest mountains…at 6 p.m. Saturday evening:
Kailua-kona – 77F
Hilo, Hawaii – 69
Haleakala Crater – 48 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 36 (near 14,000 feet on the Big Island)
Precipitation Totals – The following numbers represent the largest precipitation totals (inches) during the last 24 hours on each of the major islands, as of Saturday afternoon:
1.35 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.25 Poamoho 2, Oahu
0.03 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.32 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.29 Glenwood, Big Island
Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1036 millibar high pressure system located far to the northeast of the Hawaiian Islands. This high pressure cell has its ridge moving over the islands…which will calm down our trades, and turn them to the southeast and south Sunday, and the southwest Monday.
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
Dolphins in Hawaii
Photo Credit: flickr.com
Our local winds will gradually shift to the southeast and south, to southwest later Sunday into Monday. A high pressure system far to the northeast, has its ridge shifting to over the islands now. Saturday’s trade winds will give way to lighter southeast to southwest breezes…ahead of a cold front, which will arrive in the Monday-Tuesday time frame. In the wake of the frontal cloud band, we’ll experience a brief period of cool northerly winds, followed by northeast breezes for a few days. The trade winds will hold off until the second half of the upcoming work week.
A few generally light showers will spill along the windward coasts and slopes…leaving the leeward sides dry for the time being. The leeward areas will be sunny to partly cloudy Sunday. As the winds turn southeast and south, we’ll find a few afternoon upcountry showers…especially along the south facing slopes near Kauai and Oahu. As we move into the new week ahead, a shower bearing cold front will arrive, bringing briefly heavy precipitation to the state…before our weather turns drier after Wednesday.
Hawaii’s winds will be shifting to the southeast to southwest, ahead of a briefly rainy frontal cloud band Monday and Tuesday…although Sunday will remain quite nice in terms of weather conditions. The cold front will take its time getting here, then move fairly quickly down through the island chain Monday and Tuesday. The frontal cloud band is expected to slow down as it migrates over Maui County. This stalling motion will give the front more time to rain on Maui, where perhaps the largest precipitation amounts will end up.
~~~ Friday evening after work, I saw the new film called Revolutionary Road, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, among others. Here’s a synopsis of the film: April and Frank Wheeler are a young, thriving couple living with their two children in a Connecticut suburb in the mid-1950s. Their self-assured exterior masks a creeping frustration at their inability to feel fulfilled in their relationships or careers. Frank is mired in a well-paying but boring office job, and April is a housewife still mourning the demise of her hoped-for acting career. Determined to identify themselves as superior to the mediocre sprawl of suburbanites who surround them, they decide to move to France where they will be better able to develop their true artistic sensibilities, free of the consumerist demands of capitalist America. As their relationship deteriorates into an endless cycle of squabbling, jealousy and recriminations, their trip and their dreams of self-fulfillment are thrown into jeopardy.
~~~ This film was depressing, and yet very well done! It reminded me of how I felt after seeing my last film, called The Reader (2008), starring Kate Winslet also, and Ralph Fiennes, among others. They were both great films, but certainly not uplifting. I do enjoy these types of movies, as I’m rarely depressed…and it feels rather novel to experience that emotion. I was a kid growing up in the 1950’s, so that there were many ways that I could relate to that period. Here’s a trailer in case you’re interested in getting a short sneak peek.
~~~ It’s Saturday evening here in Kula, Maui, after having a good day. I ate a quick breakfast, and then because it was cold, I just jumped in the car, and headed down the mountain. I called a friend who lives in Haiku, and invited myself for coffee, which was well received. I ended up staying over at their house into the early afternoon hours. I worked there a little, and cut down a stalk of yellow bananas. We sat outside and drank our coffee, and then took a long walk up and down the road she lives on. When we got back, we sat around and talked quite a while. This person works at the Pacific Disaster Center with me, and is the person who takes over my weather duties when I’m away. I then drove down to Paia to shop, and would have taken another walk, but it was quite windy, and the ocean was all chalked-up with white caps. I finally made my way back home later this afternoon, and have then had to wash clothes, and drive down and refill a propane tank that was getting low. It’s now just about dark out, and I’m sitting here drinking a little ginger ale, spiked with a bit of vodka…yum. I’ll finally have some time to relax now, probably talk on the phone a bit to a couple of friends, and then lay low and do some reading before hitting the hay. I’ll meet you back here again Sunday morning, after trying perhaps to sleep in a bit then. I hope you have a great Saturday night! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting:
Obama-mania is sweeping the nation and concern for the environment, seeping into our collective conscience, is increasingly less likely to be perceived as the hobbyhorse of the liberal elite. As this surge of enthusiasm converges with recession it presents an opportunity for savvy marketing. The reusable packaging industry, as represented by the Reusable Packaging Association (RPA), is doing just that. RPA Board Chairman Bob Klimko claims, “The time is ripe for businesses to embrace the concept of reuse and to realize its potential to help them reach their sustainability objectives while strengthening their own companies through cost savings and improved efficiencies.” We introduced you to the RPA when they hosted an educational forum on the corporate benefits of reusable packaging. The RPA is primarily focused on packaging that “moves product from manufacturer to retailer.”
Recently the New York Times recognized that, “While there are environmental and financial arguments for both types of container, few studies conclusively compare the relative merits of plastic bins and cardboard boxes made from recycled material. But there is a widespread view among environmentalists that it is always better to reuse a product rather than manufacture a new one.” The RPA does not endorse one material of packing over another. We spoke to Welcome and asked him to comment on the most environmental packaging available. He insisted that the RPA does not favor any single material and that each type of packaging has its advantages and disadvantages. As a trade organization, the stated goal of the RPA is to increase demand for the membership’s products. While endorsing the most efficient packaging would likely elicit a reaction within the varied membership, it does seem appropriate for an organization trumpeting sustainability.
Interesting2: Antarctica, the only place that had oddly seemed immune from climate change, is warming after all, according to a new study. For years, Antarctica was an enigma to scientists who track the effects of global warming. Temperatures on much of the continent at the bottom of the world were staying the same or slightly cooling, previous research indicated. The new study went back further than earlier work and filled in a massive gap in data with satellite information to find that Antarctica too is getting warmer, like the Earth’s other six continents. The findings were published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature. "Contrarians have sometime grabbed on to this idea that the entire continent of Antarctica is cooling, so how could we be talking about global warming?," said study co-author Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University. "Now we can say: no, it’s not true … It is not bucking the trend." The study does not point to man-made climate change as the cause of the Antarctic warming – doing so is a highly intricate scientific process – but a different and smaller study out late last year did make that connection. "We can’t pin it down, but it certainly is consistent with the influence of greenhouse gases," said NASA scientist Drew Shindell, another study co-author.
Some of the effects also could be natural variability, he said. The study showed that Antarctica – about one-and-a-half times bigger than the United States – remains a complicated weather picture, especially with only a handful of monitoring stations in its vast interior. The researchers used satellite data and mathematical formulas to fill in missing information. That made outside scientists queasy about making large conclusions with such sparse information. "This looks like a pretty good analysis, but I have to say I remain somewhat skeptical," Kevin Trenberth, climate analysis chief at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said in an e-mail. "It is hard to make data where none exist." Shindell said it was more comprehensive than past studies and jibed with computer models. The research found that since 1957, the annual temperature for the entire continent of Antarctica has warmed by about 1 degree Fahrenheit but still is 50 degrees below zero. West Antarctica, which is about 20 degrees warmer than the east, has warmed nearly twice as fast, said study lead author Eric Steig of the University of Washington. East Antarctica, which scientists had long thought to be cooling, is warming slightly when yearly averages are looked at over the past 50 years, said Steig. However, autumn temperatures in east Antarctica are cooling over the long term. And east Antarctica from the late 1970s through the 1990s, cooled slightly, Steig said .
Interesting3:
Only five of the 50 whales that beached on an Australian island are likely to survive, the
Interesting4:
The Obama family could be facing its first controversy of the presidency, and it’s all to do with dolls. The new first family has been fiercely protective of its adorable daughters, Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, but the message apparently was never received by toy maker, Ty Inc. The maker of the once insanely- popular Beanie Baby toys is aiming to spark another craze with its newest stuffed toys – a pair of pig-tailed African-American dolls named Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia. Ty Inc launched the series earlier this month at a few retailers and is set to roll them out nationwide in the coming weeks. But the plan has met with consternation at the White House, where a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama told the Chicago Sun-Times "we believe it is inappropriate to use young private citizens for marketing purposes."Though the company officially insists that the dolls were not modeled on the first daughters, the paper quoted a company spokesperson as saying that the presidential kids were too cute to ignore. "How can we resist?" Ty Inc spokeswoman Tania Lundeen was quoted as saying. The 30-centimeter dolls are priced at 9.99 dollars but were already selling on the internet Friday for 29.99 dollars. But there probably won’t be many buyers from the White House.
Interesting5:
Some of the nation’s largest farms plan to cut back on planting this spring over concerns that federal water supplies will dry up as officials deal with the drought plaguing
"We thought it was important to talk to our growers so they can make important planting decisions," said Sarah Woolf, a spokeswoman for Westlands, the coalition of giant agribusinesses in the state’s fertile interior. Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the state Department of Water Resources plan to announce next month how much water they’ll speed to farms and cities. But farmers say that’s too late, since they need to decide what to plant now, as they negotiate with banks for crop loans. Growers who are struggling to revive shriveled vines and dying trees say they’re panicked at the thought of having to solely rely on well water of dubious quality
.
Interesting6:
Skeletons of livestock are piling up in the scorching sun of the Southern Hemisphere’s summer as the worst drought in a generation turns much of
Nationally, there hasn’t been this little rain in
How Fernandez responds to the drought could have a big impact on this year’s midterm elections. Her political clout already suffered last year when strikes by farmers and truckers forced her to reverse the tax hikes on grain exports that her government imposed when prices were soaring, in hopes of filling the government’s coffers. Now some Argentine provinces have declared agricultural emergencies — a move Fernandez has resisted nationally because it would mean canceling or suspending more taxes. But her government has reduced export taxes on wheat, corn, fruits and vegetables in recent weeks to compensate for slumping commodity prices, and temporarily suspended the minimum weight for slaughtering livestock so that ranchers can sell cattle before they starve. The government also released $66 million in subsidies to small agricultural producers, which translates to about $4,500 each for qualifying farmers in Stroeder. Many said that wouldn’t even cover diesel for their tractors. Elbio Madarieta’s once-fertile 12,000 acre ranch outside Stroeder is now an arid plain, scattered with the remains of the 900 cattle he lost last year — 25% of his herd. The wind kicks up of clouds of dust, and not a stalk of wheat can be seen, let alone anything green for grazing.
Interesting7: Several days of the coldest temperatures South Florida has seen in years are threatening to ruin orange groves, cucumber fields and tropical fish ponds across the state. "This is peak harvest season for many
Much of the damage to
Charlie Crist waived weight restrictions on produce trucks so citrus growers could get more frozen fruit to juicers before it spoils. Tom Schuller, president of the Brevard County Farm Bureau, said 90% of the oranges and grapefruits on his 122-acre orchard were damaged. The cold also may cause a die-off in
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