June 5-6, 2009
Air Temperatures – The following maximum temperatures were recorded across the state of Hawaii Friday afternoon:
Lihue, Kauai – 84
Honolulu, Oahu – 91
Kaneohe, Oahu – 82
Kahului, Maui – 85
Hilo, Hawaii – 83
Kailua-kona – 87
Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountains…at 5 p.m. Friday evening:
Port Allen – 86F
Molokai airport – 78
Haleakala Crater – 54 (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 41 (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 Friday afternoon:
0.16 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.19 Kaneohe MCB, Oahu
0.03 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.17 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.12 Pahoa, Big Island
Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map shows a 1026 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of the islands, with a ridge extending from the southwest flank of this high…into the area several hundred miles north and northwest of Kauai. The trade winds will remain active both Saturday and Sunday.
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. Finally, here’s a looping IR satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. 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
Talk about inviting…Makena Beach, Maui
Breezy trade winds will prevail through the upcoming weekend…easing up a little as we move into the first couple of days of the new week ahead. Looking at this weather map Friday evening, we see the same 1026 millibar high pressure system to our northeast, that’s been there all this week. This high pressure cell has a ridge extending southwest from its center…which extends into the area northwest of Kauai. These trades remain strong enough to keep the small craft wind advisory alive in the windier locations around Maui and the Big Island, which will stay active through the weekend.
A high pressure ridge aloft over the islands will limit shower clouds through the weekend…with a possible increase along the windward sides starting off the new work week ahead. The leeward beaches will remain mostly dry, with lots of sunshine, right on into the afternoon hours for the most part. The forecast models continue to show a dry pattern holding firm through the upcoming weekend time frame. These same models want to back off on the trade winds a little after the weekend…as well as bring in an increase in windward biased showers for a couple of days.
It’s Friday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I begin writing this last section of today’s narrative. I just walked outside, and it’s warm, although the trade winds, which were a bit gusty earlier in the afternoon, had calmed down. There are some clouds, punctuated by clear spots too. I would guess it was around 80F degrees at around 530pm. I expect a nice weekend, which should extend right on into the new week ahead. ~~~ I’m tired enough at the moment, that I’ll likely skip going to see a film, not that there was one that I found all that attractive. I may stop off someplace and pick up some dinner, and just head home and eat it out on my weather deck, while enjoying the sunset. ~~~ I’ll be back Saturday morning with your next new weather narrative, at which point I’m quite sure that I’ll be exclaiming about what a nice weekend that we will be having. I hope you have a great Friday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.
Interesting: The El Nino weather pattern, which can bring global weather chaos such as droughts and floods, could develop within weeks, the Climate Prediction Centre in the United States said. El Nino is driven by an abnormal warming of the eastern Pacific and the forecaster said conditions were favorable for a switch to El Nino conditions during June to August 2009.
The forecast is the latest warning of the increased chances of El Nino developing after months of rising ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said if recent trends in Pacific climate patterns held up, there was an above-50 per cent chance an El Nino event would be established by July.
El Nino occurs when the eastern Pacific Ocean heats up, with warmer, moist air moving east, leaving drier weather in the western Pacific and Australia and putting crops at risk of failure. The most devastating El Nino was in 1997/98, when it caused drought in Australia and Indonesia and floods in Peru and Ecuador.
El Nino can also bring wetter weather to parts of the United States and can affect the monsoon in India. The prediction centre, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said sea surface temperatures had risen for the fifth consecutive month in the equatorial Pacific. Sub-surface temperatures also continued to rise.
"These surface and subsurface oceanic anomalies typically precede the development of El Nino," the centre said. "Current observations, recent trends, and the dynamical model forecasts indicate that conditions are favorable for a transition … to El Nino conditions during June-August 2009."
Interesting2: Flowering plants and hippo-like creatures once thrived in the Arctic, where the tundra and polar bears now prevail. New research, detailed in the June issue of the journal Geology, is shedding light on the lives of prehistoric mammals on Canada’s Ellesmere Island 53 million years ago, including how they survived the six months of darkness during the Arctic winter. Today, Ellesmere Island, located in the high Arctic (about 80 degrees north latitude), is a polar desert that features permafrost, ice sheets, sparse vegetation and a few mammals.
Temperatures there range from minus 37 degrees Fahrenheit in winter to plus 48F degrees in summer. It is one of the coldest and driest places on Earth. But 53 million years ago, the Arctic had a completely different look. The findings have implications for understanding how ancient animals dispersed across North America and what might lie in store for modern mammals that are moving northward because of climate change.
In 1975, researchers discovered that a surprising menagerie of Arctic creatures lived on Ellesmere during the early Eocene epoch (55 million to 50 million years ago). A team led by Mary Dawson of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh discovered fossil alligator jaw bones.
Since then, fossils of aquatic turtles, giant tortoises, snakes and even flying lemurs — one of the earliest forms of primates — have also turned up. The new research team analyzed the signatures of carbon and oxygen in the fossil teeth of three types of mammals that once dwelled in the Arctic — a hippo-like, semi-aquatic creature known as Coryphodon; a second, smaller ancestor of today’s tapirs (pig-like animals found in South America and Southeast Asia); and a third rhino-like mammal known as brontothere — to find out what the Arctic environment was like in the past.
The results point to warm, humid summers and mild winters with temperatures probably ranging from just above freezing to near 70 degrees F, said study team member Jaelyn Eberle of the University of Colorado at Boulder. The region was probably similar to swampy cypress forests in the Southeast United States today, Eberle said. Fossils of tree stumps as large as washing machines, can still be found there.
Interesting3: A major source of air pollution in port areas comes from the giant vessels that tie up at their docks to load and unload cargo. That’s because the powerful diesel engines have to run continuously to keep the ships’ equipment and support systems operating. That also means continuous spewing of GHG and diesel particulate emissions into the local air.
A solution to this massive emissions problem has long existed but is not widely implemented because it involves expensive modifications both on-ship and to offshore facilities. It’s called shore power, which allows ships to shut down their diesel engines at berth and literally plug into the landside electricity grid, thus improving air quality.
But slow change is better than no change: BP America and the Port of Long Beach Wednesday opened the world’s first oil tanker terminal equipped with shore power plugs. The BP terminal on Pier T is actually Long Beach’s second dock equipped with shore power, but it’s the first such facility in the world for “liquid bulk” ships — vessels that transport large amounts of petroleum and related fuels. Reducing air pollution is a major component of the port’s Green Port Policy, adopted in 2005.
Also this week Long Beach issued a call for ideas to implement a zero-emission container movement system. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, along with the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority are seeking new technology to move cargo containers between docks and the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility near West Long Beach, potentially eliminating thousands of short-haul diesel truck trips each day and reducing air pollution.
Proposed technologies might include electric guide ways, zero-emission trucks, or electrified rail, all of which use electricity to power the movement of cargo, rather than diesel-fueled trucks. BP’s shore power installation delivers enough electricity to power about 5,500 homes — up to 8 megawatts at 6,660 volts.
The Alaska Tanker Company has equipped two vessels that regularly visit the port to be able to plug into the BP Terminal on Pier T, which supplies local refineries with crude oil. The joint project was completed at a cost of $23.7 million: $17.5 million from the port and $6.2 million from BP.
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