Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / October 13-14, 2008

October 13-14 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 83
Honolulu, Oahu – 82
Kaneohe, Oahu – 83
Kahului, Maui – 87
Hilo, Hawaii – 83
Kailua-kona – 83

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the highest mountains…at 4 p.m. Monday afternoon:

Port Allen, Kauai – 86F 
Molokai airport – 74

Haleakala Crater    – 50  (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 Monday afternoon:

1.08 Lihue, Kauai
1.25 Maunawili, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.15 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.52 Keohole airport, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a 1034 millibar high pressure system far to the NE. At the same time we find a deep winter-like low far north, with its associated cold front swinging down southward towards Kauai. South to southeast breezes Monday and Tuesday, associated with a cold front stalling near Kauai.

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

  October full moon going down in the west
Photo Credit: flickr.com

Our local winds have become lighter Monday night from Oahu to Kauai, stronger near the Big Island…veering to the south to southeast into Tuesday as a cold front stalls near Kauai. A 1034 millibar high pressure center is evident on weather maps, to our north Monday evening. The high has a ridge extending southwest to a point southeast of Hawaii. A frontal boundary, to the north and northwest, is slowly sitting over Kauai and Niihau islands…which has swung our winds around to the southeast, or even south on the Kauai end of the chain. This suggests that there will be periods of volcanic haze carried across the island chain at times. The trade winds will return around mid-week, clearing the islands of vog, with improving air visibilities then.

A cold front has reached Kauai and Niihau, which has stalled near those two islands Monday afternoon, then begin to shift westward away from the state at some point Tuesday. We’ll find this cold front stretching down to near Kauai, where showers have increased, which may reach Oahu as well into Tuesday. At the same time, aiding the formation of locally heavy showers, we find the influence of an upper level low pressure system in our area. Here’s a satellite image showing the ragged leading edge of this frontal boundary punching southward into the tropics. The rest of the state will have southeast winds, with some pre-frontal, or upcountry showers along the leeward sides…which could be at times quite generous at times too. There is that chance of cloud plumes working their way from one island to the other, like happened over Oahu Monday afternoon. The trade winds will return around mid-week, with showers focused along the windward sides again then.

Monday is Columbus Day, when our favorably inclined weekend fair weather broke down…as a cold front has reached, and is stalling over Kauai. This frontal system has brought rain to Kauai, and to Oahu as well…some of which was locally heavy. The other islands won’t see the frontal precipitation itself, but will have prefrontal showers falling at times…some of which may be rather generous locally too. Here’s a looping satellite image, showing the low and its frontal boundary dropping down over Kauai. Thereafter, the trade winds will return, with just the usual windward biased showers during the second half of the week. As noted in one of the paragraphs above, we should see some form of volcanic emissions stretching up from the Big Island to Maui, or other parts of the island chain as well.

Skies got more and more cloudy during the day Monday, with some heavier showers breaking out near Oahu and Kauai. There were a few 1.00"+ rainfall amounts on those two islands, with some afternoon showers on the other islands too. The chance for showers will remain active, some of which could be locally heavy, through Tuesday. Looking out the window here in Kihei, just before I leave for the upcountry area of Kula, there are lots of dark gray clouds around…some which look to be dropping showers. When I arrived home in Kula, it has rained off and on for the last several hours, some of which have been down right heavy! ~~~ I’ll be back early Tuesday morning with the last new narrative before I leave to go on a three week+ vacation. I go to northern and southern California, to see friends and family, then down near the southern tip of Baja, California, for relaxation and hopefully some surfing! I’ll have more about this here soon. I hope you have a great Monday night wherever you happen to be spending it! By the way, I understand that Tuesday is the October full moon…that makes it a special day of the month, not to mention the last full day until I leave! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting:

Higher levels of pollution in Asia may affect the formation of clouds high in the Himalayas, perhaps disrupting monsoons and speeding a thaw of glaciers, according to a study on Monday. The report, by scientists in France and Italy, found microscopic particles in the air that can be seeds for water droplets at a Nepalese mountain observatory, the highest in the world at 5,079 metres (16,660 ft) above sea level. It was the first time scientists had observed such particles forming so high, far above those seen in previous studies from Europe and Japan. "We think it’s because there’s a lot of pollution in the valleys which rises and meets clean air masses higher up. This creates new particles," Karine Sellegri at the Universite Blaise Pascal in France, one of the authors, told Reuters. The study, in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the particles might come from smoke from people burning wood in Himalayan valleys.

Or some might have a natural origin, from vegetation. Still, the scientists pointed to wider risks of the cloud-forming mechanism. "Rising air pollution levels in South Asia will have worldwide environmental consequences," they wrote. "Transport of pollutants from the densely populated regions of India, Pakistan, China and Nepal to the Himalayas may lead to substantial radiative forcing (warming effect) in South Asia." In turn, that could affect the formation of monsoons, disrupt the regional climate and have "dramatic impacts on glacier retreat" in the Himalayas, they wrote. The U.N. Climate Panel said last year that Himalayan glaciers, which feed rivers on which hundreds of millions of people depend, could shrink to 100,000 square kms (38,610 sq miles) by 2030 from 500,000 now because of global warming. Sellegri added, however, that it was too early to know exactly what impact rising pollution would have in the Himalayas. "We need more modelling," she said.

Interesting2:

Colorado’s forests, already under siege from pine beetles, fire and mis-management, could fare worse with climate change. Federal stewards don’t want to see that happen. "Forests serve as a natural sponge that absorbs, stores and slowly releases water to the rivers," said Tony Dixon, regional deputy forester with the U.S. Forest Service. "If you have no forests, you have no rivers. They are like water towers and they are under siege." While most think of the Forest Service as a preservation effort, it began after a time when forests were in even worse shape, Dixon said. Mining, logging, grazing and fires had all but destroyed many of the lands initially put under federal protection. "The Western forests were not pristine," Dixon said. Today, about 22 percent of Colorado land is in national forests, providing 68 percent of the water that flows within and out of the state. Pine beetle damage to the forests is becoming more obvious each year, as hillsides turn red, then gray. Nights in the mountains are no longer cold enough to kill the bugs.

Interesting3: A state-of-the-art, solar powered version of the humble cycle-rickshaw promises to offer a solution to urban India’s traffic woes, chronic pollution and fossil fuel dependence, as well as an escape from backbreaking human toil. The "soleckshaw", unveiled this month in New Delhi, is a motorised cycle rickshaw that can be pedalled normally or run on a 36-volt solar battery. Developed by the state-run Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), prototypes are receiving a baptism of fire by being road-tested in Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk area. One of the city’s oldest and busiest markets, dating back to the Moghul era, Chandni Chowk comprises a byzantine maze of narrow, winding streets, choked with buses, cars, scooters, cyclists and brave pedestrians. "The most important achievement will be improving the lot of rickshaw drivers," said Pradip Kumar Sarmah, head of the non-profit Centre for Rural Development.

"It will dignify the job and reduce the labour of pedalling. From rickshaw pullers, they will become rickshaw drivers," Sarmah said. India has an estimated eight million cycle-rickshaws. The makeover includes FM radios and powerpoints for charging mobile phones during rides. Gone are the flimsy metal and wooden frames that give the regular Delhi rickshaws a tacky, sometimes dubious look. The "soleckshaw," which has a top speed of 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) per hour, has a sturdier frame and sprung, foam seats for up to three people. The fully-charged solar battery will power the rickshaw for 50 to 70 kilometres (30 to 42 miles). Used batteries can be deposited at a centralised solar-powered charging station and replaced for a nominal fee. If the tests go well, the "soleckshaw" will be a key transport link between sporting venues at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Interesting4:

Beyond the howl of sled dogs echoing across this hilly coastal village is the thunderclap of ancient icebergs splitting apart, a deafening rumble you feel in your bones. There’s no mistaking its big, loud, and powerful boom, a sound that can work up to a crescendo like rolling thunder. Or be as sudden as a shotgun blast. Lifelong Greenland resident Karen Jessen Tannajik said people who live in Ilulissat — an Inuit word for icebergs — notice more about what’s been calved by the village’s nearby Sermeq Kujalleq glacier than sights and sounds. ‘Right now, they’re coming out so quick. There are not so many big ones, but many small ones,’ she said with almost a spiritual reverence as she talked about the village’s world-famous procession of icebergs. ‘When I am tired, I can watch them and feel them and smell them,’ she said, pausing for a big breath of air to help make her point. ‘It seems like we get our power from them.’

Interesting5:

New images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft reveal a giant cyclone at Saturn’s north pole, and show that a similarly monstrous cyclone churning at Saturn’s south pole is powered by Earth-like storm patterns. The new-found cyclone at Saturn’s north pole is only visible in the near-infrared wavelengths because the north pole is in winter, thus in darkness to visible-light cameras. At these wavelengths, about seven times greater than light seen by the human eye, the clouds deep inside Saturn’s atmosphere are seen in silhouette against the background glow of Saturn’s internal heat. The entire north pole of Saturn is now mapped in detail in infrared, with features as small as 120 kilometers (75 miles) visible in the images.

Time-lapse movies of the clouds circling the north pole show the whirlpool-like cyclone there is rotating at 530 kilometers per hour (325 miles per hour), more than twice as fast as the highest winds measured in cyclonic features on Earth. This cyclone is surrounded by an odd, honeycombed-shaped hexagon, which itself does not seem to move while the clouds within it whip around at high speeds, also greater than 500 kilometers per hour (300 miles per hour). Oddly, neither the fast-moving clouds inside the hexagon nor this new cyclone seem to disrupt the six-sided hexagon.

Interesting6: The 2008 tornado season is on track to set a record for the number of tornadoes in the USA, according to National Weather Service data. Through July, 1,390 tornadoes were officially recorded in the first seven months of a year — the most ever. The annual record for tornadoes in the USA is 1,817, set in 2004. "This year, every month has been above average for tornadoes," says Greg Forbes, of the Weather Channel. "The 123 deaths so far this year are the second most in the Doppler-radar era, behind only 1998, when tornadoes killed 130," Forbes says. He adds that the widespread use of Doppler radar to help predict tornadoes and protect lives began in the early 1990s. "We’d have to go back to 1974, the year of the Super Tornado Outbreak, to have a deadlier year." Official numbers from the weather service’s StormPredictionCenter since Aug. 1 aren’t available yet, but preliminary reports for the period since then show as many as 300 tornadoes could be added. On top of that, October and November are usually very active for tornadoes, what’s known as the nation’s "second tornado season" after the main season in spring.

"We tend to see a peak in the central Plains and Midwest in October, and the Southeast USA in November," says meteorologist Gregory Carbin at the StormPredictionCenter in Norman, Okla. This month, the center says there have been 17 preliminary reports of tornadoes. Preliminary reports must be checked for duplication.  The number of tornadoes this year already is well above the 1,270 tornadoes the nation normally sees in a year, according to the National Weather Service. "2008 will compete with 2004 as far as total numbers for the year," Carbin says. "There’s a good chance that 2008 will see the greatest number of observed tornadoes on record." February saw 148 tornadoes, by far a record; the February average is 28, Forbes says. May’s 460 tornadoes made it the third most active May on record. "The pattern in May and June was quite active" Carbin says. "We’d have two to three strong storm systems a week."  Although the number of reports has risen sharply since the early 1990s, Forbes says many of the weaker tornadoes probably would not have been recorded in earlier decades. Reliable tornado records in the USA go back to 1950.