Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / November 18-19, 2008

November 18-19 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 79
Honolulu, Oahu – 82
Kaneohe, Oahu – 79
Kahului, Maui – 77
Hilo, Hawaii – 76
Kailua-kona – 87

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

Barking Sands, Kauai – 85
Princeville, Kauai – 75F 

Haleakala Crater    – 43  (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 32  (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 Tuesday afternoon:

3.77 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
5.01 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
2.54 Molokai
0.14 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
5.44 Puu Kukui, Maui
1.42 Hilo airport, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing that the trade winds will diminish today and tonight as a high pressure center to the north moves east and weakens. Low pressure developing far to the northwest will move closer to the state at the end of the week, turning winds to the southeast and south. High pressure will build north of the islands 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. 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

      

 
Gradually improving weather
Photo Credit: Flikr.com

 

High pressure centers to the NW and far to the NE will keep blustery trade winds in place Tuesday, getting somewhat lighter by mid-week. These strong trade wind gusts will small craft wind advisory flags up in the major channels between the islands, and Maalaea Bay on Maui. Winds will begin getting lighter Wednesday, and should get considerably lighter through the second half of the week. The trade winds will give way to lighter southeast winds Thursday through the weekend, which will move volcanic haze up through the island chain. It appears that trade winds will return later next week, helping to ventilate our hazy atmosphere then.

The gusty trade winds carried copious moisture onto the windward sides last night into the morning hours…with some of it stretching over into the leeward sides of the islands locally. The windward sides will continue to feel this damp weather, although it will begin tapering off soon…especially from Kauai down through Oahu, and then to Maui. An upper level low pressure system moving by our area Tuesday morning, kept enhanced rainfall a reality. Some heavy showers were triggered locally…with even a thunderstorm formed in this unstable atmosphere. The source for this moisture is the old cold front that pushed into the state this last weekend. This wet weather will dry out starting this afternoon into Wednesday and Thursday.

Tuesday will be partly to mostly cloudy, with a good chance of rainfall, some of it locally very generous especially during the morning hours. The combination of the strong trade winds (gusting to near 50 mph locally), the available moisture riding in on these gusty trade winds, and the instability caused by the upper low…set the stage for this locally very wet weather. This looping radar image will show you where the heaviest rains are falling…which happen to be in the Alenuihaha Channel at the time of this writing. This satellite image will show you the nature of the clouds around Hawaii…which have started to dissipate with the passing away of the upper low pressure system. We may begin to see some sunshine later Tuesday afternoon, which would be a nice change of pace from the last couple of days.  

As we move into Friday, our chances for more heavy showers will increase again, remaining active into the weekend time frame…and perhaps longer. The arrival of a Kona low type weather feature will spark another round of potentially heavy rains here in Hawaii. The final location of this upper air low pressure system, which will work it’s way down to the surface…will help determine exactly how much rain we see. If it forms to the west or northwest, then we could get very wet. If it forms over us, or to the east, we would be on the drier side. At this point, there’s still uncertainty about where it will end up. At any rate, this low will help to draw up rich tropical moisture from the deeper tropics. It looks like the trade winds will return later next week, with most of the showers taking aim on the windward sides again then. ~~~ Late Tuesday afternoon the NWS forecast office in Honolulu issed what they call a Hydrologic Outlook Statement, which strongly suggests that we’ll move back into another potentially wet weather scenerio Friday into the weekend. This isn’t great news for several reasons, not the least of which is that the current saturated soils won’t be dried out by then, which makes serious flooding a definite possibility. We need to keep a close eye on this chance of very wet weather coming up! ~~~ One final note, at sunset here on Maui Tuesday, there was a very obvious large area of smoke hanging in the air offshore from the island of Lanai. This was caused by a large brush fire that was burning on that small island. We hope that local fire fighters can extinguish this fire soon. I’ll be back very early Wednesday morning with more updated information on this wet outlook. I hope you have a great Tuesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting:

Half the world’s population could face a shortage of clean water by 2080 because of climate change, experts warned Tuesday. Wong Poh Poh, a professor at the National University of Singapore, told a regional conference that global warming was disrupting water flow patterns and increasing the severity of floods, droughts and storms — all of which reduce the availability of drinking water. Wong said the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that as many as 2 billion people won’t have sufficient access to clean water by 2050. That figure is expected to rise to 3.2 billion by 2080 — nearly tripling the number who now do without it. Reduced access to clean water — which refers to water that can be used for drinking, bathing or cooking — forces many villagers in poor countries to walk miles to reach supplies. Others, including those living in urban shanties, suffer from diseases caused by drinking from unclean sources.

At the beginning of the decade, the World Health Organization estimated that 1.1 billion people did not have sufficient access to clean water. Asia, home to more than 4 billion people, is the most vulnerable region, especially India and China, where booming populations have placed tremendous stress on water sources, said Wong, a member of the U.N. panel. "In Asia, water distribution is uneven and large areas are under water stress. Climate change is going to exacerbate this scarcity," he told the two-day Asia Pacific Regional Water Conference attended by policy makers, government officials, academics, businessmen and consumer group representatives. Scientists have said global climate change takes many forms, causing droughts in some areas while increasing flooding and the severity of cyclones in others. Droughts reduce water supply, and floods destroy the quality of water. Rising sea levels, for instance, increase the salt content at the mouths of many rivers, from which many Asians draw their drinking water.

Interesting2:

Call it an economic and environmental murder mystery in the making: Will a cash-strapped Detroit kill the electric car v:shapes="_x0000_i1025">  — again?. Stung by an association with gas-guzzling SUVs and pushed to the brink of failure by plunging sales, U.S. automakers have been touting efforts to roll out more fuel-efficient small cars, gas-saving technology and gas-free electric vehicles. The star of that marketing show has been the Chevy Volt, a rechargeable car that General Motors Corp is designing to run 40 miles on battery power, meaning some commuters would never need to fill up with gas. But with its cash dwindling and U.S. auto sales crashing to 25-year lows, GM has joined Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC in seeking $25 billion in federal handouts, which are under consideration this week by the U.S. Congress. That has critics concerned that a meltdown for Detroit could delay the rollout of green cars like the Volt. Others see a chance to prod GM and rivals to move faster as a condition of providing funding the industry says it needs to survive. Because plug-ins like the Volt can be recharged from a cleaner-burning electric grid, proponents see them as the best way in the near term to reduce oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from traffic on America‘s roads.

GM has said it is protecting its investment in the Volt ahead of the vehicle’s planned 2010 launch even as it scrambles to slash $15 billion in costs elsewhere. "I think right now we’re in what I call a serious Act Two moment with oil prices down and money tight," said Chris Paine, whose 2006 documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" chronicled GM’s controversial decision to scrap an earlier electric car marketed in California as the Saturn EV1. Paine, who has been working on a Volt-centered sequel, said U.S. automakers would have been better able to weather the current crisis if they had listened to critics who blasted them for turning away from electric cars earlier this decade. "This may turn out to be the biggest blunder ever for these companies," he said. GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner showcased the automaker’s commitment to return to making a mass-market electric car at the Los Angeles auto show two years ago. That reversal by GM combined with an open approach to the Volt’s development won over many of the automaker’s harshest critics. GM has built on that good will by featuring the Volt in full-page newspaper and TV advertisements, two years before the vehicle will go on sale in limited numbers.

Interesting3:

The first section of solar panels has been installed atop the Atlantic City Convention Center. The power system is to be the largest single-roof photovoltaic system in the U.S., with some 13,321 panels capable of generating 2.36 megawatts. The panels will cover 290,000 square feet, or two-thirds of the venue’s roof. According to the ACCC, the solar panels will prevent release of 2,349 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually. The panels will operate under a 20-year deal with Pepco Energy Services of Arlington, Va. “With each step we take, the ACCVA continues to embrace green initiatives and stand at the forefront of the environmental movement,” said Jeffrey Vasser, executive director of the ACCVA. “Following Governor Jon S. Corzine’s lead in taking a proactive look at environmental issues, our outstanding team has worked in conjunction with Pepco Energy in order to develop this project which allows us to use our natural resources to run the convention center more efficiently.”
 

Interesting4:

Tropical depression Noul hit southeastern Vietnam on Monday, bringing heavy rains and flooding, in the tenth storm to hit the country this year. The storm, which was downgraded from a tropical cyclone as it made landfall near the coastal city of Nha Trang, swept in from the South China Sea, packing winds of up to 45 mph.  At least two people were reported to have died in Khanh Hoa province as rivers burst their banks and power lines were downed. It was feared that the storm would interrupt the annual coffee harvest along the central coast and in the nearby central highlands, but thankfully the storm weakened, with no significant disruption to the harvest. Noul has been weakening rapidly over land during the past day, and is forecast to dissipate fully over Cambodia later today, before emerging in the Gulf of Thailand. Vietnam is very prone to floods, which kill hundreds of people each year. This latest storm comes particularly late in the tropical storm season, which usually lasts from May until October in the south of the country.

Interesting5:

An international team of scientists who analyzed data from the Gamma Ray Spectrometer onboard NASA’s Mars Odyssey reports new evidence for the controversial idea that oceans once covered about a third of ancient Mars. "We compared Gamma Ray Spectrometer data on potassium, thorium and iron above and below a shoreline believed to mark an ancient ocean that covered a third of Mars’ surface, and an inner shoreline believed to mark a younger, smaller ocean," said University of Arizona planetary geologist James M. Dohm, who led the international investigation. "Our investigation posed the question, Might we see a greater concentration of these elements within the ancient shorelines because water and rock containing the elements moved from the highlands to the lowlands, where they eventually ponded as large water bodies?" Dohm said.

Mars Odyssey’s GRS, or Gamma Ray Spectrometer, led by William Boynton of UA’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, has the unique ability to detect elements buried as much as 1/3 meter, or 13 inches, below the surface by the gamma rays they emit. That capability led to GRS’ dramatic 2002 discovery of water-ice near the surface throughout much of high-latitude Mars. Results from Mars Odyssey and other spacecraft suggest that past watery conditions likely leached, transported and concentrated such elements as potassium, thorium and iron, Dohm said. "The regions below and above the two shoreline boundaries are like cookie cutouts that can be compared to the regions above the boundaries, as well as the total region."

Interesting6:

Dishonesty may be more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously thought. A team of Australian ecologists has discovered that some male fiddler crabs “lie” about their fighting ability by growing claws that look strong and powerful but are in fact weak and puny. Published this week in the British Ecological Society’s journal Functional Ecology, the study is the first direct evidence that crabs “bluff” about their fighting ability. The signals animals send each other about their fighting prowess – and the honesty of these signals – is a long-standing problem in evolutionary biology. Despite their size – they are just two centimetres across – fiddler crabs are ideal for studying dishonesty in signalling.

This is because males have one claw that is massively enlarged (which they use to attract females or fight rival males) and if they lose this claw during fights they can grow a replacement. In most species the new claw is identical to the lost one, but some species “cheat” by growing a new claw that looks like the original but is cheaper to produce because it is lighter and toothless. According to lead author of the study, Dr Simon Lailvaux of the University of New South Wales: “What’s really interesting about these ‘cheap’ claws is that other males can’t tell them apart from the regular claws. Males size each other up before fights, and displaying the big claw is a very important part of this process.”

Interesting7: Your gut is the tropical rainforest of your body, at least in terms of bacterial diversity. A new study, detailed online Nov. 18 in the journal Public Library of Science-Biology, found that the bacterial community in the human bowel is 10 times more diverse than previously thought. In sheer numbers, the mammalian colon harbors one of the densest microbial communities found on Earth. For every human cell in your body, there are roughly 10 single-celled microbes, most of which live in your digestive tract. Previous estimates of the number of distinct kinds of microbes in the human colon ranged upwards of 500. These older estimates were made by growing the bacteria that dwelled in the lower gut in a Petri dish, but this method often left rarer species out of the count, only capturing their more common brethren. David Relman of the Stanford University School of Medicine and his colleagues used a technique known as pyrosequencing to get a more complete count of the different varieties of bacteria colonizing the human colon. Pyrosequencing has been used before to assess the richness of bacterial ecosystems in marine environments and soil, Relman said.

"But this was one of the first times it has been employed to look inward at the ecosystems within our own bodies," he added. Pyrosequencing generates extremely large numbers of small DNA "tags" copied from the genes of organisms being examined. Species can be sorted out from each other by looking at variations in DNA sequences that code for a molecule universal among all living cells. "The new gene-sequencing technology lets us check far more ‘bacterial ID cards’ than the older methods did," said Les Dethlefsen, a postdoctoral researcher in the Relman laboratory and the primary author of the study. The new study found that the bacteria community of the colon was even more diverse than ever imagined, turning up at least 5,600 separate species or strains. The work was funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Trust, National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation. While intestinal microbes by and large mind their own business, feeding off the food we send to our stomachs, they also perform critical functions, such as fine-tuning our immune systems and producing nutrients such as vitamin K. And just by occupying intestinal real estate and eating up our waste, they prevent pathogens from gaining a foothold.

can also spoil the milk, making it taste bitter and turn thick and sticky. Now scientists have discovered new species of bacteria that can grow at low temperatures, spoiling raw milk even when it is refrigerated. According to research published in the November issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, the microbial population of raw milk is much more complex than previously thought. "When we looked at the bacteria living in raw milk, we found that many of them had not been identified before," said Dr Malka Halpern from the University of Haifa, Israel. "We have now identified and described one of these bacteria, Chryseobacterium oranimense, which can grow at cold temperatures and secretes enzymes that have the potential to spoil milk."  New technologies are being developed to reduce the initial bacterial counts of pasteurized milk to very low levels.

Most enzymes will be denatured at the high temperatures used during pasteurisation, which means they will stop working. However, the heat-stable enzymes made by cold-tolerant bacteria will still affect the flavour quality of fluid milk and its products. Because of this, research into cold-tolerant bacteria and the spoilage enzymes they produce is vital. "Milk can be contaminated with many different bacteria from the teat of the cow, the udder, milking equipment and the milking environment," said Dr Halpern. "Milk is refrigerated after collection to limit the growth of microbes. During refrigeration, cold-tolerant, or psychrotolerant, bacteria that can grow at 7°C dominate the milk flora and play a leading role in milk spoilage. Although we have not yet determined the impact on milk quality of C. oranimense and two other novel species (C. haifense and C. bovis) that were also identified from raw milk samples, the discovery will contribute to our understanding the physiology of these organisms and of the complex environmental processes in which they are involved. There is still a lot to learn about the psychrotolerant bacterial flora of raw milk."

can also spoil the milk, making it taste bitter and turn thick and sticky. Now scientists have discovered new species of bacteria that can grow at low temperatures, spoiling raw milk even when it is refrigerated. According to research published in the November issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, the microbial population of raw milk is much more complex than previously thought. "When we looked at the bacteria living in raw milk, we found that many of them had not been identified before," said Dr Malka Halpern from the University of Haifa, Israel. "We have now identified and described one of these bacteria, Chryseobacterium oranimense, which can grow at cold temperatures and secretes enzymes that have the potential to spoil milk."  New technologies are being developed to reduce the initial bacterial counts of pasteurized milk to very low levels.

Most enzymes will be denatured at the high temperatures used during pasteurisation, which means they will stop working. However, the heat-stable enzymes made by cold-tolerant bacteria will still affect the flavour quality of fluid milk and its products. Because of this, research into cold-tolerant bacteria and the spoilage enzymes they produce is vital. "Milk can be contaminated with many different bacteria from the teat of the cow, the udder, milking equipment and the milking environment," said Dr Halpern. "Milk is refrigerated after collection to limit the growth of microbes. During refrigeration, cold-tolerant, or psychrotolerant, bacteria that can grow at 7°C dominate the milk flora and play a leading role in milk spoilage. Although we have not yet determined the impact on milk quality of C. oranimense and two other novel species (C. haifense and C. bovis) that were also identified from raw milk samples, the discovery will contribute to our understanding the physiology of these organisms and of the complex environmental processes in which they are involved. There is still a lot to learn about the psychrotolerant bacterial flora of raw milk."