December 10-11 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 79
Honolulu, Oahu – 79
Kaneohe, Oahu – 78
Kahului, Maui – 84
Hilo, Hawaii – 80
Kailua-kona – 81

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the highest mountains…at 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon:

Kahului, Maui – 83F
Lihue, Kauai – 76F

Haleakala Crater    – 50  (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 39  (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 Wednesday afternoon:

1.46 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.46 Schofield Barracks, Oahu
0.20 Molokai
0.02 Lanai
0.04 Kahoolawe
0.14 Puu Kukui, Maui
0.56 Pali 2, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a low far NW of the area will deepen rapidly and move SE at 10 kt through this evening, then move away to the northwest. A front will move SE at 25 kt and enter the NW waters Thursday. The front will stall over the central waters Thursday night, then move west slowly.

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
      

 
  Windy and rainy weather
Photo Credit: Flikr.com
 

An unusually deep low pressure system will push down from the middle latitudes, bottoming out near 600 miles northwest of Kauai later today into Thursday. This winter-like low pressure system, which as it nears its southernmost dip towards the tropics, could be referred to as a sub-tropical Kona low. Low pressure systems that get into the area so close to the northwest Hawaiian Islands, often influence our weather greatly. Here’s a weather map showing this low pressure cell taking shape just to the northwest of Kauai. This particular low will bring very gusty winds, and locally heavy rainfall. The NWS forecast office in Honolulu has issued a flash flood watch for Niihau, Kauai and Oahu. At the same time we find a small craft advisory over the coastal waters of those two islands, along with gale warnings in the offshore waters. Meanwhile, a high wind watch is now in effect too, for the islands of Kauai and Oahu, for when the winds reach their peak intensities…which will be Wednesday night into Thursday night. In addition, strong winds will blow over the summit of Haleakala on Maui, and the two tall mountains on the Big Island…where a wind advisory is in force.

This is quite a serious storm, given the fairly major impact it will have over the western end of the HawaiianIsland chain. Wind speeds shouldn’t become all that impressive over the Big Island and Maui, although the winds will become potentially dangerous over Oahu and Kauai. The expected wind speeds are difficult to gauge this early, but the number that the NWS forecast office in Honolulu are batting around, include 30-35 knots (35-40 mph), with gusts to 45+ mph in any thunderstorms that develop. The winds, once they ride up over mountains or ridges, becoming down-slope winds on the other sides…will likely be the strongest during this inclement period. We haven’t seen winds quite this gusty in a while, and the general population on both Kauai and Oahu should be battening down the hatches in preparation. By the way, the coastal waters of the south and west shores will become very choppy and rough, with the attendant wind swell waves pounding the beaches there. The north and east shores will find spin drift spray flying off the wave tops there.

In the rainfall department, once again, those two western islands will get the wettest. There will likely be a train of moisture, perhaps more appropriately referred to as a conveyor belt, coming up from the deeper tropics. The winds rotating around this low pressure system will be counterclockwise, scooping up lots of available moisture from over the warm ocean. This Kona low will be an upper air feature, with a surface reflection, making it particularly dangerous for drivers on wet roads, and those having to deal with very gusty winds on the windward sides. There hasn’t been much said about the islands of Maui County, and the Big Island, mostly because the models haven’t shown nearly as much action, further away from the center of the low pressure cell. Speaking of which, here’s a looping satellite image of this Kona low, as it barrels in our direction. It wouldn’t take much of a nudge eastward in this whole gusty and wet weather scenario…for those two eastern islands to come under the gun as well. While we’re looking at things, here’s the looping radar image, showing the rains coming up from the south on the Kona winds. Kona is a Polynesian word for leeward, which becomes the windward side under such conditions.

Looking a bit further ahead, this big, or what the NWS forecast office has been calling massive, low pressure system will move northward away. As the low pressure system departs on Friday, our local winds should calm down rather quickly. The one sticky problem here is that the low will leave a trough of low pressure in its wake. This trough will keep our overlying atmosphere unstable and still shower prone. The winds will swing around from the southwest and south, to the southeast. This is a direction that carries volcanic haze up from the vents on the Big Island, over the rest of the state…so it will become hazy again into the weekend. SE winds split around the Big Island, which puts the rest of the state in a sort of wind shadow. Nonetheless, with lighter winds, we will find off and on showers falling, through the hazy environment. The computer models go on to show another Kona low pressure system setting up shop around next Tuesday or so, so we may see another round of showers for the western islands then…along with brisk Kona winds. Trade winds? Well, it doesn’t look like we’ll see them for some time…maybe after that next low pressure system departs later next week.

It’s early Wednesday morning here in Kula, Maui, as I start writing this last paragraph. The computer models have done a marvelous job of pointing this stormy weather out, which they latched onto last week. Everything seems to be taking shape pretty much as planned, with windy and rainy weather right around the corner now. As has been made quite clear, the two islands of Kauai and Oahu will take the brunt of these inclement weather conditions. It would be a good time to batten down the hatches, as the winds will be strong enough to do some localized damage. As far as the rainfall is concerned, the NWS forecast office in Honolulu has issued a flash flood watch for Kauai and Oahu, although the heavy rains hadn’t begun in earnest yet. Here’s a satellite image, so you can see this counterclockwise rotating storm developing to the northwest of Kauai. It’s time to add this looping radar image as well, so we can keep an eye on the heavy rains as they begin arriving soon. ~~~ I’ll certainly be back often today, with all the necessary updates that will need to be made. I’ll try and find the time to add a few more of the interesting news stories which I put below as well. ~~~ I want to let you know that I have a doctors appointment upcountry in Pukalani this afternoon, and then have to turn right around and drive down to the Maui Community College, for a Pacific Disaster Center Christmas party. So, I’ll be back with more weather news very early Thursday morning. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Papua New Guinea’s northern provinces and parts of the north coast were swamped by huge waves on Tuesday afternoon. Hundreds of homes and businesses were submerged and more than 1500 people were evacuated to higher ground. The worst affected areas were the St Mathias Group of islands, including the island of Mussau, in the north of the country, and also New Ireland, in the northeast. The tidal surge was not just felt in PNG. The Marshall Islands in particular were also badly hit, with a high tide of over four feet combined with high waves. It was this combination of a high tide, and high waves generated from a low-pressure system some 500 miles to the north, that caused the coastal flooding in the region. Although significantly higher tides are forecast later this week, flooding is not expected to be a problem, as the low pressure system has now moved off to the west. The low-lying islands and atolls of the western Pacific are particularly vulnerable to small changes in weather patterns that can have a big effect on coastal flooding. This recent flooding has prompted further concern over the future impact of a possible rise in sea level.  

Interesting2: A South Korean court on Wednesday found the captain of a Hong Kong tanker criminally negligent in the country’s worst oil spill, which caused at least $500 million in estimated damages and blackened a wide stretch of coastline. In December 2007, a crane mounted on a Samsung Heavy Industries barge pierced the hull of the Hong Kong-registered Hebei Spirit tanker while it was at anchor, leading to over 10,500 tons of crude oil being spilled into the Yellow Sea. The South Korean appeals court sentenced the Hebei Spirit captain to 18 months in jail and fined him 20 million won ($13,990). It also fined the ship’s owner 30 million won. A district court in June found the operators of the Hebei Spirit not guilty and said the accident was almost entirely the fault of the barge operator who lost control of the crane in rough seas.

Prosecutors appealed that decision. The district court gave out prison sentences of one to three years to the barge’s crew members. The higher court rejected an appeal on their behalf. The Hebei Spirit’s management company has expressed dismay over the case, saying their crew acted with the utmost professionalism to slacken the anchor line and move the massive tanker on short notice to minimize the collision. "The captain could have averted a collision by pulling up the anchor or moving backward at full or half the usual speed," the appeals court said in its decision. The Taean area, about 150 km (95 miles) southwest of Seoul is still struggling to recover from the spill that wiped out oyster beds, coated birds in oil and turned national parks into tar-covered messes. "The oyster business is all gone," said Ga Woo-hyun, a Taean province official.

Interesting3: The world has lost about a fifth of its corals and many of the remaining reefs could die in the next 20 to 40 years unless humans reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a report said on Wednesday. Further coral loss will have alarming consequences for some 500 million people who depend on reefs for their livelihood, said the report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) presented at a December 1-12 U.N. conference on global warming. "Climate change must be limited to the absolute minimum to save corals," Julia Marton-Lefevre, head of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which is a member of the GCRMN, told a news conference. "If nothing is done to substantially cut emissions, we could effectively lose coral reefs as we know them, with major coral extinction," she said.

The impact of the main climate threats, such as rising sea surface temperatures and seawater acidification, is being strengthened by other negative factors like overfishing, pollution and invasive species, said the report. As emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide increase, oceans absorb more of them and become more acidic, and this is damaging a wide range of marine life from corals to plankton and from lobsters to sea grasses, it said. Scientists cannot say how much of the coral loss in recent years has been caused by global warming but agree that climate change is the biggest threat to reefs. The report said one encouraging sign was the ability of some corals to recover after major "bleaching" events — when colorful algae living in corals die off — and to adapt to climate change. But the global trend of recent years of a worsening environment for corals has not been reversed, it said. Coral reefs offer economic and environmental benefits to millions of people, including coastal protection from waves and storms and as sources of food, pharmaceuticals and jobs.

Interesting4: Researchers in United States and China are reporting progress toward a simple, low-cost method to make "smart fabrics," electronic textiles capable of detecting diseases, monitoring heart rates, and other vital signs. A report on these straight-out-of-science-fiction-fibers, made of carbon nanotubes, is scheduled for the December 10 issue of ACS’ Nano Letters. In the new study, Nicholas A. Kotov, Chuanlai Xu, and colleagues point out that electronic textiles, or E-textiles, already are a reality. However, the current materials are too bulky, rigid, and complex for practical use. Fabric makers need simpler, more flexible materials to make E-fibers practical for future applications, they say. The scientists describe development of cotton fibers coated with electrolytes and carbon nanotubes (CNT) — thin filaments 1/50,000 the width of a single human hair. The fibers are soft, flexible, and capable of transmitting electricity when woven into fabrics. In laboratory tests, the researchers showed that the new E-fibers could light up a simple light-emitting diode when connected to a battery. When coated with certain antibodies, the fibers detected the presence of albumin, a key protein in blood — a function that could be used to detect bleeding in wounded soldiers. The fabrics could also help monitor diseases and vital signs, they say.

Interesting5: An historic diamond of European royal provenance was sold for a credit crunch-defying 24.2 million dollars at Christie’s in London Wednesday. The Wittelsbach Diamond, an extremely rare 35.56-carat greyish-blue diamond, set a new world record price for any diamond sold at auction, Christie’s said. It had been estimated to fetch a maximum of 9 million pounds. Wednesday’s sale beat the previous world auction record for a coloured diamond, sold for 8.9 million dollars at Christie’s in Geneva in May, the auction house said. "The diamond market as a whole, like the international jewellery market, continues to be strong," said Christie’s. It confirmed that the Wittelsbach Diamond had been bought by London Jewellers Laurence Graff. The diamond, which originated from India, was chosen as a dowry by King Philip IV of Spain (1605-1665) for his daughter, the Infanta Margarita Teresa. It entered the Austrian royal family through the princess’s marriage to Emperor Leopold I of Austria and passed, again through marriage, to the Bavarian royal house of Wittelsbach in 1722, where it remained a prized possession until the end of the German monarchy in 1918. The diamond had been in a private collection since 1964.

Interesting6: Japanese whalers in the Antarctic were warned Wednesday that they risked having their vessels rammed or boarded this hunting season. "We have pretty much got the key to shutting them down," Paul Watson, captain of the Steve Irwin protest ship, told reporters in Hobart, Tasmania. "We just keep on them, keep them running and keep chasing them. As long as they are running, they are not killing whales." The Steve Irwin, which is owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, is in Hobart to refuel and take on supplies before attempting to track down the Japanese fishing fleet, which set sail last month. Last whaling season the Steve Irwin collided with a Japanese harpoon ship and also landed two of its crew members on board a whaler.

Watson said the Australian government, which with New Zealand leads the international campaign to ban commercial whaling, had hindered the Sea Shepherd activists. "My crew are being detained at immigration for the first time, I was detained at immigration. We aren’t allowed to bring in the equipment we need," he told Australia’s AAP news agency. Watson said Canberra had denied permission to bring in bullet-proof vests. Last season he claimed the Japanese had shot at him and that a bullet had lodged in his bullet-proof vest. Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said last year that Canberra "strongly discourages activity which could be illegal or unsafe activity which could lead to injury or loss of life at sea." In January, after the two Sea Shepherd activists boarded and were taken hostage, Canberra brokered their release. Despite an international moratorium on whaling, Japan continues to hunt whales for "scientific reasons."

Interesting7: A prominent team of researchers predicted 14 tropical storms in the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season Wednesday and said seven would develop into hurricanes. The Colorado State University team, formed by forecasting pioneer William Gray, said 2009 would be another "above-average" hurricane season after an active 2008. The long-term average during the six-month season, which runs from June through November, is for 10 or 11 tropical storms and six hurricanes. Gray’s team, now led by his protege Philip Klotzbach, predicted three of next year’s hurricanes would be dangerous storms with a rank of Category 3 or above on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity. That would mean a potentially deadly trio of storms packing powerful sustained winds of at least 111 mph. The Colorado State experts, whose forecasts are followed closely in energy and commodity markets, had originally predicted 13 tropical storms in the 2008 season and said seven would strengthen into hurricanes.

December 9-10 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 77
Honolulu, Oahu – 80
Kaneohe, Oahu – 79
Kahului, Maui – 84
Hilo, Hawaii – 79
Kailua-kona – 81

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

Port Allen, Kauai – 81F
Molokai airport – 69F

Haleakala Crater    – 46  (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 39  (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:

0.57 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.02 Poamoho 2, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.03 Hana airport, Maui
0.49 Kealakekua, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a low far NW of the area will deepen rapidly and move SE at 10 kt through this evening, then move away to the northwest. A front will move SE at 25 kt and enter the NW waters Thursday. The front will stall over the central waters Thursday night, then move west slowly.

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
      

 
  Nene Goose…Hawaiian state bird
Photo Credit: Flikr.com
 

The trade winds are gone, becoming southeast to south now into Wednesday. They are coming out of the southeast, although will turn the corner soon, veering around to the south, and then fully to the southwest later Wednesday….at least from Oahu to Kauai. As these winds clock around the compass dial, we’ll see volcanic haze get carried up from the three vents on the Big Island, onwards to Maui County, and perhaps beyond. As a large Kona low pressure system gets closer, Wednesday night into Thursday, our winds will be on an upward trend in strength, becoming stronger from the opposite direction than the more usual trade winds. The winds will arrive along the leeward sides of the islands, and be quite blustery.

A wide streak of high and middle level clouds has been moving through the state recently, which is now clearing the Big Island. This area of cirrus has been filtering and dimming our Hawaiian sunshine the last couple of days. As this satellite image shows, the back edge has already cleared Kauai, Oahu, and the islands of Maui County…and now the Big Island. Looking to the northwest, we see another area of high clouds, along with a line of lower level clouds as well…and then another frontal looking band beyond that to the NW. As this forecast weather map shows, in 48 hours we’ll have a major Kona low pressure system sitting just to the northwest of Kauai. The counterclockwise air circulation around this low, will bring in the windy weather, and the rainfall riding in on those Kona winds.

This 72 hour forecast chart shows a cold front bearing down on the state. The big question at this point is just how far this frontal cloud band will exert itself into the state? If it stalls near Kauai, then that island will receive the most rainfall. If on the other hand, it were to remain strong enough to reach Oahu, or even Mau…then a period of potentially heavy rainfall would travel down the island chain with it. Beyond all of this, the models show our winds generally staying southeast, with a trough of low pressure to the west. This may keep hazy weather over us well into next week. It looks like a second Kona low pressure system may form to the west of Kauai next week, which could bring more showers to the western side of the state then. It appears like we won’t see much of the trade winds for quite some time.

It’s early Tuesday evening here in Kihei, Maui, as I get ready to take the drive upcountry to Kula. All of the information above describes well what we think might happen over the next week or so. This is the best guess, although as is always the case, things change, and we may need to go back to the drawing boards…with an eraser that works well! There will definitely be some fine tuning going on as we get deeper into the work week. It’s virtually impossible to get every aspect of the weather correct, at least ahead of time. I will be back again very early Wednesday morning with the next new set of updates. I hope you have a great Tuesday night, and a start to your Wednesday morning, until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Why do some species of birds lay only one egg in their nest, while others lay 10 or more? A global study of the wide variation among birds in this trait, known as the "clutch size," now provides biologists with some answers. The study, published in the current issue of the journal PLoS Biology, combined data on the clutch sizes of 5,290 species of birds with information on the biology and environment of each of these species. "With this approach, we were able to explain a major proportion of the global variation in clutch size and also to predict with high confidence the average clutch size for types of birds living and breeding in certain environments," said Walter Jetz, an associate professor of biology at UC San Diego and the senior author of the study.

"For example, cavity nesters, such as woodpeckers, have larger clutches than open-nesting species. And species in seasonal environments, especially those living at northern latitudes, have larger clutches than tropical birds." Clutch size in birds and reptiles has long been studied by biologists, who have found generally that species that are short-lived or have a low survival rate among their offspring tend to lay more eggs at one time to increase the chances of having surviving offspring. In contrast, longer-lived species or those with a higher survival rate among offspring tend to lay fewer eggs in their nests and invest more time and effort in raising their offspring. However, the reasons why one species of bird may lay one egg and another 10 are more complex because clutch sizes can vary widely between closely related species due to variations in their environment, nutrition, health and predation.

Interesting2: Modern day concentrations of ground level ozone pollution are decreasing the growth of trees in the northern and temperate mid-latitudes, as shown in a paper publishing December 9 in Global Change Biology. Tree growth, measured in biomass, is already 7% less than the late 1800s, and this is set to increase to a 17% reduction by the end of the century. Ozone pollution is four times greater now than prior to the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1700s; if modern dependence on fossil fuels continues at the current pace, future ozone concentrations will be at least double current levels by the end of this century with the capacity to further decrease the growth of trees.

The study is the first statistical summary of individual experimental measurements of how ozone will damage the productivity of trees, including data from 263 peer-reviewed scientific publications. Ozone is the third strongest greenhouse gas, directly contributing to global warming, and is the air pollutant considered to be the most damaging to plants. But more importantly, it has the potential to leave more carbon dioxide, ranked as the first strongest greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere by decreasing carbon assimilation in trees. Ozone pollution occurs when nitrogen oxides have a photochemical reaction with volatile organic compounds.

Interesting3: New images of rock layers at Mars’ surface have given scientists evidence of climate swings on ancient Mars that were driven by the wobbling of the red planet’s axis — the same mechanism that causes Earth’s ice age cycles. The stereo topographic maps of rock outcrops within four craters of Mars’ Arabia Terra region were obtained by the high-resolution camera onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is still circling the planet. The team looked at the layering of deposits of sedimentary rocks in the outcrops to see if they could discern any patterns. The layers were a few meters (yards) to tens of meters thick. At Becquerel crater, the researchers found an alternating pattern of layers within layers that suggests that each one formed over a period of about 100,000 years as a result of cyclical climate changes. These cycles are a result of the changing degree of tilt of Mars’ orbital axis, the imaginary line running between a planet’s two poles around which it rotates, said study leader Kevin Lewis, a graduate student at Caltech. "Due to the scale of the layers, small variations in Mars’s orbit are the best candidate for the implied climate changes," Lewis said. "These are the very same changes that have been shown to set the pacing of ice ages on the Earth and can also lead to cyclic layering of sediments." The study is detailed in the Dec. 5 issue of the journal Science.

Interesting4: Still debating on whether to go real or artificial for this year’s Christmas tree? According to Newswise, the winner is that old-fashioned, living, breathing, carbon-sequestering noble fir (or any living Christmas tree, for that matter). Clint Springer, Ph.D., a botanist and global warming expert at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, said that when making the choice, environmental impact should be at the top of your list. While many consumers may think they are considering the environment when purchasing a fake tree, they may not understand the entire footprint of that PVC tree. Also, given the current economic climate, artificial trees may be appealing for their "investment" appeal, whereas a real tree is a recurrent, annual expense.

For artificial trees, the rub lies in their fabrication. First of all, to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, you need petroleum, a non-renewable, carbon-emitting resource. There’s also a release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) during their manufacture, processing and shipping. Also, don’t let the word "plastic" fool you, artificial tress are not recyclable. "Another huge drawback to fake trees is that eventually, they will end up in a landfill where they will linger in the environment forever, whereas live trees are recycled and made into mulch," Springer explains. Sure, spending a couple hundred dollars for a purchase that you could potentially use many years over sounds appealing.

However, Springer says the choice to go "live" helps the economy more, considering the Christmas tree industry brings in over $500 million annually, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. "For example, Pennsylvania boasts more Christmas tree farms than any other state – while most artificial trees are produced in China," he says. "An expenditure on a live tree results in a carbon neutral purchase that poses very little environmental threat, while injecting money into the domestic economy," said Springer. For Springer, the ideal tree is raised organically, eliminating any pollution from pesticides, fertilizers or herbicides. Also, this organic tree is raised somewhere near to the consumer, to reduce GHG emissions in transport.

Interesting5: The latest image of sea-surface height measurements from the U.S./French Jason-1 oceanography satellite shows the Pacific Ocean remains locked in a strong, cool phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a large, long-lived pattern of climate variability in the Pacific associated with a general cooling of Pacific waters. The image also confirms that El Niño and La Niña remain absent from the tropical Pacific. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation is a long-term fluctuation of the Pacific Ocean that waxes and wanes between cool and warm phases approximately every five to 20 years. In the present cool phase, higher-than-normal sea-surface heights caused by warm water form a horseshoe pattern that connects the north, west and southern Pacific. This is in contrast to a cool wedge of lower-than-normal sea-surface heights spreading from the Americas into the eastern equatorial Pacific. During most of the 1980s and 1990s, the Pacific was locked in the oscillation’s warm phase, during which these warm and cool regions are reversed

"This multi-year Pacific Decadal Oscillation ‘cool’ trend can cause La Niña-like impacts around the Pacific basin," said Bill Patzert, an oceanographer and climatologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The present cool phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation will have significant implications for shifts in marine ecosystems, and for land temperature and rainfall patterns around the Pacific basin." According to Nathan Mantua of the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington, Seattle, whose research contributed to the early understanding of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, "Even with the strong La Niña event fading in the tropics last spring, the North Pacific’s sea surface temperature anomaly pattern has remained strongly negative since last fall. This cool phase will likely persist this winter and, perhaps, beyond. Historically, this situation has been associated with favorable ocean conditions for the return of U.S. west coast Coho and Chinook salmon, but it translates to low odds for abundant winter/spring precipitation in the southwest (including Southern California)."

December 8-9 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 78
Honolulu, Oahu – 82
Kaneohe, Oahu – 79
Kahului, Maui – 85
Hilo, Hawaii – 80
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:

Kailua-kona – 80F
Lihue, Kauai – 74F

Haleakala Crater    – 52  (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:

0.18 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.32 Manoa Lyon Aroretum, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.24 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.18 Glenwood, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a shear line has stalled north of the islands, and will weaken later today. A strong low will develop far northwest of the state Wednesday, and will push a front across Kauai Thursday. The low will move northwest, and the front will weaken, Friday and Saturday.

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
      

 
  Humpback whales…offshore from Maui
Photo Credit: Flikr.com
 

We’ll find generally light trade winds blowing, gradually turning to the southeast Tuesday. A high pressure ridge remains to the northeast of our islands Monday evening, which will allow the light trade winds to continue for a while longer. A frontal cloud band will get closer to Kauai, but stall before arriving. This however will turn our winds to the southeast, which may pull up volcanic haze from the Big Island…over other parts of the state eventually. Kona winds will become stronger from the south and southwest later Wednesday over Kauai and Oahu, as a deep low pressure system moves into place northwest of the islands. This low will cause unsettled weather, at times quite gusty later Wednesday into Friday, perhaps into Saturday…especially on the Kauai end of the island chain.

The atmosphere will remain quite dry and stable for the time being, limiting our showers everywhere through the better part of Tuesday. There may be a few windward biased showers through this period, but nothing much. There may be an increase in showers on Kauai or even Oahu…perhaps as early as Tuesday afternoon. We’ll see increased moisture being drawn-up over that end of the state on the strengthening south to southwest Kona winds later Wednesday into Friday. This will bring locally heavy rain over Kauai and Oahu, which may or may not reach the other islands. The weather conditions this coming weekend seem to be edging towards improving weather later Saturday into Sunday…into early next week.

This satellite image, shows the high level cirrus clouds dropping southward over the islands now. These icy clouds are famous for bringing colorful sunset and sunrise colors to Hawaii…keep an eye out!

It’s early Monday evening here in Kihei, Maui. This new work week will start off in a gentle way, then end up wet and windy! The second half of this week will see a definite increase in rainfall, and strong and gusty winds, starting later Wednesday into Friday…particularly over Kauai and Oahu. We’ll find these gusty winds streaming up from the deeper tropics, which will be carrying off and on heavy precipitation our way for several days. What’s called a Kona low pressure system, is modeled to form to the northwest of Kauai by Wednesday morning. This deep low pressure system will push a vigorous Pacific cold front down into the state Thursday and Friday, with heavy rainfall and strong and gusty winds ahead of, and along its boundary. This will bring inclement weather conditions over us, and definitely catch our attention…again especially over Kauai and Oahu! ~~~ The latest computer forecast models are starting to edge this inclement weather system a bit further to the west. This in turn puts the Big Island end of the island chain somewhat less in threat of the gusty winds and heavy rains. This may change over the next couple of days, but for now it looks like Maui and the Big Island will see less rainfall in general. ~~~ The satellite image just up the page from here (actually just above this long paragraph) shows considerable high cirrus clouds dropping down over the state. Looking out the window at the moment, those cirrus clouds have gotten much thicker than they were this morning. Monday was a pretty nice day, although as we move forward, conditions will be breaking down, as the Kona low pressure system gets closer by mid-week. This situation warrants a close inspection, and I will remain focused on this event like a hawk from here on out. I will return very early Tuesday morning with more information on this, bringing you up to speed in that regard then. I hope you have a great Monday night! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: The planet’s present day greenhouse problem, carbon dioxide, may have played a vital role in helping ancient Earth to escape from complete glaciation, say scientists in a paper published online today. In their review for Nature Geoscience, UK scientists claim that the Earth never froze over completely during the Cryogenian Period, about 840 to 635 million years ago. This is contrary to the Snowball Earth hypothesis, which envisages a fully frozen Earth that was locked in ice for many millions of years as a result of a runaway chain reaction that caused the planet to cool. What enabled the Earth to escape from a complete freeze is not certain, but the UK scientists in their review point to recent research carried out at the University of Toronto.

This speculates that the advancing ice was stalled by the interaction of the physical climate system and the carbon cycle of the ocean, with carbon dioxide playing a key role in insulating the planet. The Toronto scientists say that as Earth’s temperatures cooled, oxygen was drawn into the ocean, where it oxidized organic matter, releasing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The review’s lead author, Professor Phillip Allen, from Imperial College London’s Department of Earth Science and Engineering, says that something must have kept the planet’s equatorial oceans from freezing over. He adds: “In the climate change game, carbon dioxide can be both saint and sinner. These days we are so concerned about global warming and the harm that carbon dioxide is doing to our planet. However, approximately 600 million years ago, this greenhouse gas probably saved ancient Earth and its basic life forms from an icy extinction.

Interesting2: Scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego returning from research expeditions in Mexico, have captured unprecedented details of vibrant sea life and ecosystems in the Gulf of California, including documentations of new species and marine animals previously never seen alive. Yet the expeditions, which included surveys at unexplored depths, have revealed disturbing declines in sea-life populations and evidence that human impacts have stretched down deeply in the gulf. In one expedition, researchers Exequiel Ezcurra (adjunct professor at Scripps Oceanography and former provost of the San Diego Natural History Museum), Brad Erisman (Scripps postdoctoral researcher) and Octavio Aburto-Oropeza (graduate student researcher) traveled on a three-person submarine to explore marine life in the Gulf of California’s deep-sea reefs and around undersea mountains called seamounts. The DeepSee submersible gave the researchers unique access to environments below 50 meters (164 feet), depths virtually unknown in the gulf because of their inaccessibility below scuba diving levels. “Our investigation resulted in many new discoveries, which included new species of invertebrates and possibly fishes,” said Erisman. “Similarly, we collected and observed species that had not been recorded in the gulf, had never been observed alive or had never been observed at such depths."

Interesting3: Enormous cave bears, Ursus spelaeus, that once inhabited a large swathe of Europe, from Spain to the Urals, died out 27,800 years ago, around 13 millennia earlier than was previously believed, scientists have reported. The new date coincides with a period of significant climate change, known as the Last Glacial Maximum, when a marked cooling in temperature resulted in the reduction or loss of vegetation forming the main component of the cave bears’ diet. In a study published in Boreas, researchers suggest it was this deterioration in food supply that led to the extinction of the cave bear, one of a group of ‘megafauna’ – including woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, giant deer and cave lion – to disappear during the last Ice Age. They found no convincing evidence of human involvement in the disappearance of these bears. The team used both new data and existing records of radiocarbon dating on cave bear remains to construct their chronology for cave bear extinction. "Our work shows that the cave bear, among the megafauna that became extinct during the Last Glacial period in Europe, was one of the earliest to disappear," said Dr Martina Pacher of the Department of Palaeontology at the University of Vienna. "Other, later extinctions happened at different times within the last 15,000 years.

Interesting4: University of California, Berkeley, researchers have shown for the first time that the brains of low-income children function differently from the brains of high-income kids. In a study recently accepted for publication in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, scientists at UC Berkeley’s Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and the School of Public Health report that normal 9- and 10-year-olds differing only in socioeconomic status have detectable differences in the response of their prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is critical for problem solving and creativity.

Brain function was measured by means of an electroencephalograph (EEG) – basically, a cap fitted with electrodes to measure electrical activity in the brain – like that used to assess epilepsy, sleep disorders and brain tumors. "Kids from lower socioeconomic levels show brain physiology patterns similar to someone who actually had damage in the frontal lobe as an adult," said Robert Knight, director of the institute and a UC Berkeley professor of psychology. "We found that kids are more likely to have a low response if they have low socioeconomic status, though not everyone who is poor has low frontal lobe response.

Interesting5: The world economy will likely feel the impact of the global financial turmoil for another three years at least, the 2008 winner of the Nobel economics prize, Paul Krugman, said. "We could easily be talking about a world economy that is depressed into 2011 and even beyond," the Princeton University professor and New York Times columnist said in Stockholm, where he will receive his Nobel prize this week. "The scenario I fear is that we’ll see for the whole world the equivalent of Japan’s lost decade in the 1990s, that we’ll see a world of zero interest rates and inflation and no sign of recovery and it will just go on for a very, very extended period," he said. "On top of that, we’ll have a series of extremely severe crises in particular countries in trouble," he predicted, pointing out that "we certainly see the roots of … Argentina- or Indonesia-style crises … particularly in the European periphery."

As for the United States, Professor Krugman, who has previously said a stimulus plan of at least 4 per cent of the US gross domestic product is needed next year, said today that amount might not be enough. "If you’re serious about the size of the hole that needs to be filled, that’s actually modest," he said, stressing that amount "is not enough to prevent a further decline in the economy. It’s enough to prevent a sharp decline". The falling US housing market, which triggered the global financial crisis, will probably continue to weaken, he said, pointing out that recent estimates show "we have another 10 to 15 per cent to go". Prof Krugman, who won the Nobel prize for his work on the impact of free trade and globalisation, said Washington should not hesitate to spend on infrastructure that would provide long-term benefit to the country, even if it means running up a high deficit in the short term.

Interesting6: Uniquely old tree remains have recently been uncovered by the thawing of the rapidly shrinking Kårsa Glacier west of Abisko in Lapland, in northernmost Sweden. The finds show that in the last 7,000 years it has probably never been so warm as during the last century. “If the area hadn’t been covered by a glacier all these thousands of years, these tree remnants would never have made it. The finds yield information indicating that the 20th century was probably the warmest century in 7,000 years. The fact that the climate is so unique during the last century means that we must question whether this could be 100 percent the result of natural mechanisms,” says Leif Kullman, professor of physical geography, who is directing the project.

Pines and birches grew on the site of the glacier during parts of or perhaps the entire period between 11,800 and 7,000 years ago. This is shown by carbon 14 dating of the remains of trees that have now been uncovered. During that period, the glacier did not continuously exist, and the climate was warmer than at any time afterward. All in all, there are four finds, parts of birch and pine trunks, that have been uncovered under the shrinking glacier in the Lapland mountains. In most cases they are well preserved, but they are degrading rapidly as they come in contact with air and water. As early as 2003, tree remnants of a similar age were found in Sylarna, in Jämtland province. They have completely crumbled into dust at this point. The warmer climate during the last century, which is the reason the tree remnants have now seen the light of day, may therefore be unique in the perspective of many millennia.

Interesting7: On Dec. 31 this year, your day will be just a second longer. Like the more well-known time adjustment, the leap year, a "leap second" is tacked on to clocks every so often to keep them correct. Earth’s trip around the sun — our year with all its seasons — is about 365.2422 days long, which we round to 365 to keep things simpler. But every four years, we add 0.2422 x 4 days (that’s about one day) at the end of the month of February (extending it from 28 to 29 days) to fix the calendar. Likewise, a "leap second" is added on to our clocks every so often to keep them in synch with the somewhat unpredictable nature of our planet’s rotation, the roughly 24-hour whirl that brings the sun into the sky each morning. Historically, time was based on the mean rotation of the Earth relative to celestial bodies and the second was defined from this frame of reference.

But the invention of atomic clocks brought about a definition of a second that is independent of the Earth’s rotation and based on a regular signal emitted by electrons changing energy state within an atom. In 1970, an international agreement established two timescales: one based on the rotation of the Earth and one based on atomic time. The problem is that the Earth is very gradually slowing down, continually throwing the two timescales out of synch, so every so often, a "leap second" has to be tacked on to the atomic clock. The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service is the organization that monitors the difference in the two timescales and calls for leap seconds to be inserted or removed when necessary. Since 1972, leap seconds have been added at intervals varying from six months to seven years — the most recent was inserted on Dec. 31, 2005.

December 7-8 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 78
Honolulu, Oahu – 80
Kaneohe, Oahu – 78
Kahului, Maui – 83
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
Kailua-kona – 82

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

Kahului, Maui – 81F
Molokai airport – 76F

Haleakala Crater    – 54  (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 39  (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 Sunday afternoon:

0.05 Moloaa Dairy, Kauai
0.27 Poamoho 2, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.28 Kahoolawe
0.20 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.05 Pahoa, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a surface ridge about 200 nautical miles, north of Kauai, which will be nearly stationary through today. An approaching shear line will stall just north of the ridge later today, and weaken north of the islands Tuesday.

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
      

 
  Another nice day
Photo Credit: Flikr.com
 

We’ll find generally light easterly trade winds, gradually turning to the east-southeast on Tuesday. A high pressure ridge remains to the north and northwest of Kauai Sunday evening, which will allow the light trade winds to continue for a while longer. A cold front will get closer to Kauai later Monday into Tuesday…but stall before arriving. Kona winds will become stronger from the south and southwest during the second half of the week…as a deep low moves into place northwest of Kauai. 

The atmosphere will remain quite dry and stable for the time being, limiting our showers just about everywhere through Tuesday. There will be a fairly major increase in showers on Kauai starting later Wednesday, as moisture gets drawn-up over that end of the state on the freshening south to southwest Kona winds. The cold front mentioned in the first paragraph, gets pushed in our direction by a second frontal boundary on Thursday. This will bring locally heavy rain towards Kauai and Oahu, reaching Maui and the Big Island on Friday.

It’s early Sunday evening here in Kula, Maui.  The details are described above, but the second half of the upcoming week will see a definite increase in rainfall, and strong and gusty winds, starting Wednesday into Friday. We’ll find these gusty winds streaming up from the deeper tropics, which will be carrying the expected heavy precipitation our way for 2-3 days. The chance of this happening is now more likely, and will be a force to reckon with at times. This may turn out to be quite a blow, along with locally gusty to very gusty winds, along with possible embedded thunderstorms. ~~~ Sunday turned out to be quite a nice day, with lots of sunshine and afternoon cloudy periods, especially around the mountains. Here in Kula, it was cloudy, but no afternoon showers fell. Looking down towards the beaches, it seemed to remain sunny most of the day. I’m often telling you about how cool it is up here in Kula, at the 3,000 foot elevation, during my early morning updates. It’s now right around 5pm Sunday evening, and it’s a pleasant 63.1F degrees. For contrast, down at the Kahului airport, about a 22 minute drive down the mountain, at the same time, it was a sunny and warmer 81F degrees. There seems to be some high level cirrus clouds coming our way from the northwest this evening, here’s a satellite image of those high icy clouds. ~~~ I’ll be back very early Monday morning, with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a very pleasant Sunday night wherever you happen to be reading from! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Between 1998 and 2007, India has lost more people due to extreme weather events caused by climate change than any other country, with an average of 4,532 people killed every year, a well-known German NGO has calculated. The monetary losses were an average of $12 billion a year in terms of purchasing power parity, representing 0.62 percent of India’s GDP, added Sven Harmeling of Germanwatch here Thursday. Releasing his findings on the sidelines of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) summit in this western Poland town, Harmeling said if one took into account average death, deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, average total losses and average losses as percentage of GDP, India would rank seventh among countries most affected by extreme weather events in the last decade. Germanwatch had created an index with these four factors, by which Honduras was the country worst affected in the last decade, followed by Bangladesh.

The benchmark Fourth Assessment Report brought out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 had said extreme weather events such as more frequent and more severe droughts, floods and storms were strongly correlated to climate change caused by global warming. Harmeling said 2,502 Indians had been killed by extreme weather events in 2007 alone. But other countries had suffered worse, which placed India 19th among the list of countries affected last year. Around 9,000 delegates from 186 countries and over 400 NGOs are attending the UNFCCC summit. Harmeling said that since climate change was now an ongoing reality, countries had to step up their risk management systems in every way.

Interesting2:

The Big Three were late to the hybrid party, but they’re finally getting into the swing of things with cars like the 39-mpg Ford Fusion Hybrid, a car that should make Toyota nervous and might just help Ford escape the apocalypse in Detroit. The 2010 hybrid Fusion and Mercury Milan, its fraternal twin, build on Ford’s experience with the cute-ute Escape Hybrid but advance the technology by making it lighter, more powerful and more efficient. The two gas-electric mid-size sedans offer strong evidence that Ford is serious about building fuel-efficient vehicles, and they’re one reason Ford’s future isn’t as bleak as those of General Motors and Chrysler. Ford makes no bones about the two hybrids being aimed squarely at the Toyota Camry Hybrid. Considering they offer better all-electric performance and superior fuel economy, they might just take the Camry down.

Interesting3:

It was recently discovered that a fungus found in the PatagonianRain Forest in South America could potentially be used to fuel vehicles in the future.  Yes, you heard right – Patagonian fungus, the next biofuel. Researchers claim that the fungus, Gliocladium roseum, has the ability to produce a plethora of unique combinations of hydrogen and carbon molecules unlike any organism in the world, and the product is remarkably similar to the diesel we use to fuel our cars.  And, according to a recently published issue of Microbiology, scientists are currently working to develop its fuel producing potential.  So, someday, we might be filling up our cars tanks with hydrocarbons derived from fungus instead of fossil fuel!  The fungus is reported to hold several properties that far exceed current biofuel sources. Current biofuel sources have to refined before being converted into biofuel, a painstaking and not always environmentally friendly process. 

The fungus has a clear advantage over these biofuels because it produces “myco-diesel” directly from cellulose.  The shortened production process means a reduction in costs and carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Because current biofuels are derived mostly from food crops that are required to be grown and harvested on farmland, they have a substantial impact on food supply and prices.  The fungus, however, can be grown in factories, eliminating any such impacts.  Oddly enough, this remarkable discovery was the result of serendipity.  Dr. Gary Strobel, a professor at MontanaStateUniversity, first collected the fungus years before.  It was after sophisticated examination that he unexpectedly discovered its unique “myco-diesel” properties. Perhaps one day, the fungus will sit right up there next to the telephone or penicillin as one of the most useful discoveries made by accident.

Interesting4: Polar dinosaurs such as the 3.3-ton duckbill Edmontosaurus are thought by some paleontologists to have been champion migrators to avoid the cold, dark season. But a study now claims that most of these beasts preferred to stick closer to home despite potentially deadly winter weather. While some polar dinosaurs may have migrated, their treks were much shorter than previously thought, University of Alberta researchers Phil Bell and Eric Snively conclude from a recent review of past research on the animals and their habitat. Polar dinosaurs include hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, tyrannosaurs, troodontids, hypsilophodontids, ankylosaurs, prosauropods, sauropods, ornithomimids and oviraptorosaurs.

This idea goes against a once-popular "Happy Wanderers" theory published in 1980 by paleontologist Nicholas Hotton III, who thought that long-distance migration allowed polar dinosaurs to escape the coldest winter temperatures. Hotton and others suggested that some dinosaurs living near the North Pole followed the centrally shifting sunlight, or latitudinal "sun line" where the sun ceases to rise for part of the year, as part of their migration. That would mean the animals might travel as far as 30 degrees of latitude, or 1,980 miles (3,200 kilometers) one way, in order to survive and avoid the total darkness of a polar winter. "There are strong opinions regarding dinosaur migration, but we decided to take a different approach, looking at variables such as energy requirements," Bell said.

Interesting5: Older people tend to feel about 13 years younger than their chronological age, a new study finds. The seniors in the study, all 70 and over, also thought they looked about 10 years younger than their numerical age, with women perceiving their appearances to be closer to their actual age than men. "People generally felt quite a bit younger than they actually were, and they also showed relatively high levels of satisfaction with aging over the time period studied," said researcher Jacqui Smith, a psychologist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. She added, "Perhaps feeling about 13 years younger is an optimal illusion in old age." The results, which will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Science, have implications beyond the psychological.

Past research has shown that feeling youthful is linked with better health and longer life, the researchers say. Smith and her colleagues analyzed information collected from surveys of 516 men and women age 70 and older who participated in the Berlin Aging Study. The survey tracked how seniors’ perceptions about age and their satisfaction with aging changed over a six-year period ending in 1998. (Even though the study was conducted on Berlin residents, Smith said the same results should apply to Americans. And in fact her recent research on Americans is showing similar results.) Some of the oldest participants actually felt even younger than the average delightful self-deception in the study. This could be due to the fact that individuals on the older side, say 85, experienced less overall decline with age. And that’s why they survived, while their 70-year-old counterparts perhaps didn’t have so much longer to live.

Interesting6: A slow-moving tongue of molten rock that recently broke off from the main flow of lava on the Big Island is inching its way closer to the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and, not far from there, the Pacific Ocean. The swath of lava is just west of the main flow that has for years run toward what is called the Waikupanaha ocean entry on the island’s southeast side. Jim Kauahikaua, scientist-in-charge of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said the new flow is likely to breach the national park boundary later this week. "It’s not a terribly threatening flow," he said. National Park Service officials are gearing up for the flow to cross onto federal land but are hesitant to predict when or whether it will crawl another mile to reach the ocean. "It’s a dynamic and unpredictable phenomenon," said park ranger Mardie Lane, noting the flow also could stop and crust over or turn in another direction.

On Monday, Geological Survey volcanologists walked along the perimeter of the flow with hand-held global positioning system devices to measure its location. It had moved several hundred feet in three directions since the previous measurement 10 days before. The swath measured a mile or more across. The public will not be prohibited from accessing park service land once the lava begins moving over the park boundary. But Lane stressed that to do so would be highly unwise. For one, Chain of Craters Road ends about six miles from where the lava is expected to go, she said. Hikers would then have to traverse hot, humid, shadeless and rocky terrain that contains no public services. They also might have to cope with vog – a mixture of sulfur dioxide and other volcanic gases that chemically interact with sunlight, oxygen, moisture and dust – and lava haze from molten rock striking sea water at the Waikupanaha ocean entry, she added. One park ranger is now posted three days a week at the end of Chain of Craters Road, and more could be sent if the lava crosses the park border. No lava has reached national park land since last year.

December 6-7 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 78
Honolulu, Oahu – 81
Kaneohe, Oahu – 79
Kahului, Maui – 86
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
Kailua-kona – 82

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the highest mountains…at 5 p.m. Saturday evening:

Kahului, Maui – 80F
Hilo, Hawaii – 75F

Haleakala Crater    – 50  (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 37  (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:

0.10 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.16 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.16 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.06 Kamuela Upper, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a weak ridge of high pressure moving down over the islands, with lighter south to southeast breezes through 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
      

 
  A nice beach on Kauai…looking out to sea
Photo Credit: Flikr.com
 

Our relatively short period of trade winds is now ending, replaced by light south to southeast breezes, although with continued fair weather. A high pressure ridge is moving southward, as a weak cold front approaches Kauai. This has caused a slacking-off of our trade winds. The return of light south to southeast winds Sunday and Monday, will bring back volcanic haze to some parts of the state. This cold front will get close to Kauai later Monday into Tuesday. Winds will become stronger from the south and southwest during the second half of the new week…as a deep low moves into place northwest of Kauai.

The breezes return to the south and southeast later Sunday, when we may see clouds, and a few showers arriving along our leeward sides into Monday. There will be a further increase in showers near Kauai Tuesday…as a cold front ends its trek into the tropics. The latest model runs continue to show the potential for considerably wetter weather, especially on the Kauai end of the state, starting Thursday. This will result from a storm that dips down from the northwest, into the area NW of Kauai. These Kona rains will recede to the west, as trade winds push back into the state next weekend.

It’s early Saturday evening here in Kula, Maui.  Saturday was a lovely day here in the islands! There was considerable sunshine beaming down over the beaches, while some minor clouds formed over and around the mountains during the afternoon hours. I see little change taking place Sunday, and perhaps right into Monday, although with the winds coming up from the south and southeast…we may start to see the return of volcanic haze. The details are described above, but the second half of the upcoming work week will see a definite increase in rainfall by Thursday into Friday. ~~~ I have been much more social the last two days, than I normally am! Friday I went to two social functions, and today, another two. I went to the Haleakala Waldorf School Crafts Faire Saturday morning, with a friend I haven’t seen in over a year. This is an old buddy of mine, who drove us in a red Austin Mini Cooper, not one of the new ones you see around, but a very old one, although in excellent condition…with the drivers seat on the right hand side! We enjoyed walking around, and talking to some old friends who have lived on Maui for a long time. ~~~ I then went down shopping in Paia, and stopped off in Makawao for bananas. For some reason I started walking around a little, and ended up sitting down for a little outdoor concert, of sorts, with Hawaiian music, Christmas kind, and a beautiful hula dancer too. I was sort of proud of myself for being so social, and enjoyed being away from home so much during the day. I’m a cancer, astrologically, and find the home front very comfortable, and have a tendency to hunker-in during the weekends. ~~~ At any rate, I’m home now, getting ready to head down out of this weather tower, to my kitchen below. I have some nice BBQ chicken for dinner, and am hungry as can be. I hope you have a great Saturday night, until I return here Sunday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. This next update not be at the crack of dawn, as its Sunday, and I may allow myself to sleep in a little. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Between 1998 and 2007, India has lost more people due to extreme weather events caused by climate change than any other country, with an average of 4,532 people killed every year, a well-known German NGO has calculated. The monetary losses were an average of $12 billion a year in terms of purchasing power parity, representing 0.62 percent of India’s GDP, added Sven Harmeling of Germanwatch here Thursday. Releasing his findings on the sidelines of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) summit in this western Poland town, Harmeling said if one took into account average death, deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, average total losses and average losses as percentage of GDP, India would rank seventh among countries most affected by extreme weather events in the last decade. Germanwatch had created an index with these four factors, by which Honduras was the country worst affected in the last decade, followed by Bangladesh.

The benchmark Fourth Assessment Report brought out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 had said extreme weather events such as more frequent and more severe droughts, floods and storms were strongly correlated to climate change caused by global warming. Harmeling said 2,502 Indians had been killed by extreme weather events in 2007 alone. But other countries had suffered worse, which placed India 19th among the list of countries affected last year. Around 9,000 delegates from 186 countries and over 400 NGOs are attending the UNFCCC summit. Harmeling said that since climate change was now an ongoing reality, countries had to step up their risk management systems in every way.

Interesting2:

The Big Three were late to the hybrid party, but they’re finally getting into the swing of things with cars like the 39-mpg Ford Fusion Hybrid, a car that should make Toyota nervous and might just help Ford escape the apocalypse in Detroit. The 2010 hybrid Fusion and Mercury Milan, its fraternal twin, build on Ford’s experience with the cute-ute Escape Hybrid but advance the technology by making it lighter, more powerful and more efficient. The two gas-electric mid-size sedans offer strong evidence that Ford is serious about building fuel-efficient vehicles, and they’re one reason Ford’s future isn’t as bleak as those of General Motors and Chrysler. Ford makes no bones about the two hybrids being aimed squarely at the Toyota Camry Hybrid. Considering they offer better all-electric performance and superior fuel economy, they might just take the Camry down.

Interesting3:

It was recently discovered that a fungus found in the PatagonianRain Forest in South America could potentially be used to fuel vehicles in the future.  Yes, you heard right – Patagonian fungus, the next biofuel. Researchers claim that the fungus, Gliocladium roseum, has the ability to produce a plethora of unique combinations of hydrogen and carbon molecules unlike any organism in the world, and the product is remarkably similar to the diesel we use to fuel our cars.  And, according to a recently published issue of Microbiology, scientists are currently working to develop its fuel producing potential.  So, someday, we might be filling up our cars tanks with hydrocarbons derived from fungus instead of fossil fuel!  The fungus is reported to hold several properties that far exceed current biofuel sources. Current biofuel sources have to refined before being converted into biofuel, a painstaking and not always environmentally friendly process. 

The fungus has a clear advantage over these biofuels because it produces “myco-diesel” directly from cellulose.  The shortened production process means a reduction in costs and carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Because current biofuels are derived mostly from food crops that are required to be grown and harvested on farmland, they have a substantial impact on food supply and prices.  The fungus, however, can be grown in factories, eliminating any such impacts.  Oddly enough, this remarkable discovery was the result of serendipity.  Dr. Gary Strobel, a professor at MontanaStateUniversity, first collected the fungus years before.  It was after sophisticated examination that he unexpectedly discovered its unique “myco-diesel” properties. Perhaps one day, the fungus will sit right up there next to the telephone or penicillin as one of the most useful discoveries made by accident.

Interesting4: Polar dinosaurs such as the 3.3-ton duckbill Edmontosaurus are thought by some paleontologists to have been champion migrators to avoid the cold, dark season. But a study now claims that most of these beasts preferred to stick closer to home despite potentially deadly winter weather. While some polar dinosaurs may have migrated, their treks were much shorter than previously thought, University of Alberta researchers Phil Bell and Eric Snively conclude from a recent review of past research on the animals and their habitat. Polar dinosaurs include hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, tyrannosaurs, troodontids, hypsilophodontids, ankylosaurs, prosauropods, sauropods, ornithomimids and oviraptorosaurs.

This idea goes against a once-popular "Happy Wanderers" theory published in 1980 by paleontologist Nicholas Hotton III, who thought that long-distance migration allowed polar dinosaurs to escape the coldest winter temperatures. Hotton and others suggested that some dinosaurs living near the North Pole followed the centrally shifting sunlight, or latitudinal "sun line" where the sun ceases to rise for part of the year, as part of their migration. That would mean the animals might travel as far as 30 degrees of latitude, or 1,980 miles (3,200 kilometers) one way, in order to survive and avoid the total darkness of a polar winter. "There are strong opinions regarding dinosaur migration, but we decided to take a different approach, looking at variables such as energy requirements," Bell said.

Interesting5: Older people tend to feel about 13 years younger than their chronological age, a new study finds. The seniors in the study, all 70 and over, also thought they looked about 10 years younger than their numerical age, with women perceiving their appearances to be closer to their actual age than men. "People generally felt quite a bit younger than they actually were, and they also showed relatively high levels of satisfaction with aging over the time period studied," said researcher Jacqui Smith, a psychologist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. She added, "Perhaps feeling about 13 years younger is an optimal illusion in old age." The results, which will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Science, have implications beyond the psychological.

Past research has shown that feeling youthful is linked with better health and longer life, the researchers say. Smith and her colleagues analyzed information collected from surveys of 516 men and women age 70 and older who participated in the Berlin Aging Study. The survey tracked how seniors’ perceptions about age and their satisfaction with aging changed over a six-year period ending in 1998. (Even though the study was conducted on Berlin residents, Smith said the same results should apply to Americans. And in fact her recent research on Americans is showing similar results.) Some of the oldest participants actually felt even younger than the average delightful self-deception in the study. This could be due to the fact that individuals on the older side, say 85, experienced less overall decline with age. And that’s why they survived, while their 70-year-old counterparts perhaps didn’t have so much longer to live.

Interesting6: A slow-moving tongue of molten rock that recently broke off from the main flow of lava on the Big Island is inching its way closer to the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and, not far from there, the Pacific Ocean. The swath of lava is just west of the main flow that has for years run toward what is called the Waikupanaha ocean entry on the island’s southeast side. Jim Kauahikaua, scientist-in-charge of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said the new flow is likely to breach the national park boundary later this week. "It’s not a terribly threatening flow," he said. National Park Service officials are gearing up for the flow to cross onto federal land but are hesitant to predict when or whether it will crawl another mile to reach the ocean. "It’s a dynamic and unpredictable phenomenon," said park ranger Mardie Lane, noting the flow also could stop and crust over or turn in another direction.

On Monday, Geological Survey volcanologists walked along the perimeter of the flow with hand-held global positioning system devices to measure its location. It had moved several hundred feet in three directions since the previous measurement 10 days before. The swath measured a mile or more across. The public will not be prohibited from accessing park service land once the lava begins moving over the park boundary. But Lane stressed that to do so would be highly unwise. For one, Chain of Craters Road ends about six miles from where the lava is expected to go, she said. Hikers would then have to traverse hot, humid, shadeless and rocky terrain that contains no public services. They also might have to cope with vog – a mixture of sulfur dioxide and other volcanic gases that chemically interact with sunlight, oxygen, moisture and dust – and lava haze from molten rock striking sea water at the Waikupanaha ocean entry, she added. One park ranger is now posted three days a week at the end of Chain of Craters Road, and more could be sent if the lava crosses the park border. No lava has reached national park land since last year.

December 5-6 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 78
Honolulu, Oahu – 82
Kaneohe, Oahu – 78
Kahului, Maui – 82
Hilo, Hawaii – 80
Kailua-kona – 82

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

Port Allen, Kauai – 81F
Molokai airport – 75F

Haleakala Crater    – 46  (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 Friday afternoon:

0.02 Hanapepe, Kauai
0.04 Waimanalo, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.07 West Wailuaiki, Maui
0.52 Waiakea Uka, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a weak ridge of high pressure just north of the state, which will provide trade winds to the islands into Saturday. The ridge will move south to near Kauai Saturday night. It will then recede eastward Sunday night as a front approaches the state from the northwest. The dissipating front will be near Kauai Monday with only its remnant expected near the state on Tuesday.

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
      

 
  Nice weather here in the islands!
Photo Credit: Flikr.com
 

The trade winds will continue into Saturday, before giving way to lighter southeast breezes Sunday into early in the new week ahead. A high pressure ridge is located north of Kauai Friday evening, providing a firm trade wind flow. This has allowed better visibilities, now which will last through at least the first half of the upcoming weekend…the one exception will be parts of the Big Island. We expect more light southeast winds Sunday, which may bring the volcanic haze back then. The winds will remain from the southeast moving into early in the new week, ahead of a cold front forecast to arrive near Kauai around Tuesday. Winds may become stronger from the south and southwest during the second half of next week…we call these Kona winds

The trade winds will bring a few passing showers to the windward coasts and slopes, with generally dry weather elsewhere through Saturday into Sunday. The breezes return to the southeast later this weekend, when we may see afternoon interior clouds and showers forming Sunday into Monday. There may be a further increase in showers Tuesday…as a cold front works its way down to near Kauai. The latest GFS model runs continue to show the potential for considerably wetter weather, especially on the Kauai end of the state, starting next Thursday into Friday. This will result form a storm that dips down from the northwest, into the area NW of Kauai around Thursday.

It’s early Friday evening here in Kihei, Maui.  Looking out the window about an hour before sunset, I see some very minor streaks of high cirrus clouds. These may be substantial enough, that they could reflect a little light as the sun goes down. Here’s a satellite image, showing those few stray high cirrus clouds dropping down over the islands from the north. Otherwise, skies are clear to partly cloudy, with the trade winds blowing nicely. Friday night will continue the string of days sporting nice weather, which should carry forth into the weekend. The way it looks from here, I anticipate that our weather will remain generally favorable through much of the weekend, if not right through the entire day Sunday. Next week looks not bad either, at least through the first half, with Kauai and perhaps Oahu finding most of the showers around Tuesday. Further out, and during the second half of the new week ahead, we could see a significant change, with potentially wetter weather arriving around Thursday. This too looks like it will clip the Kauai end of the island chain, with locally blustery Kona winds…coming up from the south and southwest.  ~~~ I’m about ready to drive over to Wailea with a friend. There’s a couple of friends of ours that are hosting a Christmas toy drive for kids, which is an annual event. They live in a gated fancy community, and serve food and drinks. I’m looking forward to meeting some new people, and doing some socializing, rather than going to see a new film at the theatre, which is my usual Friday night thing. I’ll be back online early Saturday morning with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Friday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn. 

Interesting: Between 1998 and 2007, India has lost more people due to extreme weather events caused by climate change than any other country, with an average of 4,532 people killed every year, a well-known German NGO has calculated. The monetary losses were an average of $12 billion a year in terms of purchasing power parity, representing 0.62 percent of India’s GDP, added Sven Harmeling of Germanwatch here Thursday. Releasing his findings on the sidelines of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) summit in this western Poland town, Harmeling said if one took into account average death, deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, average total losses and average losses as percentage of GDP, India would rank seventh among countries most affected by extreme weather events in the last decade. Germanwatch had created an index with these four factors, by which Honduras was the country worst affected in the last decade, followed by Bangladesh.

The benchmark Fourth Assessment Report brought out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 had said extreme weather events such as more frequent and more severe droughts, floods and storms were strongly correlated to climate change caused by global warming. Harmeling said 2,502 Indians had been killed by extreme weather events in 2007 alone. But other countries had suffered worse, which placed India 19th among the list of countries affected last year. Around 9,000 delegates from 186 countries and over 400 NGOs are attending the UNFCCC summit. Harmeling said that since climate change was now an ongoing reality, countries had to step up their risk management systems in every way.

Interesting2:

The Big Three were late to the hybrid party, but they’re finally getting into the swing of things with cars like the 39-mpg Ford Fusion Hybrid, a car that should make Toyota nervous and might just help Ford escape the apocalypse in Detroit. The 2010 hybrid Fusion and Mercury Milan, its fraternal twin, build on Ford’s experience with the cute-ute Escape Hybrid but advance the technology by making it lighter, more powerful and more efficient. The two gas-electric mid-size sedans offer strong evidence that Ford is serious about building fuel-efficient vehicles, and they’re one reason Ford’s future isn’t as bleak as those of General Motors and Chrysler. Ford makes no bones about the two hybrids being aimed squarely at the Toyota Camry Hybrid. Considering they offer better all-electric performance and superior fuel economy, they might just take the Camry down.

Interesting3:

It was recently discovered that a fungus found in the PatagonianRain Forest in South America could potentially be used to fuel vehicles in the future.  Yes, you heard right – Patagonian fungus, the next biofuel. Researchers claim that the fungus, Gliocladium roseum, has the ability to produce a plethora of unique combinations of hydrogen and carbon molecules unlike any organism in the world, and the product is remarkably similar to the diesel we use to fuel our cars.  And, according to a recently published issue of Microbiology, scientists are currently working to develop its fuel producing potential.  So, someday, we might be filling up our cars tanks with hydrocarbons derived from fungus instead of fossil fuel!  The fungus is reported to hold several properties that far exceed current biofuel sources. Current biofuel sources have to refined before being converted into biofuel, a painstaking and not always environmentally friendly process. 

The fungus has a clear advantage over these biofuels because it produces “myco-diesel” directly from cellulose.  The shortened production process means a reduction in costs and carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Because current biofuels are derived mostly from food crops that are required to be grown and harvested on farmland, they have a substantial impact on food supply and prices.  The fungus, however, can be grown in factories, eliminating any such impacts.  Oddly enough, this remarkable discovery was the result of serendipity.  Dr. Gary Strobel, a professor at MontanaStateUniversity, first collected the fungus years before.  It was after sophisticated examination that he unexpectedly discovered its unique “myco-diesel” properties. Perhaps one day, the fungus will sit right up there next to the telephone or penicillin as one of the most useful discoveries made by accident.

Interesting4: Polar dinosaurs such as the 3.3-ton duckbill Edmontosaurus are thought by some paleontologists to have been champion migrators to avoid the cold, dark season. But a study now claims that most of these beasts preferred to stick closer to home despite potentially deadly winter weather. While some polar dinosaurs may have migrated, their treks were much shorter than previously thought, University of Alberta researchers Phil Bell and Eric Snively conclude from a recent review of past research on the animals and their habitat. Polar dinosaurs include hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, tyrannosaurs, troodontids, hypsilophodontids, ankylosaurs, prosauropods, sauropods, ornithomimids and oviraptorosaurs.

This idea goes against a once-popular "Happy Wanderers" theory published in 1980 by paleontologist Nicholas Hotton III, who thought that long-distance migration allowed polar dinosaurs to escape the coldest winter temperatures. Hotton and others suggested that some dinosaurs living near the North Pole followed the centrally shifting sunlight, or latitudinal "sun line" where the sun ceases to rise for part of the year, as part of their migration. That would mean the animals might travel as far as 30 degrees of latitude, or 1,980 miles (3,200 kilometers) one way, in order to survive and avoid the total darkness of a polar winter. "There are strong opinions regarding dinosaur migration, but we decided to take a different approach, looking at variables such as energy requirements," Bell said.

Interesting5: Older people tend to feel about 13 years younger than their chronological age, a new study finds. The seniors in the study, all 70 and over, also thought they looked about 10 years younger than their numerical age, with women perceiving their appearances to be closer to their actual age than men. "People generally felt quite a bit younger than they actually were, and they also showed relatively high levels of satisfaction with aging over the time period studied," said researcher Jacqui Smith, a psychologist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. She added, "Perhaps feeling about 13 years younger is an optimal illusion in old age." The results, which will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Science, have implications beyond the psychological.

Past research has shown that feeling youthful is linked with better health and longer life, the researchers say. Smith and her colleagues analyzed information collected from surveys of 516 men and women age 70 and older who participated in the Berlin Aging Study. The survey tracked how seniors’ perceptions about age and their satisfaction with aging changed over a six-year period ending in 1998. (Even though the study was conducted on Berlin residents, Smith said the same results should apply to Americans. And in fact her recent research on Americans is showing similar results.) Some of the oldest participants actually felt even younger than the average delightful self-deception in the study. This could be due to the fact that individuals on the older side, say 85, experienced less overall decline with age. And that’s why they survived, while their 70-year-old counterparts perhaps didn’t have so much longer to live.

Interesting6: A slow-moving tongue of molten rock that recently broke off from the main flow of lava on the Big Island is inching its way closer to the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and, not far from there, the Pacific Ocean. The swath of lava is just west of the main flow that has for years run toward what is called the Waikupanaha ocean entry on the island’s southeast side. Jim Kauahikaua, scientist-in-charge of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, said the new flow is likely to breach the national park boundary later this week. "It’s not a terribly threatening flow," he said. National Park Service officials are gearing up for the flow to cross onto federal land but are hesitant to predict when or whether it will crawl another mile to reach the ocean. "It’s a dynamic and unpredictable phenomenon," said park ranger Mardie Lane, noting the flow also could stop and crust over or turn in another direction.

On Monday, Geological Survey volcanologists walked along the perimeter of the flow with hand-held global positioning system devices to measure its location. It had moved several hundred feet in three directions since the previous measurement 10 days before. The swath measured a mile or more across. The public will not be prohibited from accessing park service land once the lava begins moving over the park boundary. But Lane stressed that to do so would be highly unwise. For one, Chain of Craters Road ends about six miles from where the lava is expected to go, she said. Hikers would then have to traverse hot, humid, shadeless and rocky terrain that contains no public services. They also might have to cope with vog – a mixture of sulfur dioxide and other volcanic gases that chemically interact with sunlight, oxygen, moisture and dust – and lava haze from molten rock striking sea water at the Waikupanaha ocean entry, she added. One park ranger is now posted three days a week at the end of Chain of Craters Road, and more could be sent if the lava crosses the park border. No lava has reached national park land since last year.

December 4-5 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 79
Honolulu, Oahu – 84
Kaneohe, Oahu – 79
Kahului, Maui – 83
Hilo, Hawaii – 78
Kailua-kona – 82

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

Honolulu, Oahu – 82F
Molokai airport – 74F

Haleakala Crater    – 54  (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 Thursday afternoon:

0.04 Kalaheo, Kauai
0.44 Oahu Forest NWR, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.02 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.13 Puu Waawaa, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a ridge of high pressure will build north of the state today. The ridge will move south near Kauai Saturday. It will then recede eastward Sunday night as a front approaches the state from the northwest. The dissipating front will be near Kauai Monday with only its remnant expected over the state Tuesday.

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

      

 
  High surf conditions here in the islands
Photo Credit: Flikr.com

A brief period of trade winds, blowing in the light to moderately strong category will continue into the first half of the upcoming weekend. A high pressure ridge is located just north of Kauai Thursday evening, and will be migrating a little further north into Saturday. The volcanic haze is now gone, with much better visibilities through at least the first half of the upcoming weekend…the one exception will be parts of the Big Island. We expect more light southeast winds later Sunday, which may bring the volcanic haze back then. The winds will remain from the south to southeast moving into early next week, ahead of a cold front forecast to arrive over Kauai and perhaps Oahu around Tuesday.

The overlying air mass remains rather dry, limiting the showers along the windward sides for the time being. Now that the trade winds have returned, the bias for showers will shift back over to the windward sides…although showers will be few and far between generally. The breezes return to the southeast later this weekend, when we may see an increase in showers arriving along our leeward coasts and slopes by Sunday into Monday. There may be a further increase in showers Tuesday…as the front works its way down to Oahu. The latest GFS model runs show the potential for considerably more rainy weather, especially on the Kauai end of the state, arriving next Thursday.

The most recent swell has brought the surf back up into Friday. This second large to extra large swell of the week, will cause another round of high surf advisory level surf, with many north shore locations having even larger high surf warning level waves breaking. This high surf event will remain active into the weekend…with more medium to large surf expected at times next week. There have been more than the normal amount of surf along the south shores of Maui down through the Big Island, where Kihei, and the Kona coast on the Big Island should see larger waves too.

It’s early Thursday evening here in Kihei, Maui.  The haze, which has plagued many parts of the Hawaiian Islands the last several days, has now been swept away by the trade winds. The one exception continues to be the Kona side of the Big Island, where thick haze has hung-in, despite the return of trade winds. The relatively big news at the moment, is that the trade winds have returned, which has brought dry and favorably inclined weather conditions to the entire state. The really big news however, continues to be the larger, to much larger than normal high surf surf conditions along our west and north facing beaches. We should see this newest swell train of waves peak out at some point Friday, and then drop going into the weekend. This is a special time to remain well back from the breaking waves along those shores…in other words don’t get to close…we don’t want anyone swept into the ocean! ~~~ Looking out the window here in Kihei, before I take the drive upcountry to Kula, I see more of those high cirrus clouds sneaking in overhead. These bring nice sunset colors, so if you’re here at the moment, keep your eyes peeled for those pink and orange clouds showing their style, as the sun goes down into the western horizon. If they are still around early Friday morning, at sunrise, and you are awake, check those high cirrus clouds out again then. Speaking of early Friday morning, that’s when I’ll be back with your next new weather narrative from paradise. I hope you have a great Thursday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: Soot is darkening ice in the Arctic and speeding a melt that could make the ocean around the North Pole ice-free in summer well before 2050. The experts said the fight against warming in the Arctic should be re-directed to focus more on cutting the industrial pollution from soot, ozone and methane in Europe, North America and Russia to try to prevent the ice disappearing. Soot or black carbon darkens the ice and makes it soak up more heat, accelerating a melt compared to reflective snow and ice. Methane comes sources including oil and gas and agriculture while ozone is formed from industrial pollutants. "Reductions in these pollutants would have a greater impact" in the next two decades than curbing emissions of the main greenhouse gas — carbon dioxide — according to scientists on the sidelines of 187-nation U.N. climate talks in Poland.

The Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world and ice shrank to a record low in 2007, leading to worries that it could pass a point of no return. "The Arctic sea ice may already have passed a ‘tipping point’," said Pam Pearson, an Arctic pollution expert at the Climate Policy Center who presented the findings. "An ice-free summer Arctic is now possible well before 2050." "Some scientists are arguing that it (the Arctic Ocean) could be (ice free) in summer within the next 10 to 20 years," said Bob Watson, a former head of the U.N. Climate Panel who chaired a presentation of the research in Poznan. The three pollutants — soot, ozone and methane — linger in the atmosphere far less time than carbon dioxide, meaning cuts in emissions would have a quicker impact in cleaning the air.

Interesting2: In the hit 1998 movie Armageddon, Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck blew up an asteroid to save the world. While the film was science fiction, the chances of an asteroid hitting the Earth one day are very real – and blowing up an asteroid in real life, says a Tel Aviv University researcher, will be more complicated than in the movies. Astrophysicists agree that the best method for avoiding a catastrophic collision would be to change the path of the asteroid heading toward our planet. “For that to work, we need to be able to predict what would happen if we attempt an explosion,” says Tel Aviv University doctoral student David Polishook, who is studying asteroids with his supervisor Dr. Noah Brosch at the Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences. Polishook and Brosch are among the few scientists in the world researching the structure and composition of asteroids a critical first step in learning how to destroy them before they reach the Earth’s atmosphere. Their research could prevent catastrophe: blowing up an asteroid may create many equally dangerous smaller asteroids of about 100 meters each in diameter – twice the size of the asteroid that created the famous Arizona crater.

Interesting3: A Duke University study suggests that evolution can behave as differently as dogs and cats. While the dogs depend on an energy-efficient style of four-footed running over long distances to catch their prey, cats seem to have evolved a profoundly inefficient gait, tailor-made to creep up on a mouse or bird in slow motion. "It is usually assumed that efficiency is what matters in evolution," said Daniel Schmitt, a Duke associate professor of evolutionary anthropology. "We’ve found that’s too simple a way of looking at evolution, because there are some animals that need to operate at high energy cost and low efficiency." In a report published online Nov. 26 in the research journal Public Library of Science (PLoS), Schmitt and two former Duke co-researchers followed up on a scientific hunch by measuring and videotaping how six housecats moved along a 6 yard-long runway in pursuit of food treats or feline toys.

Long-distance chase predators like dogs can reduce their muscular work needed to move forward by as much as 70 percent by allowing their body to rise and fall and exchanging potential and kinetic energy with each step. In contrast, the maximum for cats is about 37 percent and much lower than that in a stalking posture, the report found. "An important implication of these results is the possibility of a tradeoff between stealthy walking and economy of locomotion," the three researchers wrote in PLoS. "These data show a previously unrecognized mechanical relationship in which crouched postures are associated with changes in footfall pattern, which are in turn related to reduced mechanical energy recovery." In other words, they found that when cats slink close to the ground they walk in a way that "the movements of their front and back ends cancel each other out," Schmitt said. While that’s not good for energy efficiency "the total movement of their bodies is going to be even and they’ll be flowing along," he added.

Interesting4: The Argentine cruise ship Ciudad de Ushuaia, with 122 people on board, issued a distress signal Thursday after getting stuck in the ice, suffering a fuel leak and letting in a "minimal" amount of water, the Argentine Navy said in Buenos Aires. The ship’s 89 passengers and a crew of 33 were "in perfect health," Admiral Daniel Alberto Martin told the news television channel C5N. Chilean Navy ships were on the way to rescue the passengers and much of the crew. Divers would then examine the tear in the ship’s hull. Another cruise ship, the Atlantic Dream, was already at the accident site and could evacuate the Ciudad de Ushuaia’s passengers if necessary. The problem happened some 300 kilometres south-west of Argentina’s Antarctic base, Comodoro Marambio. The Ushuaia left the Argentine harbour of the same name two days ago headed for the Antarctic. Martin said the meteorological conditions in the area were "not the best," particularly due to the wind.

Interesting5: An ant species that originated in the Black Sea region has invaded more than 100 areas across Europe and is moving north. Scientists say if it is not stopped, it will reach northern Germany, Scandinavia and Britain and could invade the whole world. The pest, called Lasius neglectus, destroys native ant species as it invades new territory. It has also invaded much of Asia. This week in the journal PLoS ONE, scientists presented the first thorough study of the intruder, which was discovered in 1990 after moving into Hungary. "Its rapid spread through Europe and Asia [is] the most recent example of a pest ant that may become a global problem," the scientists write. Ants thrive all over the world because they are very adaptive.

Urban ants, for example, have adapted to the extreme heat of city living. Scientists estimate there are about 20,000 different species globally. The combined weight of ants in the Brazilian Amazon is thought to be four times greater than the combined mass of all of the mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians there. When they arrive in new locations, ants can be extremely aggressive and very detrimental to local flora and fauna. For example, the non-native red fire ant causes about $750 million of damage in the United States every year, the authors of the new study point out. And the Argentine ant has spread along thousands of miles of coastline in southern Europe, exterminating the natural insect fauna. In California, the Argentine ant armies have nearly wiped out all native ants.

December 3-4 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 80
Honolulu, Oahu – 81
Kaneohe, Oahu – 80
Kahului, Maui – 85
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
Kailua-kona – 84

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

Kahului, Maui – 82F
Molokai airport – 76F

Haleakala Crater    – 54  (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 37  (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 Wednesday afternoon:

0.86 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.06 Wheeler airfield, Oahu
0.00 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.04 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.17 South Point, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a weak ridge of high pressure over the state, which will drift north of Kauai today into Friday. This in turn will allow trades to return to the islands for a short time. The ridge will move back south over the state Saturday. It will then recede eastward Sunday night into Monday as a front nears the state from the northwest...with lighter southeast winds.

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

      

 
  The meeting point
Photo Credit: Flikr.com

Light to moderately strong trade winds will gradually return intoThursday…continuing on into Friday. A high pressure ridge is still located over the islands, although it will be migrating northward into the area north of Kauai by Thursday. The volcanic haze is still around in most places, although better visibilities will occur into early Saturday, as the trade winds return. We expect more light southeast winds this weekend, which may bring the volcanic haze back then. The winds will remain from the south to southeast moving into early next week, ahead of a cold front forecast to arrive over Kauai and Oahu Tuesday.

There will be only a few light showers around, shifting back over to the windward sides along with the return of the trade winds.  As the trade winds return, the bias for showers will shift back over to the windward sides…although showers will be few and far between generally. The breezes return to the southeast this weekend, when we may see an increase in showers arriving along our leeward coasts and slopes. There may be a few pre-frontal showers early next week, ahead of a cold front Tuesday. The cold front likely won’t amount to very much though, as the high pressure ridge over the state aloft, will limit the front’s shower activity.

The recent large northwest swell waves will drop in size Wednesday, although a new west-northwest swell will bring the surf back up again late today into Thursday. This second large to extra large swell will cause another round of high surf advisory level surf again, and be long lasting into the weekend. The NWS has issued a high surf warning over Kauai and Oahu Wednesday afternoon. A high surf advisory will be active across the north and west shores of the other islands. This high surf event will remain active into the weekend…with more medium to large surf expected at times next week. The more westerly aspect to this new swell will cause some island blocking behind Kauai and Oahu.

It’s early Wednesday evening here in Kihei, Maui. The volcanic haze stuck around in most areas Wednesday. Looking out the window, before I drive home to Kula, I can see that the haze is still very thick out there. I’m actually home now, and along the way I realized that it wasn’t just the volcanic haze junking-up our usual pristine skies, but also lots of clouds too! Here’s a satellite image showing you the nature of that cloudiness dropping southwards over us. As the light to moderately strong trade winds get back into our Hawaiian Island weather picture soon, we’ll find nice weather, with just a few showers, even along our windward sides…with less haze too. This weekend may turn a bit more showery, as the trade winds give way to southeast winds again. There’s always that chance that we could see increased volcanic haze once again then too. The lighter southeast winds will likely bring clear mornings, with cloudy skies developing over the mountains during the afternoon hours. ~~~ I’ll be back very early Thursday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise, I hope you have a great Wednesday night until then! Aloha for now, Glenn.

TV weather show news: With almost 18 years under my belt, I’ve decided to discontinue the TV weather program. This decision wasn’t an easy one, one that I deliberated over for quite a while. In the end though, it seems like the right thing to do. As many of you know, I’ve been carrying a very heavy work load…with this website, having the weather show, and working as the senior weather analyst at the Pacific Disaster Center in Kihei, Maui. That has made for three weather related jobs, keeping me very busy. ~~~ I needed to find some relief from my 14 hour work days. I know that many people count on, and have enjoyed this 15 minute, live broadcast morning weather show. I’ve greatly enjoyed doing it myself! The last day of viewing on Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island will be December 19th, while the islands of Maui County will be on the air until December 24th. I will speak more of this as we move through the month, but just wanted to let you know. I will absolutely continue this website, and recommend that my TV viewers transfer over to this web site as their source for weather news. Please use the reply box below for your feedback, and I will respond to them individually. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting:

On Tuesday high tides hit the historic city of Venice, leaving it submerged again, just a day after experiencing its worst floods in 20 years. On Monday alarms sounded out across the city warning of the “acqua alta” or high waters. As water levels rose to a height of 61 inches the city was brought to a virtual standstill. As much as 99% of the city was left submerged by the time the waters peaked mid-morning.  This was the fourth highest tide to have hit the city since records began in 1872, and the highest level seen since 1986. The highest tide recorded was during the disastrous floods of November 1966 when the water level rose to 76 inches. Yesterday high tides submerged the city for a second time. While not as bad as Monday, it was still enough to flood the city’s landmark St Mark’s Square and other low-lying areas. The recent high tides have been caused by low pressure which has been sitting in the eastern Mediterranean over the last few days. Strong winds funneling up the Adriatic Sea have created the unusually high tides, driving the sea in across the country. With low pressure set to edge east over the next 24 hours the threat of further flooding should recede.
 
Interesting2: A group of 43 small island states called on Wednesday for tougher goals for fighting global warming than those being considered at U.N. climate talks, saying that rising seas could wipe them off the map. "We are not prepared to sign a suicide agreement that causes small island states to disappear," Selwin Hart of Barbados, a coordinator of the alliance of small island states, told Reuters at the 187-nation meeting. The December 1-12 talks in Poznan, Poland, are reviewing progress at the half-way stage of a two-year push for a new U.N. treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. The new treaty is meant to be agreed by the end of 2009 in Copenhagen he 43 nations, including low-lying coral atolls from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, said global warming should be limited to a maximum of 2.7 Fahrenheit above pre-industrial times.

Interesting3:

Electric car company Better Place said on Tuesday it plans to develop a $200 million to $250 million electric car network in Hawaii ,



the latest market to join such efforts to cut global warming carbon emissions and pricey fuel imports.

Shai Agassi, founder and chief executive of privately owned Better Place, said the cost is an estimated "ballpark" range and that investors have yet to be lined up for the all-island project. Better Place has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hawaiian Electric Companies. Better Place plans to offer electric transportation as a service, like for mobile phones, with drivers paying to access a network of charging stations. Governments from Australia to Denmark to the San Francisco Bay Area have signed on to create similar networks in their cities. Renault and Nissan Motor Co Ltd have said they will build electric cars, and mass market availability in Hawaii is expected in 2012.

Interesting4: Louisiana has displaced Mississippi as the unhealthiest U.S. state and other Southern states were close rivals due to high obesity and smoking rates in new rankings that deemed Vermont the healthiest. The overall health of Americans remained static for a fourth year, according to an annual report issued on Wednesday assessing a series of measures also including binge drinking, health insurance coverage, air pollution, infectious disease rates, crime levels and immunization coverage. Many Southern states were clustered near the bottom of the rankings. The region has some of the highest rates of obesity, which contributes to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer, as well as high rates of smoking, which causes cancer, lung disease, heart disease and other problems.

One in five Louisianians lacked health insurance, while 31 percent were obese. It also suffers from high child poverty, infant mortality, premature death rate and cancer deaths, according to the report. "We’ve just not made any improvement in the overall healthiness of the nation," said Dr. Reed Tuckson of UnitedHealth Group Inc, the largest U.S. health insurer, and the private United Health Foundation. The foundation, American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention advocacy group put together the 19th annual state-by-state rankings. It was the second straight year that Vermont topped the rankings. It was followed by Hawaii, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Utah, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Idaho and Maine.

December 2-3 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 78
Honolulu, Oahu – 80
Kaneohe, Oahu – 82
Kahului, Maui – 88
Hilo, Hawaii – 84
Kailua-kona – 83

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level, and on the highest mountains…at 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon:

Kailua-kona – 82F
Molokai airport – 78F

Haleakala Crater    – 55  (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 39  (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:

0.41 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.75 Wheeler airfield, Oahu
0.49 Molokai
1.12 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.52 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.30 Kapapala Ranch, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a high pressure system far northeast of the islands, which will be nearly stationary. A ridge extending southwestward from the high will be over the islands through today. The ridge will move to a position just north of Kauai tomorrow and Friday. A strong low passing well northwest of the islands over the weekend will push the ridge south over the islands.

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

      

 
  High surf on the north and west shores
Photo Credit: Flikr.com

Our winds remain on the light side, and from the kona direction Tuesday, which will likely continue into Wednesday. We’ll see locally hazy conditions at times into Wednesday, with better visibilities Thursday into Friday, as the trade winds return. The air flow at the moment will generally be light, with a high pressure ridge stationed right over the islands. As the trade winds return briefly later this week, blowing in the light to moderately strong realms…our atmosphere will have better visibilities. The latest model runs show more light southeast winds forecast for this coming weekend, which may very well bring the volcanic haze right back again then.

There have been some showers around, concentrating on Lanai, Molokai, and Maui…which will shift during the day to Oahu and Kauai.  Tuesday will remain somewhat hazy at times, and typically a bit warmer than it would otherwise be…coming up from the south. There will be those showers, although with a ridge of high pressure aloft, no major downpours are expected. As the trade winds return, the bias for showers will shift back over to the windward sides. The breezes return to the southeast this weekend, when we may see some new showers arriving along our leeward coasts and slopes again.

We will find large to extra large waves breaking along our north and west facing beaches this week. The NWS office in Honolulu has issued a high surf advisory for those areas most influenced by this event.  Hurricane force winds, associated with a mid-latitude storm, generated this first part of the swell activity. The second aspect of this week’s high surf, will ramp-up the surf again starting Thursday, and be long lasting into the weekend. Please be careful when going to the beach in these areas, as could be dangerous.

It’s early Tuesday morning here in Kula, Maui. Recapping, generally light winds, locally marginal air visibilites, a few showers…along with larger than normal surf along our north and west facing shores. Looking at this looping radar image, we have some showers coming up from the southwest direction…carried our way on the Kona breezes. At the time of this writing, I spot most of the showers falling over Oahu, which will spread to Kauai during the day. The Big Island may see a few stray showers, but nothing organized is expected. It looks like, besides the localized showers, and the hazy air, that our weather will generally be at least ok, most of the time…through the rest of this week. ~~~ As I drove home to Kula this evening, after being in Wailuku for an appointment, I found some very thick volcanic haze…some of the thickest I’ve seen in quite some time!  I’ll be back online again very early Wednesday morning with your next new weather narrative. I hope you have a great Tuesday night, either here in Hawaii, or someplace else in this large round globe of ours! Aloha, Glenn

TV weather show news: With almost 18 years under my belt, I’ve decided to discontinue the TV weather program. This decision wasn’t an easy one, one that I deliberated over for quite a while. In the end though, it seems like the right thing to do. As many of you know, I’ve been carrying a very heavy work load…with this website, having the weather show, and working as the senior weather analyst at the Pacific Disaster Center in Kihei, Maui. That has made for three weather related jobs, keeping me very busy. ~~~ I needed to find some relief from my 14 hour work days. I know that many people count on, and have enjoyed this 15 minute, live broadcast morning weather show. I’ve greatly enjoyed doing it myself! The last day of viewing on Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island will be December 19th, while the islands of Maui County will be on the air until December 24th. I will speak more of this as we move through the month, but just wanted to let you know. I will absolutely continue this website, and recommend that my TV viewers transfer over to this web site as their source for weather news. Please use the reply box below for your feedback, and I will respond to them individually. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting: What we eat can say a lot about us – where we live, how we live and eventually even when we lived. From the analysis of the intestinal contents of the 5,200-year-old Iceman from the Eastern Alps, Professor James Dickson from the University of Glasgow in the UK and his team have shed some light on the mummy’s lifestyle and some of the events leading up to his death. By identifying six different mosses in his alimentary tract, they suggest that the Iceman may have travelled, injured himself and dressed his wounds. The Iceman is the first glacier mummy to have fragments of mosses in his intestine. This is surprising as mosses are neither palatable nor nutritious and there are few reports of mosses used for internal medical treatments. Rather, mosses recovered from archaeological sites tend to have been used for stuffing, wiping and wrapping.

Dickson and colleagues studied the moss remains from the intestines of the Iceman on microscope slides, to find out more about his lifestyle and events during the last few days of his life. Their paper describes in detail the six different mosses identified and seeks to provide answers to two key questions in each case. Firstly, where did the Iceman come in contact with each species; secondly, how did each come to enter his alimentary tract. In particular, the authors of the new article in Vegetation History and Archaeobotany suggest that one type of moss is likely to have been used to wrap food, another is likely to have been swallowed when the Iceman drank water during the last few days of his life, and yet another would have been used as a wound dressing. One type of moss in the Iceman’s gut is not known in the region where the mummy was found, implying that the Iceman must have travelled.

Interesting2:

For the first time, seismic signals that precede a volcanic eruption have been simulated and visualized in 3-D under controlled pressure conditions in a laboratory. The ability to conduct such simulations will better equip municipal authorities in volcanic hot spots around the world in knowing when to alert people who live near volcanoes of an impending eruption. The international research team that conducted the experiments at the University of Toronto published its findings in an article in the journal, Science, on Oct. 10. Scientists tested fracture properties of basalt rock from Mount Etna, the active volcano found on the island of Sicily in southern Italy. They were able to record the seismic signals that are routinely generated during earthquakes that occur before volcanic eruptions. The seismic (sound) waves recorded by the team were similar to those emitted by a church organ pipe and are ubiquitous in active volcanic regions.

"The holy grail of volcano research is to be able to predict with complete accuracy when and how exactly a volcano will erupt," said Philip Benson, Marie-Curie Research Fellow in Earth Sciences at University College London (UCL), who conducted the experiments in U of T’s Rock Fracture Dynamics Facility. "We are not there yet and, frankly, we may never be able to achieve that level of detail. However, being able to simulate the pressure conditions and events in volcanoes greatly assists geophysicists in exploring the scientific basis for volcanic unrest, ultimately helping cities and towns near volcanoes know whether to evacuate or not." Benson noted that nearly 500 million people live near enough to the Earth’s 600 active volcanoes to endure physical and economic harm should a serious eruption occur. "That is why improved understanding of volcanic mechanisms is a central goal in volcano-tectonic research and hazard mitigation."

December 1-2 2008

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

Lihue, Kauai – 78
Honolulu, Oahu – 79
Kaneohe, Oahu – 79
Kahului, Maui – 83
Hilo, Hawaii – 81
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:

Kapalua, Maui – 82F
Molokai airport – 76F

Haleakala Crater    – 48  (near 10,000 feet on Maui)
Mauna Kea summit – 39  (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:

0.03 Mount Waialaele, Kauai
0.04 Poamoho, Oahu
0.04 Molokai
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
0.43 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.10 Laupahoehoe, Big Island

Weather Chart – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a surface ridge near the Big Island will move slowly north, and will be near Kauai on Wednesday, and just north of Kauai on Thursday and Friday. The ridge will move south, and be over the island chain, on Saturday. 

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

      

 
  Partly cloudy at times…a few showers
Photo Credit: Flikr.com

We find lighter winds now, coming up from the deeper tropics, from the southwest to southeast…depending on which island you’re on. We’ll see locally hazy conditions at times into Wednesday, with better visibilities Thursday into Friday, as the trade winds return. The air flow at the moment will generally be light, with a high pressure ridge stationed right over the islands. As the trade winds return briefly later this week, blowing in the light to moderately strong realms…our atmosphere will have better visibilities. The latest model runs now show more light southeast winds forecast for this coming weekend, which may very well bring the volcanic haze right back around.

These Kona breezes will bring a few showers to the leeward sides at times…although nothing heavy is indicated. Mornings will begin in a hazy manner at times, and typically a bit warmer than it would otherwise be…given the tropical breezes coming up from more southern latitudes. There may be a few showers, although with a ridge of high pressure aloft, no major downpours are expected. As the trade winds return, the bias for showers will shift back over to the windward sides then. As the breezes return to the southeast, we may see some new showers arriving along our leeward coasts and slopes again this weekend.

The major issue this week, which will begin Tuesday…will be the major northwest swells. This will cause higher than normal surf levels along the north and west facing shores. The NWS office in Honolulu has issued a high surf advisory, and high surf warnings for those areas most influenced by this event.  Hurricane force winds, associated with a mid-latitude storm, generated this first part of the swell activity. The second aspect of this week’s high surf, will ramp-up the surf again starting Thursday, and be long lasting into the weekend. This will be the most dynamic situation in the Hawaiian Island weather picture through the rest of this week.

It’s early Monday evening here in Kihei, Maui.  Looking out the window here in Kihei, I see more clouds along the west and south facing beaches, than I do over on the windward sides. Looking at this looping radar image, it appears that we have some showers coming up from the southwest direction…carried our way on the Kona breezes. At the time of this writing, I spot most of the showers heading towards Lanai and Molokai, with a little trying to spread over towards Maui. Back and forth this week, first kona winds, then trade winds, and then back to kona winds this weekend. Perhaps the best chance for showers will exist tonight into Tuesday, and then drier weather will settle back in thereafter. I’ll be back very early Tuesday morning with your next new weather narrative from paradise. Please see the announcement just below, and then its quite interesting to read the responses well below, and my responses there as well. Aloha for now…Glenn.

News: After almost 18 years, I have decided to discontinue the TV weather program. This was not something that has come lightly, and I deliberated over this for quite a while. In the end though, it seems like the right thing to do. As many of you know, I have been carrying a very heavy work load, what with doing this website, having a TV weather show, and working as the senior weather analyst at the Pacific Disaster Center in Kihei, Maui. That has made for three weather related jobs, keeping me very busy, perhaps too busy for a long time. I’ve been carrying these jobs for at least the last 13 years, since I started working in Kihei. ~~~ I needed to find some relief from my 14 hour work days. I know that many, many people count on, and have enjoyed this 15 minute, live broadcast morning weather show. I’ve greatly enjoyed doing it myself! The last day of viewing on Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island will be December 19th, while the islands of Maui County will be on the air until December 24th. I will speak more of this as we move through the month, but just wanted to let you know. I will absolutely continue this website, and recommend that my TV viewers transfer over to this site as their source for weather news. Please use the reply box below for your feedback, and I will respond to each one. Aloha for now…Glenn.

Interesting:

The health threat to city dwellers posed by Southern California wildfires like those of November 2008 may have been underestimated by officials. Detailed particulate analysis of the smoke produced by previous California wild fires indicates that the composition posed more serious potential threats to health than is generally realized, according to a new paper analyzing particulate matter (PM) from wildfires in Southern California. The new article confirms earlier studies by air polllution specialist Constantinos Sioutas of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, who is also co-director of the Southern California Particle Center.For the study Sioutas and colleagues from USC, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and RIVM (the National Institute of Health and the Environment of the Netherlands) analyzed the particular matter gathered during the fall 2007 blazes.

"Fire emissions produce a significantly larger aerosol in size than typically seen in urban environments during periods affected by traffic sources, which emit mostly ultrafine particles," Sioutas said. "Staying indoors may not provide protection from smoke particles in the absence of air conditioning or the ability to recirculate filtered indoor air. This is because the fire particles can penetrate indoor structures more readily than particles from vehicular emissions." According to Sioutas, the fires produce a dangerous mix. "The chemical composition of particles during the fire episodes is different than that during ‘normal’ days impacted by traffic sources.

Interesting2: 

The first comprehensive “inventory” of sea and land animals around a group of Antarctic islands reveals a region that is rich in biodiversity and has more species than the Galapagos. The study provides an important benchmark to monitor how they will respond to future environmental change. Reporting this week in the Journal of Biogeography, the team from British Antarctic Survey and University of Hamburg, describe how they combed the land, sea and shores of the South Orkney Islands, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, using scuba divers and trawled nets to catch creatures as deep as 1500 metres. Animals recorded were then checked with a century of literature and modern databases and the team concludes there are over 1200 known marine and land species.

These include sea urchins, free-swimming worms, crustaceans and molluscs, mites and birds. Five were new to science. Lead author Dr David Barnes from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) says: “This is the first time anybody has done an inventory like this in the polar regions. It’s part of the Census of Marine Life (COML) – an international effort to assess and explain the diversity and distribution of marine life in the world’s oceans. If we are to understand how these animals will respond to future change, a starting point like this is really important.”  Author Stefanie Kaiser from University of Hamburg says: “We never knew there were so many different species on and around these islands. This abundance of life was completely unexpected for a location in the polar regions, previously perceived to be poor in biodiversity.”

Interesting3:

Scientists said Friday they had found remains of a meteor that illuminated the sky before falling to earth in western Canada earlier this month. University of Calgary scientist Alan Hildebrand and graduate student Ellen Milley found several meteor fragments near the BattleRiver along the rural Alberta-Saskatchewan border, near the city of Lloydminster late Thursday. They said there could be thousands of meteorite pieces strewn over a 7-square-mile area of mostly flat, barren land, with few inhabitants. Residents in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta have been buzzing about the huge fireball that lit up the night sky over the three provinces on Nov. 20. Witnesses reported hearing sonic boom rumblings and said the fiery flash was as bright as the sun.

Hildebrand, who also coordinates meteor sightings with the Canadian Space Agency, estimated the meteor could have been seen from as far as 434 miles away, into the northern United States. Widely broadcast video images of the meteor showed what appeared to be a speeding fireball that became larger and brighter before disappearing as it neared the ground. The meteor contained about one-tenth of a kiloton of energy when it entered the earth’s atmosphere, roughly the equivalent of 100 tons of the chemical explosive TNT. "It would be something like a billion-watt light bulb," said Hildebrand. The meteor has captured the imagination of sky watchers around the world. Robert Haag, a space rock collector from Arizona, offered up to $9,700 for the first one-kilogram chunk of the meteor that is found.

Interesting4: Thanks to poor dental hygiene, researchers are getting a more detailed understanding of what people ate thousands of years ago in what is now Peru. Dental plaque scraped from the teeth of people who lived as much as 9,200 years ago revealed traces of cultivated crops, including squash and beans, according to a report in Monday’s online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. These ancient people also ate peanuts and a local fruit known as pacay, according to the report by Dolores Piperno, a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the National Museum of Natural History, and Tom Dillehay, professor of archaeology at Vanderbilt University. They studied 39 teeth from six to eight individuals.

Found in northern Peru’s Nanchoc Valley, the teeth were uncovered in the remains of round house structures in a settlement dated to 9,200 to 5,500 years ago. "Some teeth were dirtier than others. We found starch grains on most of the teeth. About a third of the teeth contained large numbers of starch grains," Piperno said in a statement. The teeth study indicates that the diet of these people contained cultivated crops and was stable over time. Some of the grains had been cooked, the researchers noted. The researchers said they hope the future analysis of starch grains from teeth can lead to other findings about ancient people, perhaps showing a difference in diet between Neanderthals and early modern humans.