Hawaiian Islands weather details & Aloha paragraphs / November 17-18, 2010

November 17-18, 2010

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

Lihue airport, Kauai –       77
Honolulu airport, Oahu –   82
Kaneohe, Oahu –             82
Molokai airport –              82
Kahului airport, Maui –     85
Kona airport –                  83
Hilo airport, Hawaii –        81

Air Temperatures ranged between these warmest and coolest spots near sea level – and on the highest mountain tops…as of 5pm Wednesday evening:

Kailua-kona – 80F
Hana airport, Maui – 75 

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 Wednesday afternoon: 

0.12 Anahola, Kauai  
0.20 Kaneohe, Oahu
0.00 Molokai 
0.00 Lanai
0.00 Kahoolawe
2.45 Oheo Gulch, Maui
0.46 Glenwood, Big Island

Marine Winds – Here’s the latest (automatically updated) weather map showing a diminishing 1023 millibar high pressure system to the northeast of our islands. Our local winds will remain generally light, from the southwest to southeast directions…through Friday.

Satellite and Radar Images: To view the cloud conditions we have here in Hawaii, please use the following satellite links, starting off with this Infrared Satellite Image of the islands to see all the clouds around during the day and night. This next image is one that gives close images of the islands only during the daytime hours, and is referred to as a Close-up visible image. This next image shows a larger view of the Pacific…giving perspective to the wider ranging cloud patterns in the Pacific Ocean. Finally, here's a Looping IR satellite image, making viewable the clouds around the islands 24 hours a day. To help you keep track of where any showers may be around the islands, here’s the latest animated radar image.

Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live webcam on the summit of near 14,000 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The tallest peak on the island of Maui is the Haleakala Crater, which is near 10,000 feet in elevation. These two webcams are available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon rising just after sunset for an hour or two! Plus, during the nights and early mornings you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise too…depending upon weather conditions.

Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific – Here’s the latest weather information coming out of the National Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Here’s a tracking map covering both the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. Of course, as we know, our hurricane season won't end until November 31st here in the central Pacific.

 Aloha Paragraphs

Heavy rainfall over the Kauai end of the chain
Flash flood watch for Niihau, Kauai and Oahu.
 

 
 

 

We're looking at generally southwest to southeast winds for the time being…with trade winds returning later this weekend into early next week.  This weather map shows a weakening 1023 millibar high pressure system northeast of the islands Wednesday night. At the same time, we see two low pressure systems, with their associated cold fronts to our northwest and west. Our winds will remain from the Kona directions of south to southwest, as a cold front, with its accompanying trough of low pressure, pushes down into the state from the northwest direction. The computer models are now suggesting that we could see the trade winds returning later this weekend, into early next week…although that idea could be pushed back into the middle of next week very easily.

Winds around the state are generally quite light…with the following numbers representing the strongest gusts early Wednesday evening:

08 mph      Lihue, Kauai
20               Wheeler Field, Oahu
08             Molokai
18             Kahoolawe
18             Maalaea Bay, Maui
08             Lanai Airport 
12             Honokaa, Big Island

An area of showers, some of which are heavy, with even a few thunderstorms, will move over Kauai…then move on over Oahu later Thursday. Here's a satellite picture showing these bright white clouds, near the Garden Island of Kauai.  This looping radar image shows this area of heavy rain edging towards the state…although very slowly. This prefrontal shower area will bring rainfall to the Kauai end of the state later tonight. The actual cold front/trough, still further west, will merge with this shower area…and bring locally heavy showers to Kauai and Oahu…with the chance of a few thunderstorms into Thursday. The other islands will have to wait a while before this precipitation arrives, probably at some point late Thursday into Friday. 

As this area of locally heavy precipitation moves through, our winds will finally return to the trade wind direction beginning Sunday…maybe. There's still that good chance that we could see continued light winds remaining in place, keeping a convective weather pattern around. This in turn suggests more of those afternoon interior showers popping-up here and there during the afternoons Saturday into Sunday and Monday. If the trade winds do begin to fill back into our Hawaiian Island weather picture, we could see those afternoon showers…shifting back over to the windward sides then. The reason that it looks quite likely that the winds will remain on the light side, is that another cold front will bear down towards the islands early next week.

It's Wednesday evening as I begin writing this last section of today's narrative update. As noted above, we still find this cold front/trough, and with its prefrontal area of showers, pushing in our direction. As the satellite images and radar loops above show, there are heavy showers on Kauai's doorstep now. This area of showers has embedded thunderstorm cells too, which could lead to localized flooding for Kauai. Oahu will eventually find this rain arriving overhead, at which point some flooding could occur there too…especially if thunderstorms are still in the mix then. Maui County and the Big Island will likely have to wait until later Thursday or even Friday before this locally heavy precipitation arrives.

~~~ Here in Kihei, Maui, at 525pm, skies were mostly clear to partly cloudy, depending upon which direction I gaze. The state actually remained dry in most areas today, especially from Kauai eastward. This program will change channels over the next couple of days however, as wet weather overrides this dry reality. Kauai will be first, then Oahu, and eventually this slow moving system will work its way down over Maui…and perhaps even the Big Island. I'll be back early Thursday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you have a great Wednesday night until then! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Extra: Leonid Meteor Shower tonight

Interesting: Next week may be make-or-break for the future of wild tigers around the world. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will be hosting delegations from tiger-range countries for the first ever International Tiger Summit in Saint Petersburg.

Heads of state from 13 tiger-range countries plus a high-level delegation from the United States will gather to discuss responses to the alarming decline of tiger populations in the wild.

What all parties can agree with going in, is that inaction will inevitably lead to the extinction of this beautiful creature, one of the world's most beloved. First, here are some statistics on wild tigers.

The estimated population in the wild today is a mere 3,200, down from hundreds of thousands a century ago. They live in only four percent of their former habitat. Of the nine subspecies of tiger, three have already gone extinct.

Demand for tiger parts has fueled poaching and black market trade across international borders. At this moment, there are more tigers locked up in zoos and backyards in the United States than are in the wild.

Wildlife advocacy groups like the World Wildlife Fund and TRAFFIC International have stepped up efforts to ensure that a binding agreement is made at the upcoming summit. Among those most active is Mike Baltzer, Head of WWF's Tiger Alive Initiative.

According to Baltzer, conservationists "know what it takes to save tigers, but we need financing mechanisms and consistent injection of funds to support action." We need government commitments. He added, "We need immediate action and need to sustain that action."

If not, we will find ourselves in the same place years from now. The summit in Russia is pivotal in securing both financial support and political will. Also involved is the World Bank's Global Tiger Initiative which has pledged help in financing programs that would boost local public support for tiger conservation and reduce the illegal trade in tiger parts.

This initiative is a major sponsor of the International Tiger Summit. On the agenda at the summit will be the Global Tiger Recovery Program. A draft document was written in July, 2010 at the pre-Tiger Summit meeting in Bali. The goal is to double the number of tigers in the wild in twelve years.

To start, emergency funding is required to protect the last refuges for tigers, but the ultimate goal is not just conservation but expansion. On a media conference call yesterday, Barney Long, manager of the Tiger Program at WWF-US, said "there is hope for tigers. We can look at the past to see what works."

For example, in eastern Russia, conservation efforts have increased the numbers of endangered Amur tigers from 40 to 450. Authorities in Nepal have designated wildlife corridors to allow the tiger a freer range.

In Cambodia, increased law enforcement has dramatically increased the numbers of tigers and other wildlife since 2000. WWF has pledged its support to protect tigers and tiger prey in these most critical areas.

Eventually, that protection will expand to 125 areas around the world. All these examples had two things in common: political will and financial support. For tigers to recover on a global scale, that support must be maintained range-wide across the nations of Asia.

If nothing is done, illegal poaching will continue to flourish and tigers will be wiped out. Hopefully, the International Tiger Summit will set wild tigers on the road to recovery.

Interesting2: It is known that soil microorganisms can maintain some activity during the cold winter months. Scientist at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Umeå University in Sweden have now shown that the microorganisms in frozen soils are much more viable than previously anticipated and also has large potential for growth.

In northern forest ecosystems, there is a great deal of carbon stored in the ground. The degradation of this carbon supply is a crucial component in computational models used to describe the effects of future climate changes.

In recent years it has been noticed that the winter half of the year can also have a great impact on the carbon balance of forests, as microorganisms (fungi and bacteria) continue to degrade organic carbon despite freezing temperatures and frozen ground.

Just how microorganisms go about breaking down organic carbon under such adverse conditions has largely been unknown, which has rendered it difficult to carry out reliable calculations of a forest's carbon balance in wintertime.

"The results of previous studies have been interpreted as meaning that microorganisms in frozen ground cannot grow but merely give off a certain amount of carbon dioxide. A research team at SLU in Umeå and at Umeå University has now shown that this is not the case.

Instead, the capacity of microorganisms to grow in frozen ground is astonishingly similar to that of the summer half of the year, although the growth rate is lower," says Mats Öquist from SLU, who directed the study. These findings are being published this week in the journal PNAS, published by the American Academy of Sciences.

Interesting3: Icelandic Group, one of the world’s ten largest seafood companies, has submitted its cod and haddock fisheries for independent assessment for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification – the most rigorous global seafood sustainability standard. WWF has welcomed the announcement, noting that if the certification bid is successful it will considerably extend sustainable fish choices for consumers on a global scale.

Icelandic Group purchases and markets 35% of the total fish quota caught in the seas of Iceland, in value terms the world’s 11th largest exporter of seafood. The certification assessment will cover all of the cod and haddock fisheries supplying the group and a diversity of harvesting methods including Demersal otter trawls, Danish seine, long lines, hand lines and gill nets. Successful assessment could add up to 160,000 tons of Cod and 50,000 tons of Haddock annually to stocks of MSC certified sea foods.

Interesting4: Lacking standards to weigh costs against safety, BP and its partners made critical errors leading to the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, according to a scientific panel report obtained by Reuters on Tuesday. Interim findings from the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council attribute the massive spill to workers' decisions to move ahead with temporary abandonment of BP's doomed Macondo well despite warning signs from a key test of well integrity.

"The various failures mentioned in this report indicate the lack of a suitable approach for anticipating and managing the inherent risks, uncertainties … associated with deepwater drilling," the report said. Government regulators also failed to provide adequate oversight for deepwater drilling, according to the report.

Ultimately, the report said there were not enough checks on decisions involving abandoning the well and there was no standard to weigh the trade offs between costs and safety for the project.

"Many of the pivotal choices made for the drilling operation and temporary abandonment of the well were likely to result in less cost and less time relative to other options," the report said. An April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and ruptured the undersea Macondo well, unleashing millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over the summer.

A BP worker was responsible for overseeing costs and schedules for the well, as well as issues relating to safety and well integrity, the report said. Despite testimony that "safety was never compromised," the report said that drilling risks were not fully recognized. The panel said it will consider whether a separate system of oversight is necessary to ensure concerns about cost do not compromise safety.

Interesting5: Wine experts today popped the corks of two bottles of champagne recently salvaged from the bottom of the Baltic Sea, where they had lain in a sunken ship for nearly 200 years. They gently eased the fragile corks from the dark brown bottles – one from the house of Veuve-Clicquot and the other from the now extinct house of Juglar, in front of an large audience of reporters and wine enthusiasts in the capital of the autonomous Finnish province of Aaland.

The first taste went to Richard Juhlin, one of the world's foremost champagne experts, who could not hold back an appreciative "Ah!" He described the Juglar as "more intense and powerful, mushroomy" and the Veuve-Clicquot as more like Chardonnay, with notes of "linden blossoms and lime peels".

As the contents were poured into rows of waiting glasses for others, the aroma was more pungent than any modern wine or champagne: a thick, nose-wrinkling and quite cheesy bouquet that could be smelled several yards away.

"Madame Clicquot herself must have tasted this same batch," Francois Hautekeur, a Veuve-Clicquot representative, said, referring to Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, who reigned over the famous house.

The historic estate announced today it had discovered that three or four bottles of its produce were found among the 168 salvaged bottles. "For everyone at Veuve-Clicquot, it's like winning a championship," Mr Hautekeur said.

The remarkable bottles were discovered in a two-masted schooner which had run aground sometime between 1825 and 1830, said Aaland's top museum official Viveka Loendal, making it most likely the world's oldest champagne. "It was probably going to be served on a high-class Finnish table," she said.

Instead, it was served to an eager international press corps, as a push by the tiny province to turn the sudden interest in sunken treasure into a marketing blitz for Aaland tourism.

"In cases like these, the joy comes not from the champagne's taste, but from the chance to share a bottle like this with others," Pekka Nuikki, an expert who has sampled many 19th century champagnes, said before the event.

"What more could a person ask for than to have been lucky enough to taste champagne that's more than 200 years old? And if it's excellent too, then wow," he said. The deputy head of the Aaland government, Britt Lundberg, announced that the the province planned to auction off one bottle of each make. Mr Juhlin said either bottle could fetch €100,000 ($135,000).